Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

Recovering Christian Stewardship from Secular Fundraising 153
accumulated assets of their estate, normally executed at the time of
death. However, these days, because of favorable tax treatment, and
the unimaginable wealth baby boomers have accumulated during
their lives, more and more people are engaging in inter-vivos
charitable giving, or gifts made during the course of their lifetime.
In this sense, planned giving has taken on a broader meaning.
Although it does not preclude the possibility of a cash gift, it is most
appropriately defined as “any gift requiring the assistance of a
professional to transfer or administer.” Therefore, planned gifts
include, but are not limited to, the gift of publicly traded securities
(stocks), which require the assistance of a trader; insurance
proceeds (annuities), which require an agent; property (homes,
farms, investment lands), which require an agent; or a gift at death
(a will), which requires a lawyer and/or executor.
Estate planning is something most people approach with great
apprehension. Generally speaking, it requires us to discuss some of
the most intimate details of our lives with professionals such as
lawyers and financial planners. Discussing our own death and how
we may wish to have our estate administered afterwards, requires us
to contemplate our mortality, and the state of our relationships with
others. How we dispose of our estates says much about us, our lives,
and our values. Our estates, properly planned and distributed, can
generously provide for the next generation of our families, friends,
the Church, and people in need whom we may never have met—but
who might have enjoyed our generosity had we been alive.
For Christians, there is an especially attractive universality
about planned giving, in that almost everyone is capable of
participating. Everyone, rich or poor, will create an estate during his
or her lifetime. When we have embraced stewardship as a lifelong
Christian value, planned giving provides a welcome opportunity to
ensure that the Church and those charities which have been
important throughout our life also figure in our estate planning
considerations.