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Every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. Giving is the natural, thankful response of offering back to God a portion of what He has provided for us.
Ways to Give
Online Giving
Give with your Christ Church account. If you have previously registered with us for a event or for giving, log into your account. Your account allows you to make online donations and review your donations for the current and prior year.
Register an account to set up a recurring gift, or make a one-time contribution without an account.
Offertory
The easiest way to give with cash or check is during communion in our worship services. Baskets are placed at the front of each row. As you come forward to receive communion, you can place your offering in the basket.
To receive a receipt for tax deductions, enclose cash offerings in an envelope with your name and address. The IRS requires receipts or statements to verify contributions of any amount for tax deduction. When writing checks indicate on the memo line any amount that is designated to a fund other than the general operating budget.
Legacy Gifts
Donations of Appreciated Property. Gifts of stocks, bonds, and mutual fund shares to the church may provide tax advantages: the charitable deduction and no income tax on appreciated value. Please check with your tax advisor.
Instructions for Securities Gifts
Estate Gifts. Christ Church is honored and humbled to receive estate gifts from faithful members who have died and left a legacy to their church. Consult with your attorney or financial adviser to determine whether the planned gift approach that is right for your family, and see our policies below for more information.
Text to Give
You can send donations to Christ Church via text message. To set up a donation,
- Send a text to 972-960-3129
- In the text, type the dollar amount of your donation (just the number; no dollar signs or decimals are necessary).
- After the first time you send, you must fill out a short form that creates an account and charges a credit card number.
- Future donations will remember your account: simply text your dollar amount and hit send.
Budget Updates
Giving Report
Year to Date as of March 31, 2024
| Account | Amount |
|---|---|
| Actual Contributions | $1,130,838 |
| Actual Expenses | $1,230,940 |
Annual Budget
2024 Total budget: $5,341,517
| Ministry | Budget |
|---|---|
| Administration & Finance | $1,527,118 |
| Operations | $821,974 |
| Communications | $309,673 |
| Community Life | $178,300 |
| Family Ministry | $579,250 |
| Missions & Outreach | $406,520 |
| Pastoral Leadership | $858,815 |
| Music & Worship | $659,867 |
| Total | $5,341,517 |
2023 Annual Report
Review our parish report summarizing our income and expenses for the previous year.
Our Policies
Christ Church values transparency and oversight in our budgeting and spending. Our budget is approved by our Vestry, a member-elected lay leadership team, and financial reports are issued to the congregation on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.
Non-cash Gifts Policy Designated Funds Policy
Online Giving Policies
Why Give Online?
There are several benefits to online giving for both you and the church.
- First Fruits. In Proverbs 3:9 we are taught to honor the Lord with the “First Fruits” of our labor. By setting up a recurring contribution that is scheduled to come out of your account on the day you specify you can ensure that your First Fruits are given back to God.
- Simplicity. You will not need to remember if you gave this month or send in your offering checks when you are out of town.
- Security. Online giving is more secure than giving with a check in that an electronic gift can’t be lost or stolen.
- No Distractions. Instead of needing to worry about writing your contribution check during the service, you can be fully engaged with the worship service, knowing that you have already given your offering.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it safe to give online? Yes. In many ways giving online is safer than writing a check because an electronic gift cannot be lost or stolen. Fellowship One continually manages the security of the system.
What types of bank accounts can I give from? You can give online from your checking account, MasterCard, Visa or Discover.
Are there any fees involved with giving online? Not to you. You will not pay any fees with an online gift. In addition, online gifts are a more cost efficient way for the church to process donations.
Can I make a one-time contribution? Yes. The system allows you the option of either making a one-time contribution or setting up a recurring contribution. For a one-time contribution, you can designate that the contribution should be made immediately or, for both one-time and recurring contributions, you can schedule the contributions to come out of your bank account on the date(s) specified by you.
If I want to set-up a recurring gift, what are my options for frequency of my gift? For recurring gifts, you have the option of giving weekly, twice a month, every two weeks or once a month.
Can I change my personal information or the amount or the frequency of my gift once I have set it up? Yes. You can change or cancel your contribution at any time before the date of your next contribution. Simply log in to the system using your user name and password and make the necessary changes in the system.
Can I review my donation history online? Yes. The site will allow you to view the complete history of your contributions, given either online or otherwise. Once you’ve created an account, you will able to contribute immediately. However, for security purposes, before you can see any past contributions, we must manually connect your online account with your previous information. This is a one-time process when you initially create your account. After that, you can view your history at any time.
Will I still receive regular contribution statements from the church? Yes. The church will continue to send year-end contribution statements to your address on file for tax purposes.
When will contributions be taken from my account? Contributions will be taken from your specified bank account within 48 business hours of the date you requested. This time frame allows time for the contribution to process through your bank and the church’s bank. If the date of your contribution falls on a weekend or a holiday, the transaction will be initiated on the next banking day.
Can I designate my gift to a particular cause? At specific times. We make missional causes available for designation during specific crises or annual donation drives.
How will I know that I set up my gift correctly? Immediately after submitting your contribution, you will receive an e-mail verifying your contribution.
Does it matter which web browser I use? No. Any browser will work.
What types of bank accounts can I give from? You can give online from your bank account via an ACH transaction. You can also give using MasterCard, Visa or Discover.
Can I use a debit card? You can use a debit check card from Visa or MasterCard, but true debit cards are not accepted through the Fellowship One system due to the sensitivity of securely requesting a Personal Identification Number (PIN). ACH bank drafts can be used instead for true debits.
What is Christ Church’s teaching on the use of credit cards? While Christ Church accepts contributions via credit card as a convenience to givers, we do not encourage or condone indebtedness as a vehicle for giving. In addition, because we recognize that some givers prefer to present their gifts in person, we continue to collect offerings at worship services where they are blessed by the clergy celebrant.
Security of Online Information
We use an online database called Fellowship One. Their system allows us to provide access to your contribution records and allows you to make donations online. They provide all of the security for the system. This system is used by churches throughout the country and has been fully tested by them.
There are two aspects of security related to the system. First, Fellowship One provides data security using the latest security technology. The following statement is from their security documentation: “[the system] utilizes the most current encryption technology to maintain the security of your data. Every parameter passed in the hyperlinks is fully encrypted. Additionally, the Login module handles passwords using what is known in technical terms as salted hash. In laymen’s terms, this means it would take 50 computers (running constantly) continuously presenting password combinations four years to discover the password.”
The second aspect of security relates to account creation. When you first create a new account in the system, you will be able to donate immediately, but you will not have access to any previous contribution information. Before that can happen, we must manually link your previous information to the account you created.
In order to verify the authenticity of the account request, we will ensure that all of your data matches our current records (e.g., address, phone number, and email address). If there is any question, we will contact you via email before creating the link. Since this is a manual process, we will perform these steps approximately once a week, but if you would like to speed up this process, you may contact us.
When you create your account, you will determine your own login id and password. If you forget your login id or password, you can have the system email it to you by entering the email address that you used when you created your account. If you need help or cannot remember the email address you used, you may contact us. You can also change your password at any time.
Please help us keep your information safe by protecting your login information. Access to sensitive personal and financial information can be gained by letting someone else use your account or by leaving the information for someone else to see. Christ Church will never call you to ask for your login information.
Our Policies on Privacy and Refunds
Your information is held securely by the Fellowship One system. This information will remain private and will never be given away to third parties, other than to process your scheduled contributions.
You can schedule new contributions at any time and can modify or cancel those contributions at any time prior to the date they are scheduled. Once the contribution has been processed, however, it cannot be cancelled. If you have any problems or questions related to this, please contact our business office.
Estate Gift Policies
Bequests in Wills or Living Trusts
A will or living trust is a means of planning for the protection of your family and the distribution of your assets according to your wishes. In addition, through your will you can express the important values of your life by distributing assets in ways that provide ongoing support to those people and ministries most important to you. A gift in your will or living trust is one of the most straightforward ways to benefit Christ Church in your estate plan and is a generous and effective way of helping ensure Christ Church’s future ability to carry out our mission.
By your will or your revocable trust, you can make Christ Church the beneficiary of cash, securities, and/or other property.
Advantages:
- The donor retains lifetime control over the asset.
- The gift is revocable at anytime until the date of death.
- A charitable bequest or trust distribution is deductible for federal estate tax purposes, and there is no limit on the deduction your estate can claim.
There are several accepted ways to make a bequest to Christ Church in your Will or Living Trust: You can name a specific dollar amount, you can designate a specific asset, you can define your bequest as a percentage of your gross estate, or, you can name the Church as the recipient of your residual estate.
If you already have a Will or Living Trust, you can amend them to make a gift without rewriting the entire document. An attorney can prepare a Codicil to your Will that adds a new bequest to the Church while reaffirming the other terms of your Will. Similarly, he or she can prepare an Amendment to your Living Trust to add the Church as a beneficiary.
Because it is a legal document, it is important to use the proper legal name of the entity to which you wish to make a gift. Please contact the business office to ascertain the proper name to use when making your bequest.
Gifts of Retirement Assets
When you plan your estate, it may seem natural to designate a family member as your beneficiary, and use other assets to make a charitable gift. But using retirement assets to make your donation to Christ Church and leaving other assets to your heirs often enables your heirs to benefit from a reduced estate tax burden. Since Christ Church is a non-profit organization, it will not pay income tax on the distribution (nor will the gift be subject to estate tax) and therefore the entire amount is distributed to the Church.
To make such a gift, be sure to direct the gift to the Church in your plan’s beneficiary designation form – rather than through your Will. If you fail to do so, the assets will be included in your taxable estate and subject to the tax consequences of a distribution of tax-deferred assets. If you choose, you may also make Christ Church a partial beneficiary of your plan and direct the balance to your heirs.
It is important to use the proper legal name of the entity when designating a beneficiary. Please contact the business office to ascertain the proper name to use on your beneficiary designation form.
Gifts of Life Insurance
A gift of life insurance passes to the Church without delay and without being subject to probate and administrative fees. There are several common ways you can use life insurance to make a gift to Christ Church.
First, policies for which the original purpose is no longer needed can be given to the Church through an irrevocable transfer. By doing so, you receive an immediate tax deduction. Upon your death, the death benefit of the policy will be paid to the Church.
A second option is to change the beneficiary of an existing policy. Simply call your life insurance representative and ask for a change in beneficiary form. You name Christ Church as a primary or contingent beneficiary of the policy. There is no cost to change beneficiaries and the process is simple. Since you retain ownership of your policy, there are no income tax benefits.
It is important to use the proper legal name of the entity when designating a beneficiary. Please contact the business office to ascertain the proper name to use on your beneficiary designation form.
Contact Us
The Rev. Canon Toni Brown
Canon for Cathedral Finance, Senior Deacon
Toni provides leadership in the business affairs of Christ Church including finance and budgeting, funds management, statistics, and membership database applications. She also oversees human resources’ payroll, benefits and policies and procedures. Toni is also an ordained Deacon on our staff and provides pastoral and ministry leadership in several areas of ministry. She is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a BSBA in Finance and a Master’s of Professional Accountancy. She was ordained as a Deacon of the Church in August 2006. She is also a graduate of the Anglican School of Theology and has a Master’s of Biblical Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary.