Planned Giving

The Tower Society: your legacy for Saint James

The Tower Society is a group of people at Saint James who have taken the steps in life to provide for the church after their death. Quite simply, in their last will and testament they are declaring that, in addition to their family and heirs, God and the church were central to their life, and so they have made what are known as planned gifts to Saint James.

Planned gifts can take many forms. You can leave a percentage of your estate or a fixed amount to the church in your will. But there are many other methods, such as leaving real estate or securities to the church, or naming Saint James as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, charitable gift annuity, IRA or donor-advised fund. How does this help the church? Most planned gifts go into our pool of invested funds. They are extremely important gifts because, regardless of size, they grow in value and produce income for many years to come.

These funds form the core of the resources that sustain our building and grounds and the growth of the church. Saint James is here today because of the generations of generosity not only during parishioners’ lifetimes, but also because of these especially transformative gifts given at the end of life.