May 2012 - The Texas District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

LuTheran
FoundaTion oF Texas
DID YOUR CONGREGATION or ministry start an
endowment a number of years ago?
IF SO, is the following a good description of what
happened?
YOU GOT TOGETHER some interested parties
and began an endowment which you had hoped
would provide significant funding for future ministry.
The endowment was created, and at the time there
were high expectations for it.
AND THEN …
NOT MUCH has happened since. Maybe it has
grown only slightly or not at all.
STILL, the dream remains of having a significant
endowment to help do some wonderful things
through the Lord’s work in the future.
IS IT TOO LATE to do anything? It is not. In fact,
a number of ministries are in the process of helping to
gather current or future gifts to help expand their endowment
in years to come. The Lutheran Foundation
of Texas (LFOT) is pleased to be assisting them with
this process.
THERE ARE basically three ways this is being
done.
1. THE FIRST way that you can get future gifts in
the pipeline for your endowment is to conduct a “legacy
program” for your congregation’s or ministry’s endowment.
This involves conducting a program which
is very similar to a building or capital drive, except
you are asking folks to leave an estate gift in the future
for your endowment. This can be done in a rather
low-key way or in an organized campaign. Typically,
it is held over several months (example: running from
January through December of a given year). Persons
are asked to prayerfully consider leaving an estate gift
of some kind for the endowment.
LFOT has to date assisted several congregations,
schools and agencies throughout the Texas District
P TEXAS DISTRICT
Grow your church
or ministry endowment
by Larry Ohls, Chief Executive Officer
Ohls
in organizing and managing a legacy
campaign. Collectively, hundreds of
commitments of estate gifts have been made for these
endowments as a result of these legacy campaigns.
Through these efforts, LFOT has helped the ministries
recruit campaign leaders, prepare campaign brochures,
prepare PowerPoint and group presentations,
etc.
2. THE SECOND way is to have an “endowment
expansion program,” whereby you are asking for a
cash gift (or cash pledge) for your endowment at your
congregation or ministry. Again, this is conducted
in a manner similar to a building or capital drive,
except the proceeds are directed to the endowment.
LFOT can likewise assist with preparing campaign
materials, doing PowerPoint or group presentations,
preparation of mailings to your constituents, and oneon-one
visits for the same. LFOT has assisted two
campus ministries with this effort: Lutheran Campus
Ministry—Lubbock which ministers to students from
Texas Tech and the University Lutheran Chapel at
Texas A & M University at College Station.
3. A THIRD option is to conduct a combined program,
whereby you are asking individuals or families
in your congregation or ministry to consider either
a cash gift to support your endowment, or an estate
gift, or both. Once again, this could be conducted for
a set campaign period of months and the LFOT could
assist your ministry in the ways described above.
AN ADDED BENEFIT of an endowment is that
once it is established, it is an excellent place to receive
memorial gifts and honoraria from church members
and friends.
TO LEARN HOW you can conduct a legacy, cash,
or combination endowment program, contact us at
800-880-3733, ext. 271, or email me at larryo@lfot.org.
It would be our pleasure to serve you.