By Jim Kerr, CFP®, EA, CLU®

Want to contribute to your favorite church or charity?  If done correctly, your donations can save you significant taxes.  Here are some strategies to consider, but make sure to discuss them with your tax advisor to determine if they are appropriate for you.

DONATE APPRECIATED SECURITIES:

If you donate a stock that has appreciated, you can save taxes in two ways.  First, you won’t be taxed on the appreciation of the stock, and second, you might be able to deduct the full value of the stock (if you itemize deductions on your tax return).

Example: Ten years ago, Mary inherited 1,000 shares of stock in XYZ Company from her mom.  At that time, the stock was valued at $75 per share. Today, the stock is valued at $200 per share.  Mary wants to donate $10,000 to her favorite charity and use the stock. If she sells the stock then donates the proceeds, she will realize capital gains and may owe capital gains taxes.   A better idea would be for Mary to donate the 50 shares of XYZ Company stock directly to the charity. In this way, she will not realize any capital gains, and can still get a tax deduction of up to $10,000 (if she itemizes).  The charity can then sell the stock with no tax consequences.

DONOR-ADVISED FUNDS:

High income taxpayers who want to contribute significant amounts to their church or charity may want to consider a donor-advised fund.  A donor-advised fund allows the taxpayer to make a large deductible contribution one year so they can itemize that year. They can then instruct the donor-advised fund to pay out a certain amount to their church or charities in future years.

Example: Hugh and Laurie have adjusted gross income of $300,000 per year, and want to give $10,000 per year total to their church over the next 10 years.  Unfortunately, they don’t have enough deductions to itemize, so they get no tax benefit from the $10,000 per year donation. Instead, they decide to donate $100,000 to a donor-advised fund this year.  Since the $100,000 is greater than the standard deduction, they get to deduct most of the $100,000 this year. They can then direct the donor-advised fund to send their church $10,000 per year over the next 10 years.

QUALIFIED CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTIONS (only for those age 70½ or older):

Taxpayers who have reached the age of 70½ must begin taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).  These distributions are taxable, and must be taken even if the taxpayer does not need the money to live on. One way to reduce or eliminate the taxes is to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your IRA directly to your church or charity.  The QCDs are not taxable and can satisfy part or all of the annual RMD requirement.

Example:  Fred and Barbara are both age 75 and must take RMDs from their IRAs in 2019.  Fred has to take a $11,500 RMD, and Barbara has to take a $14,500 RMD, so their RMDs total $26,000.  Fred and Barbara also have a pension and Social Security, and don’t need the RMDs to live on. They want to donate $14,500 to their favorite charity this year.  Barbara requests that her IRA custodian (Fidelity) issue a QCD check from her IRA made payable to her favorite charity. The check is mailed to Barbara and she gives it to the charity.  This reduces Fred and Barbara’s taxable income by $14,500 in 2019.

Talk to your tax advisor to see if any of these strategies make sense for you.

Central Presbyterian is moving forward, and following the recent leadership retreat, we want to provide information on three aspects of the health of CPC

1. Ministries –the refreshed clarity on the ministries of CPC and
2. Facilities –specific plans to ready our facilities for these ministries
3. Financial –we are on track for the year as planned AND that we of course need all of you to keep track on your pledges – annual and capital

First, we’d like to report to you on the direction of our beloved Central Presbyterian Church.

On behalf of the Session and the Deacons – who together took a leadership retreat last weekend – we want to tell the story of what has evolved over the past year.  This is a short story ….of listening, prayer, imagining and investing to live into our MISSION: Deliberately diverse and fully inclusive, Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Austin is a community of Christian faith where each person is welcomed as a unique child of God.

First, about a year ago the Session committed to a “wedding ministry”, led by our own ordained parish associate Sarah de la Fuente.  Recognizing that CPC has rich gifts for marriages … a beautiful sanctuary, an open table … where all couples can marry … a downtown location.  Sarah is leading our expansion of CPC’s service to marriage.

Later in the year,after a transition in staff, the personnel team conducted listening session (in which many of you participated) and prayerfully considered whether and how to fill our vacant positions.  As a result of these discussions, the Session affirmed two fundamental calls for CPC.

1. We want to serve children, youth and adults through inspired worship, spiritual formation programs and mission opportunities. 
2. We are deeply committed to mission work that to our downtown neighbors …

To support these callings, just about a month ago!!! … the congregation joyfully voted to hire Carolina Trevino as our Designated Associate Pastor for children, youth, and mission.

And now – a couple of weeks ago – at our retreat, the Sessions and Deacons called out accessibility as essential to inclusion… We want and need to make our building and programs accessible to everyone, children and adults of various abilities.  

Accessibility as inclusion; Mission; Children, Young adults and marriage … we now have the opportunity together to dig into this work and add much more color and detail to these ministry calls.   

NEXT –  We’d like to inform you of important investments the Session has launched to grow our mission and expand our presence in downtown Austin. 

Early this year, the Facilities Team and Session identified five critical areas for physical improvements to make these ministries successful:

1. The grounds, especially our rare downtown courtyard, are currently being renovated so that we can host events outdoors such as worship services, weddings, music concerts, picnics, and spiritual formation programs for all ages.   Pictures will be available next week!!  On line and on paper.  The work should be completed by early June. A special thank you to Linda Kreutz and the many people who participated in thinking through this plan.  And a very particular thank you to Cliff Collins and Brandon Larson, who have maintained the courtyard for years on a shoestring budget.
2. As every parent here knows… the children’s wing is in desperate need of some upgrades. Painting, and installing new carpets and safer doors are being bid and will be done over the summer.
3. Accessibility is essential and challenged in many ways, but a must is overcoming our many stairs as barriers.  The Facilities team is working on immediate ways to improve accessibility such chair lifts and is well aware that a better long term solution is also needed. 
4. And of course, PARKING – The Session commissioned some of our members to dig into parking options; they will be reporting to session soon about possible agreements with surrounding facilities.
5. There are many more long-term building needs. The Session has authorized a contract with a qualified firm for an Architectural Assessment of our building to help us consider our needed improvements for the next 50 years!   To that end, Jenny Morris is researching grants in preparation for seeking funds to support these even more ambitious plans for capital improvements.

We are happy to inform you that none of these improvements will impact our operating budget.  As you may remember last year, CPC began to get offers on oil leases that had been bequeathed to us in the 1940s. In 2018, the Session commissioned a task force of current and former Trustees and Session members. The leases were successfully sold for $540,000.   The Session placed this hand of God windfall into a Capital Reserve fund – with the expectation that most would be held for the HVAC mortgage; and that SOME of these funds could be used for sorely needed building improvements to support our ministries.  This is how the improvements we just told you about are being funded; we believe they are truly STEWARDING our beautiful facility to serve the ministries to which we are called.

FINALLY – Let us tell you about our financial position …

1. We are on track for operations as planned for the year
2. The 2019 budget included a commitment to invest up to $119,000 in funds from our operating reserve so that we could lean into our vision and hire our Designated Pastor. We are using those reserves as planned – if any of you feel called to make an additional gift to reduce that need, gratitude will surround you!  Meanwhile, we are of course counting on all of you who have pledged to “stay on track”!
3. Your engagement with your gifts – time, talent, and treasure – is needed, as it is always needed.

Balance Sheet and Capital Campaign

Our invested Operating Reserves are just over $580,000 (we committed to up to $119,000 this year…if we hold strong, as we have the first four months, we hope to use less than that!)

Thanks to the sale of the oil leases, our capital reserves stand at just over $540,000. We plan to use about a quarter of those funds for the improvements described above.  The rest will be retained for longer term projects and the HVAC mortgage.

Our Mortgage balance stands at just under $530,000.  (having been paid down about $430,000 through our capital campaign (the mortgage started in early 2018 at $960,000).

Last year, the congregation pledged over $750 thousand to the capital campaign to pay off the HVAC mortgage.  We have together made wonderful progress,  THANK YOU THANK YOU.    $173 thousand remains pledged to come in over the next year or two.  With those funds, we will continue to reduce the mortgage.

NOW – we are fully staffed, and moving forward

WE ARE ENTHUSED … TO BE ABLE TO REPORT ALL OF THIS !!   

We KNOW these ministries will demand growth to sustain them.  We believe that these investments in staffing and out facilities and grounds prepare us for this growth. We invite you to engage in any program or ministry to which you feel called.

More detailed financials are available; if interested please feel free to email our Treasurer, Carol Johnson, at .

Session – Presbyterian churches are governed by a body of elected elders, usually called the session. Each year, a new class is elected to the session of Central Presbyterian Church, serving a three-year term; the church often elects a youth representative who serves a one-year term. This rotation schedule provides for both continuity and fresh input.

Elders Elect

• Frances Ferguson (class of 2020)
• Ellen Perry (class of 2022)
• Linda Kreutz (class of 2022)
• Carmine Salvucci (class of 2022)
• Kevin Estes (class of 2022)

Deacons –Whereas elders are charged with the governing of the church, the deacons are charged with the care and nurturing of the church. At Central Presbyterian Church, deacons serve a three-year term; the church often elects a youth representative who serves a one-year term.

Deacons Elect

• Zulma Ortiz (class of 2022)
• Marilynn Thomas (class of 2022)
• Jenny Morris (class of 2022)
• Chris Kennedy (class of 2020)
• (Holly Swift will be helping, but cannot be ordained as a deacon, since she is already an ordained teaching elder.)

Trustee – Trustees are the legal representative of the church in contracts and other documents

Trustee elect – Ron Martell (class of 2022)