What is a Virtual Endowment (“VE”)?
A VE ‘shelters’ your gifts and stewards them over time in the St. Luke’s Foundation while allowing you the flexibility for fulfilling your charitable giving goals to the ministries you are passionate about. A virtual endowment is simply, ‘money held’ in an invested account by the St. Luke’s Foundation in your name. It is invested in order to grow and be used for the ministry areas you desire once your VE is fully capitalized.
The goal of our VE Program is to reduce the need for year-over-year fundraising or the emergency use of endowment principal for operational needs. A fully funded VE allows SLLCS to draw off the gains so they can be used to fund your charitable giving goals for St. Luke’s. There are several methods for funding a Virtual Endowment. Once fully funded, a Virtual Endowment will continually give to your chosen ministry indefinitely!
Example: Establish a Virtual Endowment of $50,000
- Pledge to fulfill your VE through annual giving and/or through your estate after the Lord calls you home to heaven.
- Make arrangements in your estate plan to ensure your Virtual Endowment is fully funded from your estate for any amount short of your goal. Simply supply St. Luke’s with paperwork indicating that your VE has been added to your estate planning documents as a bequest.
- If you do not currently have an estate plan, the St. Luke’s Transfer the Blessings Ministry can help you.
- You can also fulfill your virtual endowment commitment by taking out a life insurance policy and name your Virtual Endowment as primary beneficiary. Annual premiums for this insurance policy are almost always significantly less than making a recurring monthly or annual gift.
There are many alternative Virtual Endowment funding options to explore. Contact our Stewardship Office to find out more: development@sllcs.org or 407-365-3408
- If you have ever desired that your favorite ministry areas be funded indefinitely (even after the Lord calls you home); or if you have ever wanted to create an endowment fund, but lacked the ability to fully endow one all at once, then a Virtual Endowment was created with you in mind.
- Stewardship Goals: A Virtual Endowment allows you to make a considerable difference through long term giving opportunities, thus helping fulfill your stewardship response to His generosity.
- By having your VE gifts invested, over time your gift will grow unlike a standard donation.
- A VE permits your family members to contribute to your fund (ex: the Lowman Family Fund). This is an especially rewarding way to honor a family member or a friend.
- A VE can include a direct estate plan giving opportunity (bequest) to ensure it is fully funded with no out of pocket expense to you.
- Commingling the funding of your Virtual Endowment with your Estate Plan charitable donations could assist your heirs in saving taxes with the inheritance you leave them.