Great Commission Fund Results through August 31, 2006
Year-to-date revenues for the two months ending August 31 total $6,383,175 or 107.6 percent of the revenue budget of $5,933,000. This represents an increase of $415,123 compared to August 2005. GCF Update
»Click Here to see the current Great Commission Fund figures. Great Commission Sunday
Great Commission Sunday was celebrated in May 2006 with $599,148 received as of August 25. These gifts of $25 “Above and Beyond” each giver’s usual giving will send workers and expand Alliance ministries into new regions. Last year’s Great Commission Sunday offering raised nearly $1 million and placed twenty-three new workers overseas. Please designate any additional giving from this offering as “Great Commission Sunday” and send it to the National Office by the end of September. A Guide to Charitable IRA Rollovers
In August President Bush signed the Pension Protection Act of 2006 that includes provisions that permit owners of IRAs to make tax-free transfers to charity. In a nutshell, the new law provides an exclusion from gross income for otherwise taxable IRA distributions of up to $100,000 per year from traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs for “qualified charitable distributions” made during 2006 and 2007 by plan owners who have attained at least age 70 1/2 years on the date of distribution to charity. The gift must be to a qualified exempt public charity and may not have any limitations that would disqualify a charitable deduction. To qualify, gifts should be made to The Christian and Missionary Alliance, not The Orchard Foundation. In addition, the local church is qualified to receive such gifts. For more information, see “The Pension Protection Act of 2006: A Guide to Charitable IRA Rollovers” at: www.pgdc.com Vehicle Donation Updates
Congress added substantial and challenging new receipting and reporting requirements for gifts of vehicles (automobiles, aircraft, and boats) effective January 1, 2005. In late 2005 Congress added more receipting requirements for vehicles and creatively made them retroactive to January 1, 2005. In an effort to clarify these requirements, the IRS issued Notice 2006-1 on January 9, 2006, stating that organizations that complied with the requirements in 2005 and provided information to the IRS on the existing Form 1098-C by February 28, 2006 (paper forms), or March 31, 2006 (electronic filing), are in compliance even if they do not meet the new retroactive requirements. The late 2005 congressional additions apply the existing rules for quid-pro-quo gifts to donations of vehicles. While we have not observed any quid-pro-quo donation transactions with vehicles, adding them is logical. The vehicle donation requirements apply to all donations of automobiles, aircraft, or boats, whether the organization regularly or rarely receives such gifts. Office of Employee Benefits
If your church changes its name or address, we need to be informed. For a name change, the church must send a copy of its Amended Articles of Incorporation or the name change form filed with the state bearing the state’s receipting stamp. Please send these items to Tim Cummings in the Office of the Corporate Secretary. We cannot change the name of the church with the IRS until we receive this information. Forms to change the church name are available through your Secretary of State. If your church is going to inform the IRS of an address or name change for W-2 filing purposes, please be sure to use your church EIN number and not the denomination’s EIN number. Unfortunately, we have had an incident where a church accidentally used the C&MA’s EIN number, and the church began to receive all of the National Office’s IRS correspondence. The Christian and Missionary Alliance Retirement Plan
The Christian and Missionary Alliance 403(b) Retirement Plan is a great way to assist your pastoral staff to prepare for retirement. The Plan is designated as a “Church Plan” by the IRS, which allows retired official workers to request payments received from their 403(b) account as a housing allowance, saving or eliminating federal and state income taxes during the years they are living on a fixed income. Currently, our Plan offers thirteen investment options, ranging from conservative to aggressive. The fixed income option is through the Alliance Development Fund (ADF) with a 5.25 percent rate of return. The Plan’s fees are competitive with no other costs charged to the account. Employees of your church may join if working more than twenty-eight hours per week. The Plan does require the church to match 50 percent of the employee’s contribution up to 3 percent of the employee’s salary. For more information, please contact the Office of Employee Benefits at 800-700-2651 or e-mail retirement@cmalliance.org.
Living the Call Together,

Ken Baldes
Vice President for Operations/Treasurer