Christ Lutheran Church Endowment

The Ministry of the Endowment 

The Christ Lutheran Church Endowment is a ministry of the Congregation through which members and friends can permanently continue their financial support of the mission and ministry of Christ Lutheran Church of Visalia.

Established in 1998, the Endowment is a permanent fund to receive bequests and estate gifts from members and friends of Christ Lutheran Church. All bequests from wills, living trusts, life insurance, and other estate gifts, unless otherwise designated, are placed in the Endowment.  Only the interest income earned from the Endowment is spent each year, funding CLC needs and grants to other ministries and organizations.

Giving to the Endowment

Members and friends of Christ Lutheran Church are encouraged to make estate plans while they are still fully capable of deciding for themselves their end-of-life intentions.  Simply put: if you do not have a will, the State of California has one for you – and the state’s determination of who should receive your assets once you have passed may not align with your wishes and interests.

We ask that when you do make estate plans or have a will drawn up, that you consider including the CLC Endowment as a beneficiary, either for a specific dollar amount or for a percentage of the total value.
You may also designate appreciated assets, including stocks, mutual funds or real estate to the Endowment. You may name the Endowment as a beneficiary of your pension, 401(k), IRA or life insurance policy. You may also ask loved ones, family and friends to give to the Endowment in your memory.

Please use this language when listing the Endowment as a beneficiary: “Christ Lutheran Church Endowment, Visalia, California.”

Your estate gift to the CLC Endowment will enable permanent support to the Congregation and many other ministries and organizations.

We are also pleased to receive monetary gifts from members and friends at any time to further the mission of the Endowment.  It’s as easy as writing a check to “Christ Lutheran Church”, clearly marking the purpose “Endowment” on the check’s memo line, and either placing it in the collection plate at a service or mailing it to the church office.  If the donor is not already a member of Christ Lutheran, please include the full name and address of the donor so that the tax-deductible charitable contribution may be properly acknowledged.

We are happy to receive gifts of stock or most other financial instruments, but will need to make special arrangements. We will consider other non-monetary gifts but will need to discuss plans and intent with the donor in advance.  Please contact us in these cases by clicking on the Contact Us button below.

Learn About Qualified Charitable Distributions

A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is a distribution from an IRA made directly to an eligible charity, bypassing the owner of the account. Owners of individual retirement accounts who are at least age 70 1/2 can contribute some or all of their IRAs to the church to benefit not only the church, our community and also themselves.

But why would you want to do that after making contributions for years in anticipation of the day when you retire?  Because it can be advantageous from a tax perspective in a few ways.