Securing the Future: The United Church of Canada’s Centennial Legacy Campaign
National campaign invites legacy gifts to support the future of The United Church of Canada
To honour the 100th anniversary of The United Church of Canada, the church and The United Church of Canada Foundation are launching a bold, national effort to secure its future: the Centennial Legacy Campaign.
Sarah Charters is the Executive Officer of Philanthropy for The United Church of Canada and the President of the United Church of Canada Foundation. “We’ve heard a powerful mix of gratitude for our past and concern for the future,” she says. “The Centennial Legacy Campaign is meant to be our answer: to support congregations and to create firm foundations for the future.”
Over the next three years, the Campaign will assist congregations across Canada to create legacy giving programs within their churches. “Legacy giving (making a gift in your Will or Estate) is one of the most meaningful ways supporters can help their local congregation thrive for generations to come,” Sarah Charters says. Pointing to several multi-million-dollar gifts designated to congregations and facilitated by the Foundation. Planned gifts are, on average, more than 200 times larger than any gift the donor makes during their lifetime.
Support for Whatever the Future Holds
The campaign is being supported by Philanthropica, a Canadian consulting firm for philanthropic organizations and campaigns, in concert with staff from The United Church of Canada Foundation. The Centennial Legacy Campaign is open to all, whether you are an individual donor interested in making a legacy gift, or a community of faith looking to encourage legacy gifts from its members. The campaign offers free tools, personal support, and training to help individuals explore leaving a gift and to help congregations confidently introduce legacy giving to their members.
“I am certain that The United Church of Canada will exist 100 years from now,” says Jim Simpson, Foundation Board Chair. “Legacy giving is a way for us to support the future church, whatever shape it takes.”
For more information, visit centennialcampaign.ca
