Christian Church Foundation

The charitable gift annuity is one of the oldest and simplest forms of a deferred gift. An asset, for example, cash or marketable securities, is transferred to the Christian Church Foundation, which contractually guarantees to pay a specified annuity to the donor and/or another annuitant for life. The payout rate is determined by the ages of the annuitants.

At the death of the last annuitant, the residual goes to your congregation or to any institution or ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The residual also can be divided among several ministries or used to create a permanent endowment for the church. If you enter a Gift Annuity Agreement, you receive a charitable deduction for income tax purposes. The amount of the deduction is established by Treasury Tables. Another important feature of a charitable gift annuity is that a portion of your annual payment from the annuity may be tax-free throughout your life expectancy.

If you provide the Christian Church Foundation with the necessary information, it will, without obligation, tell you the amount of your deduction and the portion of your annual payment that is tax-free.

The Christian Church Foundation uses the rates recommended by the American Council on Gift Annuities, which apply to both males and females. The table below shows a sample of these rates. The minimum gift annuity with the Foundation is $2,500.

Mr. and Mrs. Donor love their church and are thinking of reducing the size of their estate by use of a Charitable Gift Annuity. He is 80 and she is 75. They have no children. They own highly appreciated stock that is paying a very low dividend.

They decide to fund an Annuity with $80,000 in stock that they paid just $10,000 for nearly 20 years ago. They receive an immediate charitable tax deduction of $30,738. The annuity payout rate will be 6.2%, meaning they will receive $4,960 annually — an amount much higher than the stock dividend. Of that, $429.07 will be tax free for the remainder of their life expectancies.

Mr. and Mrs. Donor do not have to pay immediate capital gain taxes on the $70,000 appreciation on the stock. By selling the stock outright, they otherwise could face paying up to $10,500 in capital gain taxes in the current year. Their gift will establish a permanent fund at the Foundation that will split annual payments between their congregation, region and Church Extension to help new churches.

They feel good knowing this fund, established in their memory, will produce income for these causes of the church in perpetuity.

Their church friends, Mr. and Mrs. Clark, both 75, also funded a Charitable Gift Annuity, using $20,000 from a Certificate of Deposit that was paying about 2%. At their age, the Charitable Gift Annuity payout rate is 6%, providing them with $1,200 annually, some of which is free of tax. In addition, they receive an immediate tax deduction of $7,061. They decide the remainder at their deaths will help Week of Compassion provide care throughout the world.

The following rates are examples of ones determined by the American Council of Gift Annuities, in which the Christian Church Foundation participates.

Another type of charitable gift annuity is the deferred gift annuity. It works just like the charitable gift annuity, but in this case, the donor decides to delay, or defer, the gift annuity payments until a later time.

The donor can claim a charitable income tax deduction at the time the gift is made, but delay the start of payments until a time when additional income is needed.

Because there are so many variables in working with deferred gift annuities, please contact the Christian Church Foundation at (800) 668-8016 or contact us via e-mail for more information.

The Christian Church Foundation does not render legal, tax or other professional advisory services. Advice from an attorney and other professional advisors should be sought when considering charitable giving.