St. Chad's Building Program Donation Policies

To be successful St Chad’s Building Program (BP) will require financial resources in substantial amounts.  Both to facilitate donations and to avoid possible misunderstandings in their acceptance and use, this paper describes policies developed to guide the handling of donations.

General:

• Monetary donations are the preferred form of donations because they can be used directly to pay for construction and other services.
• All donations will be for general Building Program use and will become part of the Building Fund (BF); the BF may not accept donations with stipulations as to what part of the BP they may be applied to.  (This reduces the possibility of some necessary elements of the BP being under-funded, and other, high profile elements being over-funded). 
• Similarly, because St. Chad’s church and facilities are for the use by all parishioners and guests, design decisions made by the Building Committee on behalf of all parishioners cannot be influenced by individual donations.  Similarly, elements of the facilities will not be named to reflect donations.
• All donations will be known only to the Parish Treasurer, who will provide written acknowledgments to the donor for all pledges and accepted non-liquid donations in lieu of public recognition.
• To ensure proper accounting of donations and pledges, all donations should be made out to St. Chad’s Episcopal Church and clearly marked as being for St. Chad’s Building Fund — either on the memo line or "pay to" line of a check or in a marked envelope.
• St Chad’s cannot offer tax advice, and donors are advised to consult with competent tax advisors regarding tax consequences, especially in the case of non-cash donations.

Liquid non-cash donations:

• Liquid non-cash donations (such as stocks or mutual funds) will be liquidated promptly and the cash transferred to the Building Fund.  (If such financial assets have appreciated in value, there may be tax advantages to the donor if the appreciated financial assets are transferred directly to St Chad’s, rather than sold by the donor and the cash donated.)

Non-liquid donations

Non-liquid donations (such as art work, real estate, jewelry) are not being solicited, per se, but may be accepted under certain conditions:

• If the donor intends that the tangible item be sold and the proceeds used for the Building Program, then the item will be reviewed by the Vestry or its designee to ensure that liquidation of the item is feasible and that acceptance does not carry undue cost obligations or liabilities (such as property tax liability on real estate, required insurance coverage, special storage arrangements, etc).  If accepted, then the Vestry will arrange for disposition of the item at the earliest practical time so that the proceeds will be available during the limited timeframe of the BP.  Because disposition of unique items may entail major uncertainties regarding the amount of the proceeds realized, the amount credited against a pledge to the BF will be the actual proceeds realized from the disposition.  (If the donor wishes to claim a higher charitable deduction for income tax purposes, please be aware that St. Chad’s will not provide any estimate of the value of donated property and that the IRS requires that the donor obtain an independent appraisal.)
• If the donor desires the tangible item to be used in the Building Program (such as a liturgical painting or altar or cross), it will be reviewed by a committee (composed of the Rector, Chair of the Worship Committee, and Vice Chair of the Building Committee) to ensure that it would enhance the décor and utilization of St. Chad’s facilities.  If judged to be duplicative or non-enhancing to the overall project, such items will be either returned to the donor or disposed of as above as the donor prefers.

Approved by the Building Committee, and accepted by the Vestry