Susan Brandt, Certified Financial Advisor and chair of ANM’s Board of Directors, shares her story of partnering with ANM and maximizing her financial contributions.
My parents, who were some of the first donors to Advancing Native Missions, were the ones to first introduce me to ANM. I had received my first big bonus from work and wanted to give a portion to missionaries. When I called my mom about it, she told me to call Bo Barredo, ANM’s co-founder, because he would know the best use of the money in the mission field. That was just the beginning of my journey working with native missionaries through ANM.
Partnering with Native Missionaries
Since then, my husband, Jim, and I have had the privilege of meeting many of the staff, who have dedicated their lives to reaching the unreached around the world with the Gospel. We have both visited several of the ministries where ANM is helping native pastors reach their own people with the Gospel, which has truly been a life changing experience for both of us. God is using ANM to reach multitudes of unreached people with the Good News of Jesus through their ministry. What a joy it is to be a part of what God is doing around the world through indigenous missionaries!
Planned Giving to Missionaries
I was so excited to find out that ANM had put together opportunities for planned giving. I had already taken advantage of setting up a Donor Advised Fund and have used it for many years to donate appreciated stock directly from my financial institution to ANM. As the Lord laid different needs of missionaries on our hearts, we could then use grants from the Donor Advised Fund to meet those needs at ANM. By using my Donor Advised Fund, I can donate the appreciated stock and avoid paying taxes on the capital gains. This has enabled me to give more because tax dollars were saved.
I have also taken advantage of the matching charitable program offered by my work, where they would match up to a certain dollar amount of what I give to charity. This was like free money that I could choose to give, and I took advantage of it. Charitable matching allowed me to stretch my giving to the Lord’s work.
Leaving a Legacy
When my parents passed away recently, I inherited an IRA from them. Knowing that I would have to pay taxes on anything I withdrew from it and realizing that I had to withdraw all of it within 10 years, I chose to donate it all directly from my inherited IRA to ANM. Again, I was able to give more because I didn’t have to pay taxes on it. Jim was happy to find out that he could donate his required minimum distribution from his IRA directly to ANM and avoid paying taxes on that as well. Another great way to stretch our giving.
As a retired Financial Advisor, it was important for me to help my clients plan for their future retirement and set financial goals during retirement. Now that I have retired, I am looking into the other planned giving ideas that ANM has to offer. I am especially excited about charitable annuity gifts that provide income for life to Jim and me, with the remainder going to support ANM when we die. What a great way to leave a legacy gift and help us with our retirement needs at the same time!
