Treasurer’s Two Cents | April 2026
By Chris Andrysiak, Treasurer

I am reviving this occasional column on topics related to our church’s finances.  I hope you will find it interesting and useful.  This first column is longer than I expect most will be.

We all pitch in to pay for our church – this column is about smart ways to do it.

Credit cards are incredibly convenient, but fees are charged to the entity receiving the payment, and those fees seem high to me.  For instance, on an average stewardship pledge of $3,000, the fee that First Parish pays is $90!  Many parishioners choose to pay that fee instead of charging it to FPL, but still, wouldn’t you rather avoid that fee?  If instead, you select an ACH transfer (where the amount is deducted directly from your bank account), there are still fees, but they are about one-third as large.  You can make that selection right on FPL’s Donate page – just select the drop-down choice of “Give by ACH Bank Transfer” rather than “Give by credit / debit care”.  There are even better ways too, which are:

• Write a check or monthly checks to FPL. You can mail your check, or drop it in the Sunday collection plate in an envelope (be sure to write “Pledge payment” on the memo field).
• Set up a monthly automatic payment from your bank’s bill pay service.For most banks there is no charge for that service, and it doesn’t cost FPL anything either.

The other smart way to donate to FPL is to consider donating from your investments if you have them.  Here are two options.  One, if you are 70 ½ or older, you can make payment from your IRA using a “Qualified Charitable Distribution” (QCD).  While withdrawals from IRAs (such as Required Minimum Distributions, or RMDs) are generally taxable income, if payment is made directly to a charitable organization, the withdrawal is not taxable, even if you do not itemize on your tax return.  Better yet, the charitable amount does count toward your RMD.  It’s important with a QCD that the check be sent directly from the investment firm to the charity (do not withdraw from your IRA and then write a check – you will lose the special QCD treatment) – the investment firms are all set up to issue these checks upon request.

Two, if you own stock or mutual funds in an account other than an IRA (i.e., a non-retirement brokerage account) and those investments have increased in value, you can donate the shares to FPL.  The advantage is that you are eligible to deduct the value of the gift on your tax return (if you itemize), and you will avoid paying the capital gains tax that would be due if you sold the investment.  This is much smarter than selling the investment (paying capital gains tax) and then writing a check to the church.

There are other good approaches, such as a “donor-advised fund”, or various types of trusts.  Those are beyond the scope of this article, but see me if you would like to learn more.

If you need more information on making your gift to First Parish, please contact me or Silvia in the church office.  Thank you for supporting our church!