By completing and returning the Living Legacy Application (click on the link below), you can join the Living Legacy Program.  The primary guideline for accepting applications is a demonstrated AME church affiliation.

If you would like to nominate someone to be on the Wall of Life, please complete the Wall of Life Application (click on the link below).  Thank you in advance for your participation.

Living Legacy Program History

“Creating a Living Legacy that benefits the Church of Allen for Generations”

The Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2000, p. 294 states that the AME Church shall adopt a program of planned giving and secure the services of a professional in the field to handle this area (e.g., wills, grants, endowments, investments, and living trusts, gifts of property or land.)
The goal of the Living Legacy Program is to create a planned giving ministry that fulfills the above mandate and supports the quadrennial “Living Well” focus of the Council of Bishops.  The Living Legacy Program will help strengthen the AME Church and its local congregations by building healthy church endowments and by encouraging people around the world to share their gifts with the ministries of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.  
Planned Giving is a form of stewardship for the future. Individuals generally contribute assets they have accumulated during their lifetimes (savings, investments, real estate, retirement plan benefits, life insurance policies, and tangible personal property) -- rather than giving from annual income (check book or cash).
Planned gifts generally are meant to perpetuate something of great value and meaning. A planned gift is the ultimate one a person can make, both in size and finality. Most often, a planned gift is intended for a permanent endowment fund.

In 1993 the Investment Company Institute estimated that people 55 years or older will bequeath over $8 trillion of accumulated wealth to non-charitable and charitable heirs in the next 15 years. In 1996, "Give & Take" estimated the intergenerational transfer of wealth at $10 to $11 trillion between 1990 and 2040. In 2003, Boston College estimated the number to be $43 trillion dollars.  Whatever the number, the AME Church needs to be in a position to benefit from this expected transfer of wealth.

Conventional wisdom holds that planned gifts are made by people between 55 and 70 years in age.   A 1992 National Committee on Planned Giving (NCPG) survey revealed that planned gift donors are equally divided between those who are over 60 years of age and those who are younger than 60. Therefore, AMEs of all ages may be at a point in their lives to make a commitment to the future of our Zion.  They just need to be asked.

At any age, in every economic circumstance, charitable bequests are by far the most commonly used form of planned giving. Bequests are relatively inexpensive to arrange, they save $1 in estate taxes for every dollar given, they are "no risk" gifts, and they are easy for congregations to promote. All a donor needs to do is complete a legal Last Will and Testament. All the Church has to do is ask.

It is estimated that 70% of all Americans die without a Will, and fewer than 10% of the people who are capable of making a charitable estate gift have never been asked.

Under the leadership of Dr. Richard Allen Lewis, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, the AME Church has launched a planned giving initiative, the Living Legacy Program, please visit www.ame-churchfinance.com for more information.  The vision of Dr. Lewis is to create an additional source of revenue to finance ministry through endow gifts to the church.  Other denominations have done this successfully; why can’t we? Endowed gifts will enable us to strengthen the church of Allen for generations and to do relevant ministry until Christ returns.

To learn how you can create a named fund such as a Memorial Fund to provide a simple, efficient and meaningful way to recognize, remember and build on the legacy of a loved one, visit www.ame-churchfinance.com.  Donors’ gifts are invested and a portion of the interest income is distributed each year to the donors’ designated AME institution in the memory of their loved one.  Donors can enjoy immediate and maximum tax advantages and increase their funds for future gifts.

The amount distributed annually typically equals 3 to 5 percent of the principal.  This percentage can vary depending on market fluctuations.  Earnings above the distributed amount are reinvested to continue to build the principal and to provide a hedge against inflation.  All funds are held at Charles Schwab and are professionally managed.