Endowment & Designated Funds

Creating a Designated Fund

Creating a designated fund at the Foundation is a wonderful way to ensure long-term support for the specific United Methodist church, agency, institution or ministry of your choice. By establishing a designated fund, you are creating a means to continue your charitable giving beyond your lifetime and to touch the lives of future generations. A designated fund can help you achieve the following goals:

  • Provide a source of financial support for your church or other United Methodist ministries in perpetuity;
  • Establish one fund to support several organizations (e.g., designate a percentage of fund earnings to specific organizations);
  • Ensure that if a church closes, an agency dissolves, or if a ministry program changes its purpose, the fund will carry out your charitable intentions – either through another church or agency or by designating an alternate use or purpose;
  • Make an endowment gift to a new, small or struggling organization;
  • Make an endowment gift without concern that the principal may be invaded or used imprudently, or not invested properly.

To create a designated fund, the Foundation encourages a gift of at least $10,000, either initially or anticipated through total giving over a period of time (e.g., a series of annual gifts, a bequest and/or the remainder from a charitable trust or gift annuity).  Additional contributions of any amount may be made to funds already established.

Simply contact the Foundation office to discuss how you would like your fund set up. We will then prepare a brief Instrument of Transfer for your review and approval. You return the signed agreement with your gift of cash or with the transfer instructions for gifts of other types of property.

For additional information click here.  A Foundation staff person would be delighted to visit with you about your gift plans.  Please call us at: 800-332-8238

Donor Advised Funds

The Foundation offers Donor Advised Funds as a convenient new option for giving to your favorite United Methodist ministries. By establishing such a fund at the Foundation, you can minimize your taxes by making charitable gifts to your fund, but decide later which charities will benefit.

The Benefits of a Donor Advised Fund include:

  • You can make a gift to your Fund at the time most convenient for you and receive an immediate charitable deduction.
  • You can decide later what charity(ies) you recommend to receive distributions, how much and when.
  •  Earnings are credited and compounded tax-free so that more money may be available for your favorite charities.
  • You can pass on important values of service and caring for others by involving children or other family members in charitable gift recommendations.
  • You and others may add to your Fund any time. All gifts will be acknowledged by the Foundation, and you will be advised of contributions received.
  • You will receive an annual statement of all contributions, distributions and Fund earnings.

A Donor Advised Fund is especially attractive when you have stock or real estate and:

  • You wish to bypass any capital gains tax that would be due if you sold it.
  • The value is more than you want to give any one charity.
  •  You want to transfer the asset all at once and avoid having to accomplish multiple transfers of fractional shares to many different charities.

You can establish a Foundation Donor Advised Fund with as little as $10,000. Gifts may be cash, securities or property, and you may make additional contributions of any size at any time. Each gift represents an unconditional, irrevocable charitable contribution and is not refundable. The Foundation conscientiously invests and administers your Fund, and the money is available for distribution to United Methodist ministries you recommend at any time.

The annual distributions from Foundation Donor Advised Funds primarily benefit charitable organizations that are related to the United Methodist Church. Charities that are unrelated to the United Methodist Church, but that are compatible with the Church’s mission can be considered for a portion of annual fund distributions.

Establishing your Foundation Donor Advised Fund can be as easy as filling out a form and writing a check. For more information, contact the Foundation or phone 800-332-8238.

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MUMF is a steward of faith-filled legacies. Endowments are little Wesleyan engines – earning, saving, and giving all they can in perpetuity. The result is a growing fountain of resources for churches and other vital ministries. The saints that came before us who created these funds are still with us – helping to meet the challenges of this day, and to become the church that God imagines.

Review the lists – and think about the possibilities for your legacy…

designated funds

Total Endowments and Designated Funds

Total value of endowments as of 12/31/2023 — $38,792,325

Individual donors create endowment funds at the Foundation in a variety of ways. The basic concept of an endowment is that the gift is invested and the earnings from the gift benefit one or more charities or charitable activities every year, forever. An endowment is a powerful tool for growing and sustaining ministry. In addition, an endowment can carry a memorial name that is a truly lasting tribute.

Total 2023 distributions from designated funds to charitable beneficiaries — $949,256 

start your endowment today

What are Endowments & Designated Funds?

Endowments

An endowment is a charitable fund that provides a permanent source of income for your church or other favorite ministry(ies).

Your gifts to an endowment are not spent. Rather, the earnings from the endowment gifts are spent in support of ministry. If managed properly over time, the fund should grow to meet or exceed inflation and produce a growing annual income stream.

Designated Funds

Designated funds are charitable funds that can be very similar to an endowment, or they can include instructions that change the timing, use, duration, or other aspects of how the fund is used for charitable purposes over time.

In other words, you can tailor a charitable fund in a number of ways, and we are happy to assist you in thinking through the possibilities.

Create Your Fund

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create your fund in the future

Create Your Fund Today

Creating a charitable endowment or designated fund at the Foundation is a wonderful way to ensure long-term support for the specific church, agency, institution or ministry of your choice.

Designations can target specific charitable uses or purposes and can be finite or perpetual in duration. It’s a great way to fund ministry today and to advance ministry for future generations. To create a designated fund, the Foundation encourages a gift of at least $10,000, either initially or anticipated through total giving over a period of time (e.g., a bequest or the remainder from a charitable trust or gift annuity). Additional contributions of any amount may be made to funds already established.

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Simply contact the Foundation office to discuss how you would like your fund set up.

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We will then prepare a brief document that describes how you wish your fund to be administered. We will send a draft of this document to you (mail or email) for your review and approval.

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When you are satisfied with the document, sign it and return it to the Foundation with your gift. A personal check can be mailed with the document. Contact the Foundation office for easy instructions for transferring a gift of appreciated stock. Gifts of real estate or personal property can also be wonderful gifts, but special rules and procedures for making such gifts may apply. Please contact the Foundation to discuss these types of gifts.

Create Your Fund in the Future

Another way to create a designated fund is with a gift through your estate plans.

You can make provision in your will or trust document or through beneficiary designations on specific assets. Alternatively, you may contact the Foundation and set up a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU document will describe your intended future gift to the fund through a testamentary arrangement, and the document will simply be kept on file at the Foundation office.

Sample language
for a will or trust:

[Describe a particular asset, a specific amount or a percentage of the estate] to the Missouri United Methodist Foundation, Inc., (“Foundation”) office currently located in Columbia, Missouri, for the purpose of creating a permanent endowment fund (“Fund”) for the benefit of the Wesley United Methodist Church of Cityville, Missouri, (“Church”) or its charitable successor. The endowment fund shall be titled “The John and Jane Doe Charitable Fund” and distributions from the fund shall be for the general charitable purposes of the Church, without restriction. If the Church ceases to exist without a successor church, then the Foundation may use the Fund for purposes as near as possible to my original intent.

If you create an MOU, then the MOU can cover lots of administrative details. Your will or trust can just briefly state:

[Describe a particular asset, a specific amount or a percentage of the estate] to the Missouri United Methodist Foundation, Inc., (“Foundation”) office currently located in Columbia, Missouri, for the purpose of creating or adding to “The John and Jane Doe Charitable Fund” as described in a Memorandum of Understanding with the Foundation dated 11/23/2024 (as amended).

The use of the MOU is most useful if you wish to name multiple beneficiaries, designate specific uses, name alternate beneficiaries, or cover other matters that would be lengthy to include in a typical estate document. Furthermore, it is much easier to amend your MOU if you wish to make a change. Contact David Atkins at the Foundation office to discuss your plans and to develop your MOU.

Ideas to Consider:

Provide a recurring and growing source of financial support for your church or another favorite ministry.

Establish one fund to support several organizations. For example, your instructions could allocate 25% of the annual distribution to each of four charities.

Name a successor charity. If a church closes, an agency dissolves, or a ministry program changes its purpose, your fund can shift its support to an alternate charitable organization or purpose.

Create a fund that simply grows for a period, awaiting a specific project or ministry purpose. The fund could then distribute its full value, a portion of its value, and/or start providing an annual distribution.

Create a scholarship fund. This is a popular option and can be tailored in several ways.

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