Planned Giving

“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received—only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.”   — St. Francis of Assisi

For many of you, the work of Christ in today’s world through the Church is an important part of your lives. Thus, you are regular contributors to St. George’s Church through your regular offerings for the general operating budget of the church and through the various special appeals. You usually make these donations from your regular source of income.

While you enjoy the benefits of your assets during your lifetime, you can plan now for how they will be used after your death. Family and friends are at the heart of such planning and you need to make sure that they are looked after, but please also consider how you can continue to help with the work of the Church in the future.

This is where Planned Giving comes in. In simple terms, Planned Giving is a way of ensuring the   ongoing mission and ministry of the Church from your accumulated assets. A Planned Gift is a   deferred gift; that is, you decide now how your assets will be used later.

The simplest form of Planned Giving is to remember St. George’s Church in your Will. If you should decide to leave a bequest to St. George’s, in your will you would simply state: I hereby give, devise, and bequeath to the Corporation of St. George’s Church, 99 Woolwich Street, Guelph, (here state the nature or amount of the gift). This is relatively straightforward and may also provide some tax benefits for your estate.

You could also continue to remember St. George’s through either a Gift Plus Annuity or a Gift Plus Life Insurance. These options may provide tax benefits for you today, give you a guaranteed income for life, or enable you to give a significant future gift at a modest cost to you now.

To help you explore some of the various options, a series of pamphlets, Planned Giving in the Anglican Diocese of Niagara, are available. You can find these in the cloister either on the table or in the tract rack. Why not pick them up and take them home so that you can read them carefully and consider the various options?

You may want to contact the Rector for additional information. He will gladly discuss, in confidence, any questions or concerns that you may have.

Please prayerfully consider some of these Planned Giving options when you are doing your personal planning.