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Policy
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Procedures
2011 Contribution Detail Statements
Contribution Statements for 2011 will be mailed to members and friends of the church on January 20, 2012. The statements will be issued in compliance with IRS guidelines and provide members and friends with a "giving" statement which lists all contributions received throughout the year that totaled $250.00 or more.
If your gift fell within the range of up to $249.00 and you would like to have a statement issued, please contact the church office by e-mail, fax, telephone, or mail. A statement will be sent to you.
Foodland’s Give Aloha Program
$8,433.51 Received
A word of thanks is extended to members and friends for their contributions to Keawalaʻi Congregational Church through Give Aloha, Foodland’s Annual Community Matching Gifts Program. A total of $8,433.51 was received from the month-long program.
This year customer donations to all participating organizations statewide totaled $1,583.496.56. With Western Union’s matching gift of $50,000 and Foodland’s matching gift of $250.000, a grand total of $1,838,496.56 was raised for the community.
An additional $200.00 was received from members and friends living in other states. That amount for the Give Aloha Program was donated directly to the church and received as “Tithes & Offerings.”
Laura Moore, a member of the Board of Trustees, served as the coordinator for this year’s program. She was mentored, in part, by Fred Lulof, the former coordinator. Mahalo to Laura and Fred.
Helping Hands
Throughout the year volunteers continue to provide their helping hand. Mahalo to Pat Dawson of Kīhei & Comox, BC, Canada and Allen Teagle of Mākena for cleaning the windows of the hale pule and a good friend from Wailea for cleaning the ceiling fans and light fixtures and for replacing all of the light bulbs in the hale pule.
Keawalaʻi Endowment Fund
Temporary Gifts to the Church
The September-October issue of this newsletter and journal included the article “Gifts that Reserve a Varying Stream of Income.” That article was a duplication of what appeared in the July-August issue. What follows is the next article in a series of eight articles.
Petitioners who wish to make a substantial gift to the Church over a period of years while still ensuring that their property will ultimately be returned to them or their loved ones, may be interested in what is known as Charitable Lead Trust. This type of charitable giving will require the assistance of competent estate planning professionals, but is not as complicated as it sounds.
A Charitable Lead Trust can be flexible and provides one of a limited number of ways to control when an inheritance is received by your loved ones, while reducing taxes and probate expenses that might otherwise be due on assets left outright to the children, grandchildren or other loved ones.
In using a Charitable Lead Trust, assets are transferred to the Trust so that the Trust can pay income to the Church or other charitable recipients for a specified number of years that you determine in advance. At the end of that period, the assets are returned to you or more probably transferred to specific loved ones named by you.
The following is just one example of this type of giving:
Mrs. Apo is 75 years of age and has been advised by her attorney that her estate will be subject to significant amounts of tax at the time of her death. She has three grandchildren whose ages range from twenty to thirty.
On the advice of her attorney, Mrs. Apo creates a Trust that will take effect at the time of her death and will pay a stipulated annual sum to the Church for fifteen years, after which the assets will pass to her grandchildren in equal shares.
By making a temporary gift to the Church in this way, Mrs. Apo has met her charitable commitment to the Church and its work, while assuring that her grandchildren will receive a substantial sum at a time in their lives when they should be able to manage it successfully.
Benefitting the Church Through Your Will
Over the course of the year, a series of articles will be presented by the Keawalaʻi Endowment Committee highlighting ways that members and friends may include the Church as a beneficiary in their estate planning. You are invited to contact the committee if you are considering the Church as a beneficiary. A member of the committee will be available to assist you in your planning.
Many people use a Will as the means of distributing their estate when they die. The making of a new Will, or the amendment of an existing Will, offers an opportunity for making thoughtful gifts, including gifts to the Church.
After appropriately providing for your loved ones, you may wish to include gifts to the Church or other charitable organizations. While probably not your principal motivation, gifts to the Church and other charitable organizations are deductible from your gross estate for federal estate tax purposes.
If you would like to provide for the Church in your Will, your attorney can easily insert the appropriate provisions for a gift of a specific dollar among, a specific piece of real estate or other property, a percentage of your total estate, or a gift of the remaining balance of your assets after remembering your loved ones. You might also wish to name the Church as a contingent beneficiary in the event that one or more of your loved ones do not survive you.
The following is just one example of this type of giving:
Mrs. Kealoha has been a long-time supporter of the Church, and is concerned that a portion of her assets be used to help the Church in a special way.
Mrs. Kealohaʻs existing Will included a charitable gift to the church that would take effect only in the event her daughter did not survive her. Her daughter has now achieved financial independence, and in reviewing her Will with her attorney, Mrs. Kealoha decides to add a gift to the Church of a percentage of her estate, while still leaving the balance of her assets to her daughter.
Columbarium - Niches & Plaques
Pō'aialoha - Circle of Love" identifies the area of the church cemetery where the columbarium has been located. The columbarium contains eighty (80) niches designed to hold no more than two sealed containers of ashes. The area also includes thirty-six (36) in-ground memorial plaques for those who chose to have their ashes scattered at sea.
Details on the terms and conditions for all General
Members as well as fees are processed through the work of the board's
Cemetery Committee. The committee also handles matters related to the
church cemetery itself.
For more information, please contact the church at (808) 879-5557. The
committee will be notified of your interest.
Stewardship & Finance Committee
“Using Your Retirement Assets
as a Gift to the Church”
On December 17, 2010 President Obama signed the “Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, & Job Creation Act of 2010” which includes an extension of the IRA Charitable Rollover allowing taxpayers to make current outright gifts of retirement assets.
The new law provides that through December 31, 2011, an owner of a Traditional IRA, who is age 70 1/2 or older, may instruct the Plan Administrator to distribute directly to a public charity, such as the Keawalaʻi Church Endowment Fund, $100,000 or less without the distribution being included in taxable income, and that the distribution will count toward the IRA owner’s Required Minimum Distribution.
The primary benefits of the direct IRA Rollover to a qualified charity such as local congregations, conferences, national ministries and related institutions of the United Church of Christ (UCC) are:
- While the donor does not receive a charitable deduction, neither is the transfer to charity treated as an income distribution to the donor; thus the donor enjoys the equivalent of a charitable deduction by avoiding the tax that ordinarily would have been due on an IRA income distribution, a benefit to itemizers and non-itemizers alike.
- The gift will not be subject to deduction limitations or phase -outs for donors in higher income brackets or who otherwise have exceeded their charitable deductions for the year.
The IRA Rollover legislation is limited to direct outright gifts to charities and cannot be used to fund life interest gifts such as charitable gift annuities, pooled income funds or charitable remainder trusts.
Distributions to donor advised funds and supporting organizations are not eligible. Employer-sponsored plans, such as a Simple IRA, 401(k), or 403(b) are not qualified distribution sources.
Also note that the IRA Rollovers may be includable in a donor’s income for state and local tax purposes and may not earn an offsetting charitable deduction, depending on state and local law. Consult your attorney, accountant or financial advisor.
Pastoral Housing Fund
The Board of Trustees approved a name change of the “Parsonage Fund”
to the “Pastoral Housing Fund” and guidelines for its possible use at
its meeting that was held on June 26, 2011. Renaming the account
will provide members and friends of the church with an accurate understanding
of the use of the fund. The name change will give flexibility to
its use for housing needs as interpreted by the Board of Trustees and
the Church Council
Background
A large portion of the current balance of the fund dates from the mid-1980ʻs when the congregation envisioned the construction of a hale kahu or parsonage. However, in 1999 it was determined that a parsonage was not practical.
The determination was based on the trend in housing for pastors. It was noted that increasing numbers of pastors, many with families, preferred the location of their residency away from the church campus.
In the past, congregations viewed the parsonage as a way of minimizing its housing costs. The more current view is that the maintenance and upkeep of such homes are becoming more and more costly.
In addition, it was pointed out that pastors today are more likely to favor investing in the purchase of a home for the purpose of building equity. This becomes especially important once a pastor retires.
Previous Use
The only use of these funds occurred in September 2005 when the congregation voted to provide $13,000 as a reimbursement to Kahu Kealahou Alika for necessary repairs to the home he had then recently purchased.. This amount was drawn from interest earned over the years.
Guidelines for Possible Use of Pastoral Housing Fund
Since there is no recorded list of all donors, this article serves as notice of the name change and that he primary use of the fund for housing remains. Examples of some uses include the following: to cover pastoral housing related expenses not covered by the current housing allowance; to assist ministerial staff members with the purchase of a home, with or without a repayment plan; or to provide housing for a supply pastor called to serve the church while the kahu mua or senior pastor is on sabbatical.
Youth Fund
The Board of Trustees approved the renaming of four line items currently identified for use in support of programs and activities related to children and youth at its meeting held on June 26, 2011. Renamed the Youth Fund, the line items included what was previously identified as the Kilkenny Fund; Children’s Fund; Youth - Other; and another Children’s Fund.
Consolidating the funds under one name will eliminate the duplication of the use of resources meant for similar purposes. The fund will be administered by the Stewardship & Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees in consultation with the Children’s Ministry Committee, Youth Ministry Committee and the Church Council.
Background
In 1994, William and Doris Kilkenny of Vancouver, Washington provided the church with a gift that became known as the Kilkenny Fund. The intention was that the funds be used in support of programs and activities for children and youth. A task force was established in 1994 with the responsibility for bringing its recommendations to the annual meeting of the church in 1995.
The task force recommended that the funds be used, but not limited to the following with an emphasis on children and youth: scholarships, staff support for youth and Sunday School programs, Bible study, and for building, renovating, and maintaining the structures and grounds of the church. Over the years the fund has been used to support the participation of youth in the United Church of Christ National Youth Event and the renovation of the classroom building. The two Children’s Fund were established through gifts received from families in celebration of the baptism of infants, children and youth.
The Youth - Other line item was set up to receive monies raised for state, regional and/or national youth events. The fund included monies received from previous fundraisers as well as from funds received from the ongoing recycling project of plastic bottles and aluminum cans.
Guidelines for Possible Use of Youth Fund
The Youth Fund is intended to provide for children and youth. This includes infants as well as preschoolers through college age youth. Funds may be used to provide scholarships for church-related local, state, regional and/or national activities; scholarships for continuing education needs; and for staff support for the Youth Ministry Program and Sunday School Program of the church.
Pavilion Blessed & Dedicated
On Sunday, July 31, 2011 members and friends gathered for a blessing and dedication of the new pavilion. Although the pavilion was still a few weeks from completion, the blessing was offered to coincide with the semi-annual meeting of the congregation that was held that day. Taka Harada, Moderator/President and Bruce Burkitt, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees offered words of appreciation for the members of the board. Particular attention was given to Tom Nelson, a trustee and the Project Manager who represented the church.
Following an ʻoli by Kahu Kealahou Alika, Tom and Karen Nelson were invited to untie the roped ti leaf lei that was made by Merrill Kaufman. The pavilion will provide space for the Sunday morning Aloha Hour, the Gift Table and additional space for Sunday School.