A Pledge That Carries On

Doug McKay’s life ran parallel to Wesley UMC. His parents were founding members. When he was a teen, the church met in a schoolhouse. As he started his own family, Wesley UMC grew with them, building its own sanctuary and filling it with children’s laughter. For the young congregation, paying the mortgage was a stretch every month.

As the church treasurer, Doug remembered visiting the banker often to say: “the money will come.” As the church matured, the money did come. Wesley UMC remains a vital presence in Eugene to this day. Today, Doug’s oldest daughter Tracie is a member along with her daughters, Madeleine and Danielle. Counting his parents, “we’ve got four generations in this church,” Doug told us with a smile.

Doug wanted Wesley UMC to be a spiritual home for his family and others beyond his lifetime. But he knew how the death of longtime donors could negatively affect the budget. By remembering the church in their wills, people can soften the blow. That’s what got Doug thinking: “I decided to give a designated gift to replace my pledging when I died.”

Doug worked with Foundation board member Mike Hartwig and our Executive Director Tom Wilson to create a unique gift to the Foundation for the benefit of his church. It is a quasi-endowment to replace Doug’s pledge in full for the five years after his death. Then the amount will taper off for seven more years. After that, smaller distributions will be made until the account value is below a certain level, at which point the rest will be disbursed in a lump sum.

“Giving is just what you do,” Doug said. “I wanted to continue that for enough years that the church could figure out a way to replace my gifts with new people or changes in spending.” Doug partially funded the endowment during his lifetime, earning himself a nice tax break. After his death in December 2019, a bequest funded the rest of it.

This is where parallel lives diverge: the congregations we love can outlive us. But we can live on through them. That’s what Doug is doing.

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