Special Opportunities for Leadership Giving

Thank you for visiting this support page.   If you are here you have an interest in finding out more significant ways to help the Center reach its mission.  It is important to note that the best way to find a fit for your ability to give and heart for the ministry is to meet with the Director or the Development Director to match opportunities with need. 

Giving to Scholarship Need at Champion Christian Schools and Preschools

As you read our supporters' newsletter the Center Advocate you will realize that one of our most significant needs is to fund the financial aid fund of Champion Christian School.  As we have shared, between 50-60% of our student population at CCS are eligible for free and reduced lunches.  Because of the area we serve, this financial need is critical.  Currently we need to fund between $250,000 and $300,000 a year.  It is a challenge every year to be able to raise these funds.  As long as this financial aid need is difficult to meet at best or at times left unmet we have a concern about operations.  Fully funding the financial aid need is an important primary goal for the Center.  Difficult economic times make this challenge even more difficult. 

Giving can be targeted by businesses and individuals to help fund this need.  The most common way for scholarship funding is through specialized and targeted foundation, business or individual giving.  Pennsylvania businesses can utilitze an excellent tax benefit feature called the PA Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC).

For Businesses:

The Educational Improvement Tax Credit allows a business that pays any of the listed taxes to direct them to the Center's Financial Aid Program. This credit is available every year!  What is incredible is that these funds then offer a deduction off your federal income taxes as well.  This is truly a win-win situation for businesses wanting to support local education.  See more at the Center's EITC website at www.champion.org/development/eitc

However, there are other areas of need that we are working on in order to advance the mission of the Center.  We are looking for individuals and businesses to take the lead in these areas as well.  We recognize that these opportunities will require uniquely called and gifted people.  If you would like more information about any of these avenues to express leadership through financial giving, please contact Barb in the Development office for additional information. 

Some of the ways of sacrificing more significantly are outlined briefly below:

Tax Enhanced Giving

There are some really significant ways to utilize the benefits of the tax code for individual and businesses at a variety of levels to utilize monies that would normally be distributed to the state or federal government by either a donor or his/her estate which can be allocated to the Center.  Although these take some work to match, there are ways to make sure your money is distributed the way you would like rather than how governing officials would like.  Some quick examples:

For Individuals: 

Tax Deferred Giving

*Tax Break:  Individuals can give up to $100,000 out of their IRA to the Center and not pay taxes on the interest earned.  Contact us to help avoid earned interest taxes and take advantage of personally redirecting your tax liability to the Center's mission!   You must hurry to take advantage of this.

For example, normally if someone wanted to make a charitable contribution they could up to 50% of adjusted gross income. The IRS has enhanced legislation that allows, for a limited time, the ability to include 100% deductibility of up to $100,000 for funds donated to a charity from your IRA. This is treated separately so as not to affect normal deductibility of other charitable contributions as well.  This means that someone with an IRA account of any size can transfer up to the full $100,000 dollars with no tax implications.  Additionally, if desired, the balance of the IRA can then be directed into a bonus paying IRA annuity that will in effect repay all of most of the amount donated. 

*Estate and other types of deferred giving.  There are a variety of ways of helping to redirect your tax liability to the Center if you are willing to work with us and other financial professionals to seize these opportunities.  Although some of them seem more complicated, they really are not when explaining in the context of tax law.  There are ways to give assets to the Center that will allow you to avoid the tax liability and still utilize the principal, and other options for your estate and longer term needs.

*You may have spent your lifetime tithing on your income and providing extra offerings to ministries such as the Center.  Have you ever considered tithing on the income of your estate investments?  What would happen if you would consider in your long term planning giving 10% of your estate to the Lord's work at the Center?  Think what would happen to some of the needs that we have talked about above if 10 people would do that? 

IN-KIND and CASH Gifts

There are some significant needs that the Center has that will need to be provided by some people who have the ability to give more deeply.  This will mean the difference between the mission moving along slowly and consistently, or being able to move intentionally and aggressively when the opportunities arise.  Some of the needs and direct benefits are summarized below:

1.  Debt Retirement.  Simply put, we owe approximately $200,000 on the original loan that was utilized to purchase the 50 acres that our North Campus is situated on, as well as the two buildings and grounds.  If that amount was given today we would:

a. save $52,000 in interest over the next seven years

b. have $36,000 this year to put towards operational costs.  (This year's operational deficit is $89,000.  This would eliminate more than 1/3 of that single-handedly.) And next year, and the next. 

c.  Allow us to move on in terms of capital planning and needs

2.  Ongoing Financial Aid Need.   A national survey just released put our parent's incomes in the lower third in the nation.  You can read what we need currently and what we need to grow.  A gift of 2 million dollars would be needed to match our current estimated need, with ongoing small growth and inflationary tuition increases.  Since we operate on a cost based tuition system at CCS, we charge a tuition that it actually costs to educate a child.  We don't charge people who can afford it more than they can pay.  

3.  Roads, Lighting, and Parking.  Sounds like fluff doesn't it?  In the national survey I mentioned above guess what the bottom line was.. :  Christian schools like ours have great staff, great programs, great services.  What does our culture want though?  Better facilities.  Better athletic complexes.  Better roads and parking lots.  We have spent nearly 50 years in this country convincing tax payers that bigger and nicer schools would improve education.  The culture has learned the lessons.  Schools like the Center won't change their minds.  $250,000 would pave the roads at North Campus and build some infrastructure that would make a huge difference. 

4.  Another Building at North for classes.  To double our size we would need an estimated  $500,000.  Great bargain per square foot.  The other day, I searched for 10 minutes to find a place to meet with a family who needed to talk.  All the offices were full, conference rooms were in use, and on it goes.  What an awesome thing to think of more classrooms (so that the class in the computer lab and science labs don't have to switch so students can take advantage of the facilities! )

5. A Gym Complex.  We need a place to hold community meetings, gym classes, have a real home court for our four basketball teams.  Wow.  Think of what could happen in those places.  $1,000,000 - 3,000,000 depending on timing and design. 

6.  Technical Infrastructure.   We are in the process of needing to replace about 1/3 of our hardware and software in the next two years.  The costs for this even at discounted rates that we can leverage will require $25,000.  

What would it mean to provide a legacy for someone that you knew embodied the types of things that the Center is offering?  Would there be someone whose name would be a symbol of their lifelong dream to make a difference for the Kingdom of Christ?  For this area?  For this culture?  It will take that kind of giving to move intentionally and aggressively into the future.  I am excited to see what will happen.

What about ongoing regular giving? 

The Center has been built on regular everyday people giving of themselves and their resources to see the work here advanced.  It is amazing to look at the amount of $1000 - $3000 gifts that built this current campaign.  Those were matched with some significant giving from foundations and others to make this project successful.  But for those who can give only smaller gifts, I believe the Lord lays a spiritual foundation in that gift that opens the door for others.  We need and rely every day on the $50, the $100, and the $1000 gifts to make this place run.  Please do not mistake my challenge as an ignoring of the significance of those gifts.  In that way, there are some very helpful ways to support the Center:

1.  Visit the Center's development page at www.champion.org/development to see how to help on a regular basis.

2.  Look for the things that you have in your attic, business, or in your sphere of influence to give.  Some of these things are listed on our site at www.champion.org/ccs/orientation/needslist.htm .

3.  Ongoing regular support of any amount is significant to our budget.

4.  Giving of your time at the Center to help with construction, cleaning, painting, grounds work that are ongoing all of the time! 

5.  What speciality items might you have access to that would help (and provide you with a tax deductible in-kind gift amount)? 

*BULLDOZER

*BACKHOE

*SKILL OR EQUIPMENT TO HELP WITH PAVING OVER ONE MILE OF ROADS

*CONSTRUCTION OF A PAVILION

*ABILITY TO BUILD A WALKING TRACK ON OUR ATHLETIC FIELD

*PROVIDE CHAIN LINK FENCING ALONG THE EDGE OF THE SOCCER FIELD

As the Lord would have you to gather more information, please feel free to do that.  There will be no pressure, as we are only looking for investors in the work here for eternity. 

Merle