Making a Legacy Gift toDecatur First

The following information is to help you remember the Church in your estate plan. 

Please designate your gift to “Decatur First United Methodist Church, Inc. for endowment.”  Your gift can be a stated dollar amount or a percentage.  If you use a percentage, make sure you are clear as to the amount subject to the percentage, ie, your whole estate, your probate estate, the retirement plan only.

Your gift will go into the General Fund of the Endowment Fund unless you provide otherwise. If you wish, you can provide that your gift will be added to a specific existing fund (listed below).  You can provide this designation in your Will.  If you are using a beneficiary designation for a retirement plan or insurance policy, the form may not have space for the designation. In this case, you can specify your wishes in a letter to the Church which it is our policy to honor.

If your gift is $100,000 or more, you may create a new named fund and specify the purpose for which the fund can be used.  Please contact the Church business office for more information.

If your situation is more complicated and you need to do additional charitable planning or you would just like to look into other methods of making a charitable gift, please contact the Georgia United Methodist Foundation at www.gumf.org.

The easiest way to make a gift is in a beneficiary designation form for an insurance policy or a retirement plan (employer profit sharing plan, 401K or IRA).  This just requires getting an “official” form from the provider, completing it in accordance with the instructions, and returning it to the provider.  The form has no legal effect unless it is on file with the provider at the time of your death.  The church will not have to pay the income tax on the distribution as would an individual.

If you choose this method for your gift and you wish to designate it for a specific existing fund (see below), you can provide for this in a letter to the Church which you should leave with your Will and other estate documents so that your family can give it to the Church.

Current funds in the Endowment: 

  • Brown – Pre-school scholarships

  • Figart – Maintenance

  • General Maintenance

  • Stillwell – Maintenance

  • Pastor’s Discretionary Fund

  • Children’s Ministry

  • Renfroe – Kitchen

  • St. John – Music

  • Worship/Music

  • General Scholarships

  • Taylor – College and Postgraduate Scholarships

  • Gary – DEAM

  • Gary – Mission

  • General Fund

This is general information and you should consult your professional advisors before making changes to your estate plan.