Beneficiary Designations

You Don't Have to be Rich

Dianne Wilkinson fell in love with Jesus at a very young age. She grew up worshipping with her family and has spent her whole life active in church and ministry.

Several years ago, Dianne answered the call to attend Planned Giving School, a week-long program sponsored by the Foundation. It was there that she discovered making a planned gift could be as simple as giving a life insurance policy that she no longer needed.

"I came to the realization that you don't have to be a rich person to leave a legacy gift," she claimed.

With this knowledge and her heart for church missions, Dianne was led to make a planned gift. Dianne used a life insurance policy to support missions at the two churches dearest to her forever.

"My heart is in missions and I've been privileged to go to South Africa twice, Mexico and the UMCOR Sager Brown in Baldwin, Louisiana," Dianne said. She wanted others to have some of the same rewarding experiences she had in mission work- helping other people.

"I had reached a point in my life where I was comfortable knowing that my three sons were established, and didn't really need my life insurance policy. I really received a prompting from God, and it was very clear to me that any way that I could set up a gift to further missions in the local church, that's what I wanted to do," Dianne explained.

One of the primary reasons the Foundation exists is to guide and assist people like Dianne, who want to leave a legacy gift to support their church. The Foundation makes it as easy as possible for donors, guiding them through the process and preparing all the legal paperwork, all at no cost to the donor or the church.

It is the Foundation's mission to be a catalyst to help churches, and this is one of the ways we do that. Legacy giving is important for the future existence of our churches.

As a bonus, Dianne received a charitable income tax deduction the year she made the gift, and as she continues to pay the premium, she receives a charitable deduction for those payments.

Dianne worships at Noel UMC in Shreveport and her son Donnie is senior pastor at Broadmoor UMC in Baton Rouge.

"Legacy giving is a part of my priorities, and I would encourage others to make it their priority. This just assures that the mission-the ministry of our churches- can continue," Dianne added.