ECC is thankful for God’s provision through the years in so many ways. As you may know, today is Giving Tuesday and a good day to highlight some creative ways to participate in the funding of the mission God has given us at ECC.
E-Giving
If you are a person who doesn’t like carrying a checkbook or someone who would rather pay your bills online, ECC offers a way for you to give to our church’s ministries through our online giving portal. Gifts can be designated for the General Fund or the Benevolent Fund. You may give using a debit/credit card or direct withdrawal from your bank account. You may also set up recurring giving, whether you prefer to give weekly or monthly. For more information see the portal here.
Giving Securities
In the past, individuals have inquired the process of giving stock to the church as part of their tithes and offerings. A few years ago, we developed a protocol for handling these transactions and from time to time, it is good to remind everyone of the process.
Gifts of appreciated securities (such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds) to Evangelical Covenant Church carry two benefits that cash gifts do not. You may eliminate the income tax on capital gains when contributing securities and, depending on your individual itemized deduction amount, you also may be able to take an income tax deduction based on the securities' fair market value on the date of the gift -- a double tax benefit from both the avoidance of capital gains on appreciated shares and the gift deduction.
What Are The Guidelines For Giving Appreciated Securities?
- The full market value of the security at the time of the gift – not the cost of the security to the donor – is used to compute the possible allowable tax deductions.
- You must have owned the security for more than one year and a day.
- No matter how much the property has appreciated in value, you pay no capital gains tax on your paper profit.
If you have any questions or would like to be provided with additional information including how a broker can transfer stock to ECC through a Direct Transfer Certificate, please contact me at the church.
Other Options
Other creative ways to donate to ECC include creation of a Donor-Advised fund as well as donating part of your Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) if you are age 70 1/2 and older, and are receiving RMD’s from your Individual Retirement Account (IRA). I am happy to talk with anyone who would like to know more about any of these creative ways to fund the mission at ECC! Remember…God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7b).