Charitable Gift Annuity
“I wanted to improve my cash flow and give money to parishes I wished to help.”
Father Donald J. Eder
Retired Pastor
The Charitable Gift Annuity
A Popular Way to Support Catholic Ministries while Increasing Your Income
With its recent introduction, the charitable gift annuity is taking its place as an extremely attractive tool for supporting Catholic ministries, parishes and schools in the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana while doing something smart for your retirement planning. A gift annuity today can provide you with a higher return than some fixed commercial vehicles such as money market funds or CDs. A charitable gift annuity can also give you the opportunity to make a larger gift than you thought possible – without exposing you to unnecessary financial risk.
Put a CFNI Gift Annuity to Work for You
Here is how the charitable gift annuity works. In exchange for your gift of cash or securities, The Catholic Foundation of Northcentral Indiana, Inc. agrees to pay a specified dollar amount to you each year for as long as you live.
The annuity payments are based on the age of the annuitant(s) at the time you make your gift. For example, assume that Angie Smith, age 75, creates a gift annuity with a $10,000 cash gift to the Foundation. Her interest rate is 7.1%, which means she receives a guaranteed, fixed annual payment of $710 for as long as she lives. Equally important, Angie designates the balance to be given to her parish, St. Joseph. This gift carries a federal income tax deduction in the year the gift is created!
Let Us Know How We Can Help
For additional information about how you can help yourself while helping Catholic ministries, parishes and Catholic schools in the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana in an important way, contact Robert McCreary, Director/Planned Giving Officer
Frequently Asked Questions about the Charitable Gift Annuity Program
Q. How will charitable gift annuity funds be invested?
A. CGA funds will be invested separately from other diocesan funds and managed by Robert Best of Smith-Barney in line with Catholic social and ethical teaching.
Q. What happens to the interest from the invested CGA funds?
A. Investment proceeds are added to the corpus of the annuity and reinvested.
Q. Upon death of a donor, who receives remaining annuity assets?
A. The beneficiary designated at the time the annuity is set up will receive the funds. Potential beneficiaries include parishes, Catholic schools, particular endowments within the Catholic Foundation, and ministries of the diocese.
Q. Will all gifts be accepted automatically?
A. All gifts are reviewed prior to acceptance as being consistent with guidelines.
Q. Are there charges to donors or designated recipients to administer an annuity?
A. There is no charge for this service.
Q. What about investment management fees levied by investment and money managers?
A. There is currently a one-fourth of one percent fee applied against the total assets of all annuities in the program portfolio. This fee is calculated and assessed quarterly, but this is not a separate charge to annuitants. Fees will go down as the portfolio grows.
Q. Will a pastor, parish administrator, school, or ministry official be consulted prior to accepting a designated gift from a donor?
A. Yes, the Planned Giving Officer will contact the designated beneficiary to discuss the appropriateness of the gift and its purpose prior to acceptance.
Q. Will the designated beneficiary be advised when a gift annuity has been finalized and can the designated beneficiary contact the donor to thank them?
A. Yes, the designated beneficiary will be notified when an annuity has been finalized. With the permission of the donor, the Planned Giving Officer will advise the designated beneficiary of the name and address of the donor.
Q. Who will be responsible for the administration and distribution of the checks to the annuitants?
A. The Diocesan Pastoral Office for Administration will administer the annuity program. The pastoral office will distribute annuity payments to the annuitants, via electronic deposit, and will provide information for year-end tax reporting.
For more information, please contact:
Robert McCreary , Director
Kathy Waldrep, Associate Director
Pastoral Office for Stewardship and Development
800-617-7466 or 765-742-7000.