Investing with Faith / Jolinda Moore

Now is the time to start planning year-end gifts to the Church

In recent Investing with Faith columns, our staff and volunteers have written about the archdiocesan Catholic Community Foundation (CCF), as well as various types of tax-efficient giving strategies donors might utilize.

In this week’s column, the archdiocesan Office of Stewardship and Development writes with an appeal to Criterion readers—don’t wait until the end of the year to initiate your gifts to the Church; act now.

As summer’s conclusion quickly approaches, the beginning of school and the onset of busy schedules will take all of us to the end of the year.

We find that most donors choose to support the United Catholic Appeal, parishes, schools or ministries in December. While we understand Advent is a popular time to think about and act on charitable goals, we encourage you to think about and plan your giving today.

In addition to a more immediate impact for the Church, a gift today allows you to get ahead of the busy giving season. This is especially beneficial if your charitable goals include gifts of appreciated stock, qualified charitable distributions from your IRA or grants from your donor advised fund. These types of gifts are administered by the Office of Stewardship and Development for the archdiocese, and the influx of gifts at the end of the year can create longer than normal processing times. This is in addition to the processing times from your financial advisors or custodians.

The first step in making any of these types of gifts is to contact your financial advisor or IRA custodian to request a gift to your ministry of choice. The next step is to complete the appropriate form located in the “For Donors” tab at archindy.org/CCF. This notifies our team of your donation so that we can anticipate and allocate your gift in line with your intentions.

If you’re thinking about partnering with the Catholic Community Foundation to create or contribute to a CCF endowment fund or donor advised fund, we encourage you to contact our team sooner rather than later. This allows us ample time to review your charitable goals and the financial needs across the archdiocese together. Our team strives to align your goals with the needs of the Church, ensuring your generosity provides long-term financial stability for parishes, schools and agencies. In order to guarantee we can discern together, establish and receive your gifts to fund a CCF endowment or donor advised fund by year-end, conversations should begin as soon as possible.

Whatever your charitable goals, our team is here to accompany you as you support the Church in central and southern Indiana. We look forward to serving you as we head into the final months of the year.
 

(Jolinda Moore is a member of SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi Parish in Greenwood and serves as the executive director of the archdiocesan Office of Stewardship and Development and the Catholic Community Foundation. Tax or legal information provided herein is not intended as tax or legal advice. Always consult with your legal, tax or financial advisors before implementing any gift plan.) †