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Planned Giving

Gifts that Ensure the Future of Lutherlyn

A planned gift is a lasting investment in Lutherlyn advancing our mission and ensuring Lutherlyn's ability to make long-lasting and significant impact on the lives of the many people we serve.  When you include Lutherlyn in your estate plans, you help us make a difference!

Planned giving comes in many forms:  naming Lutherlyn in your will, trust, or annuities, or as beneficiary of an insurance policy, pension plan, or IRA accounts, gifts of stock, bonds, or real estate, and many, many more.  Regardless of how you make a planned gift, including Lutherlyn in your estate plans will help ensure Lutherlyn can provide Life-Changing Adventures in Faith for years to come!


Lutherlyn and the ELCA Foundation

Lutherlyn can benefit from a broad range of planned gifts and through our ELCA Foundation Gift Planner can help you with your estate plans.  Regardless of whether you are just beginning to consider your future estate plans, have an existing will, or would simply like a review of your current plans, you could benefit from the services provided by Lutherlyn's partnership with the ELCA Foundation.  Through Lutherlyn's partnership with the ELCA Foundation free charitable estate planning is available to you.  An ELCA Gift Planner may also be able to help save your estate money by decreasing inheritance taxes. 

Our ELCA Foundation Gift Planner is Ryan Ebner.  Ryan may look familiar to you; prior to joining the ELCA Foundation he served as Lutherlyn’s Development Director and on summer staff.  Ryan and his family continue to attend Lutherlyn retreats and serve as volunteers.

Contact Ryan to schedule a no obligation meeting about establishing a planned gift to Lutherlyn (he can also help you with all of your other charitable intentions including gifts to your congregation, synod, local charities, alma mater, as well as your loved ones).  We understand that leaving a planned gift is a very personal and private decision, and one that you may wish remains confidential.  Please know that both Lutherlyn and our ELCA Gift Planner respect this confidentiality, and will maintain privacy for donors who wish to remain anonymous.

Ryan Ebner, Regional Gift Planner
ELCA Foundation
ryan.ebner@elca.org
814-823-3285

 


Planned Gift Definitions and Resources

We encourage you to explore the basic information below or the resources available on the ELCA Foundation's website to learn more about the many ways you can leave a legacy at Lutherlyn.  

 

  • Charitable Gift Annuities

    A charitable gift annuity is a simple contract between you and the ELCA Foundation. In exchange for making a gift to benefit Lutherlyn, you will receive regular (quarterly, semiannual or annual) fixed payments for your lifetime and, if you desire, for the lifetime of your spouse or another person. Lutherlyn receives the remainder of your gift. You receive a tax deduction at the time the charitable gift annuity is established. A portion of each payment is tax-free in most cases.

  • Charitable Remainder Trusts

    A Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) is an irrevocable trust designed to generate an income stream for you or your loved ones for a defined period of time, with the remainder of the donated assets going to the ministries of your choice. You might choose to fund your CRT during your lifetime with an appreciated asset — such as a home, land or securities — to provide lifetime income for you and potential income for your heirs for a predetermined time frame. Or, you might establish a testamentary trust, funded through your estate plan, to provide income to your heirs over time and avoid the financial risks associated with windfall inheritances.

  • Donor Advised Funds

    A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is like a charitable investment account, for the sole purpose of supporting organizations you care about, like Lutherlyn. It allows donors to make a charitable contribution, receive an immediate tax deduction (in most cases) and then recommend grants from the fund over time.  Donors can contribute to the fund as frequently as they like, and then recommend distributions to their favorite charities whenever makes sense for them.

  • Endowments

    A named endowment is a fund a donor establishes with the ELCA Foundation to provide perpetual support to Lutherlyn. Establishing an endowment fund in your name or the name of a loved one is a great way to establish a legacy and ensure support to Lutherlyn for years to come.

  • Estate Gifts

    Every individual has an “estate” comprising all the assets (money and property) they own at death. An estate gift is a broad category of end-of-life gifts, made to charities from one or more of these sources. Working with a regional gift planner from the ELCA Foundation can help you structure your estate plan in a way that maximizes gifts to family and ministries like Lutherlyn and minimizes the risk of a lengthy legal process. An estate gift can be the largest gift you’ll ever give, and it’s important to ensure that the gift is well-planned and documented.

  • Life Insurance

    Life Insurance is insurance that pays out a sum of money either on the death of the insured person or after a set period. Generally, there are three ways to make a gift of life insurance to Lutherlyn: changing/adding Lutherlyn as a beneficiary, transfer ownership of your paid-up life insurance policy, or establishing a new charitable life insurance policy (Instead of paying your premiums to the insurance company, you will make regular gifts to the ELCA that will be used to pay the policy premiums. Each time you make a gift to the ELCA you will receive a charitable tax deduction. The life insurance proceeds will be directed to Lutherlyn.).

  • Qualified Charitable Distribution

    A Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) is a distribution from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) that is made directly to Lutherlyn. Recent changes to the law have raised, from 70½ to 72, the age at which you are required to withdraw from your IRA a certain amount of money known as your Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). These distributions are taxed as they are withdrawn. Despite this change in the law, a QCD continues to allow taxpayers over age 70½ to donate to Lutherlyn directly from their IRA, which would allow you to avoid federal income tax on this money while supporting Lutherlyn.

  • Retirement Plans

    A Retirement Plan is a financial arrangement designed to replace employment income upon retirement. These plans may be set up by employers, insurance companies, trade unions, the government, or other institutions. Often there is a tax advantage to designating a charitable organization like Lutherlyn as a beneficiary.


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