Desert Palms Endowment Program

The purpose of the Desert Palms Endowment Program is to help members insure the church will continue to grow and service its mission and ministries.  The goal of the program is to provide donors with a vehicle to make gifts to the church that will support existing or new opportunities which are above and beyond the annual operating budget.  Funds can be set up so that only the income will be used for designated projects.

Examples of existing endowment funds are the Music Fund, the Scholarship Fund, and the General Endowment Fund.  Depending on the wishes of donors, new special purpose funds that have been approved by the Session can be established.

There are many ways to make gifts to the Endowment Funds.  Some of the options are:

• Outright gifts of cash, stock, bonds or property
• Retirement Funds -- The church can be named a contingent (secondary) beneficiary of IRA's
• Various Annuities -- A popular approach which can provide lifetime income for the donor
• Life insurance policy benefits (partial or entire)
• Wills and bequests

Additional information can be found at the following web site: http://www.presbyterianfoundation.org

 

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GOOD NEWS

FROM THE ENDOWMENT COMMITTEE

 The Birthday Dilemma …

 

The Endowment Committee has a solution for you.

We’re establishing a Birthday Fund to help Desert Palms’ general endowment, so the next time you need a gift for that special someone who has everything (including yourself), you can remember him or her (or yourself) with a gift that goes on giving--a gift to the Desert Palms Presbyterian Church Mabel Church and Charles Ainsworth Birthday Fund. Each year the Fund will honor the current oldest female and male member of our congregation.

As we suggested, you can also honor your own birthday with a gift to the Fund, possibly a dollar (or $5, or $10, or $100) for each year you’re celebrating. For example, at age 76, the gift might be $76 or any dollar amount--all of it fully tax deductible, of course.

We plan to acknowledge Birthday Fund donors by name, not amounts, in The Palms, though certainly you may also opt out of any public recognition. Please remember this: although we usually think of “endowments” as involving large sums of money, the Birthday Fund exemplifies the principle of large trees from little acorns grow.

 

BIRTHDAY/ANNIVERSARY ENDOWMENT

          The Desert Palms Birthday/Anniversary fund in honor of Mabel Church, Charles Ainsworth, and Jim and Vi Miller provides an opportunity to recognize life events with a contribution to the long term viability of Desert Palms. This past month contributions were received from John Covert in honor of his wife Marie’s birthday, Roger and Jan Lansberry in honor of their anniversary, and Jayne and Gene Jahnke in recognition of sixty years of marriage.  Growth is dependent on added contributions and increased value of the investment.  Many of us have all the “things” we need in life.  On one of these special events please consider joining those who have marked a birthday or anniversary with a contribution to this endowment in lieu of another present.

Current Fund Value:  $6,269.74

Nurse Endowment

 We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to another vehicle that has been created to insure the continuation of the Congregational Nurse position as a member of our ministry team. Budget constraints continually create pressure to reduce costs, and those in the personnel area are not immune. To protect the Nurse’s position, an endowment has been created to defray a portion of the position’s salary and benefits. Over time it is hoped that it will grow to the point where the position is not dependent on the operating budget for funding.

Ellen Van Arsdale provides a valuable service to this congregation. Many have benefited from both her medical assistance and spiritual guidance as she fulfills her job. As a way to recognize this we would ask that you consider an endowment contribution in the form of a donation, a bequest or the directing of memorial funds given in memory of a loved one to this endowment.

Gifts of $5,000 or more will be recognized on a plaque maintained in the church’s administrative area. Please consider honoring the nurse’s contribution of time and service with a monetary donation.

-The Endowment Committee

Congregational Nurse Endowment

On Sunday, April 26, 2009, the Endowment Committee recognized the Bauernfeind family for their $5,000 contribution to the Congregational Nurse Endowment.  This endowment was created in 2008 with the earnings to be used to offset the salary paid to the Church Congregational Nurse, a position currently filled by Ellen Van Arsdale. A special plaque recognizes those who meet this level of giving in honor of a family member or themselves.

John Bauernfeind read about the endowment in The Palms, and he and his sisters wanted to recognize the role that Ellen served in the life of their parents, Burt and Marge. They had met as college freshmen in 1934 and spent the rest of their lives together, both passing away in 2008 after sixty-eight years of marriage. They had moved to Sun City West and joined Desert Palms in 1996 after Burt’s insurance career in Minnesota that involved numerous awards from Prudential, his employer. If you would like to read about the Bauernfeind’s lives, the church library has the book, The Kenyon Kid, which was written with the help of a local writer.

John talked about the role that Ellen played as both of this parents dealt with end of life matters, and spoke passionately about his view of the importance of the nurse’s position in the church’s mission as it attends to the needs of its congregation. He also donated his $250 government stimulus check that will be provided to all recipients of social security in May and challenged members of the congregation to follow his lead. The Endowment Committee publicly thanks John Bauernfeind for this act of kindness. Please consider the Congregational Nurse Endowment when you plan your estate or yearly financial contributions.

—The Endowment Committee 

ENDOWMENT CONTRIBUTION

A ten thousand dollar contribution has been received from a current member, who wishes to remain unnamed, for the Desert Palms Endowment funds. The contribution will be evenly split between the General Endowment and the Nurse’s Endowment.

The long term future of this congregation could be dependant, in part, on the endowment growth and added contributions. Some programs are currently funded by the earnings of invested assets as stipulated by the contributing individual.

If you have interest in joining this list of dedicated members, please contact a member of the Endowment Committee, or see Rachel Randall for further information.