For years, Phil and Sara had given a substantial amount of their annual income and other assets to Christian churches and ministries, to help fund the work of God's Kingdom both in the United States and overseas.

However, the more they gave, the more complicated things got:

• They wrote literally hundreds of checks per year and had to track and save receipts from many different ministries. 
   
• They frequently wanted to make anonymous gifts but didn't know how to do so.
   
• Every December, their professional advisor would tell them to make gifts before year-end for tax purposes, but Phil and Sara always felt rushed to select the right ministry to receive those gifts.
   
• They heard of other donors giving things like real estate for business interests, but they didn't know how to accomplish that.

Then a friend introduced Phil and Sara to The Foundation for Christian Stewardship (FCS) and told them to open up a Giving Fund.  This Fund, their friends said, was similar to having a private foundation, without the expensive set up costs and IRS rules and filings.

So, in just a day, Phil and Sara opened their FCS Giving Fund.  They spoke with a gift planner at FCS, who explained all sorts of creative and tax-smart ways to give into that Fund … by giving assets other than just cash and publicly traded stocks. 

After a meeting with FCS and their professional advisor, Phil and Sara decided to gift some real estate property they owned, as well as shares of their family business.  They saved literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes – money that would now go to their favorite ministries, rather than the Federal government. 

This also accomplished the following goals:

• They made all their gifts to a single place, their FCS Giving Fund, and tracked their receipts easily for tax purposes.
   
• They gave assets at the end of a calendar year into their Fund, and then took months or even years to prayerfully consider which causes to support.
   
• Anytime of day, they would easily go online, log into their Fund, and recommend grants to multiple ministries.  FCS mailed the checks on their behalf.  And, Phil and Sara periodically reviewed their grant history to get a big picture look at their giving patterns.
   
• They also set up "recurring grant" schedules online, which meant that grant checks went out automatically while Phil and Sara were on vacation overseas.
   
• They recommended anonymous grants.  FCS sent out checks with only FCS' name on them, so the recipient charity never knew the checks were first initiated from Phil and Sara. 
   
• The money in their Fund grew tax-free in their choice of investment portfolios.

Very importantly, Phil and Sara were excited that they were able to partner with FCS, a like-minded group of people that shared their Biblical perspective on giving and further the Great Commission.