By Matt Vuorela / Chief Executive Officer of Steier Group
Planned giving is one of the most powerful ways that parishioners can support the long-term mission of the Catholic Church. For Catholic parishes and dioceses, strong planned giving programs help ensure stability and provide resources for future generations. For the parishioners and donors themselves, planned giving can be an expression of faith and gratitude.
Planned giving isn’t about your amount of wealth. It’s about the legacy you want to leave and how you choose to care for what you’ve been given.
In this blog, we’ll explore why planned giving matters for the Church today and key strategies for every parish or diocese to consider.
Why Planned Giving Matters to Catholic Parishes and Dioceses
Planned giving is so much more than a one-off tactic or trend in fundraising. Planned giving plays a critical role in long-term sustainability for Catholic parishes and dioceses.
Offertory collections and annual appeals can help you meet today’s needs. But planned gifts are what provides the support to ensure essential ministries have the resources they need to continue serving your community in the future.
Has your parish ever experienced a dip in Mass attendance and/or offertory collections?
A rise in facility costs?
What about an unplanned major expense?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, know that planned gifts have the power to give parishes precious breathing room to remain steady when things change.
Planned gifts can fund faith formation, community outreach and other key experiences of your parish mission to keep ministries alive amidst economic or other uncertainty.
What Planned Giving Is and What It’s Not
Simply put, planned giving is when an individual includes the Catholic Church in their long-term financial or estate plans. Often, planned gifts come to an organization through a will, trust or beneficiary designation. So it isn’t a gift that your church will receive in the present, rather a commitment to support your parish or diocese in the future.
In this way, planned giving is not about meeting a parish’s current year budget. Tithing and other gifts support day-to-day parish life. However, a strong focus on planned gifts will strengthen your Church’s tomorrow.
The Faith Foundations of Planned Giving
As Catholics, we believe that everything we have is a gift from God and we are called to use those gifts wisely and to share generously.
Scripture points us often to the value and importance of wise stewardship.
In one example, Proverbs 13:22 says that “the good leave an inheritance to their children’s children.” A bit literal to be sure, but the verse is still a good reminder to look beyond our lifetime and bless future generations as we are able.
Planned giving has ties back to this because it looks ahead with hope.
At the Steier Group, we help our clients build strong planned giving programs, often called legacy giving, as part of an overall donor development strategy. Next, we’ll outline a few of the best strategies for implementing a planned giving program at your parish.
Planned Gift Options for Your Parish
When starting a planned giving program, our best advice is to keep things simple. Focus on two basic tools: bequests (gifts made through an individual’s will) and beneficiary designations (naming the parish or diocese to receive assets from an individual’s retirement account, life insurance policy or other account).
Many people don’t know about or consider leaving a planned gift because they don’t think they have “enough” to leave that would make an impact. Regardless of the size of a gift, when parishioners include the Church in their estate plans, it helps protect the mission they love and support the future of their parish community.
A church capital campaign can be a great time to launch or strengthen your planned giving program. Make sure to include language about planned giving throughout campaign communication materials. During feasibility study interviews, you can inform donors about planned giving and see if they have left your organization in their will.
Action step 1: Include a new statement on your website, email footnotes and printed development materials.
The paragraph could read something like what’s below:
“Love our Catholic community? Want to create a lasting impact? Please remember us in your will and trust. Making a planned gift is as simple as adding a sentence to your will and/or naming our organization as a beneficiary in your estate plans. It costs you nothing today and can shape lives for years to come. Contact our office for more information.”
Action step 2: Contact your diocesan development office and ask what planned giving resources they have to share or learn from.
Many finance council members and pastors have been surprised to learn how many people want to give and don’t, only because they don’t know how. Look for fliers and other educational resources already created, then distribute the information at masses and other meetings.
As one example, the Archdiocese of Omaha’s stewardship and development office holds regular workshops at parishes to educate parishioners on estate planning and legacy giving options.
Many parishes have also recently developed relationships with tools like Freewill, to assist parishioners with planning for the future.
Action step 3: Establish a recognition society.
You can come up with a different name for it if you want, but a society like this recognizes and honors everyone who has made a planned gift to your organization.
A recognition society, also called a legacy society, can be started for relatively low cost and effort. To get started, make a list of parishioners, alumni, parents and grandparents who have deep connections to your parish. From there, consider who from your list may be a good fit to form a legacy planning committee. With a new committee, you can discuss ideas and best practices to build a planned giving program. Alternatively, you can use your list to identify prospects to approach for personal conversation about their planned giving intentions.
Be sure that you also keep–and publicize–a running list of those who have already made a planned commitment.
For these individuals, you can share their names in parish publications, offer special Mass intentions or invite them to parish events as ways to show gratitude.
Our experience shows that regular promotion of a legacy society reinforces the idea that supporting the Catholic Church beyond one’s own lifetime is a natural expression of faith.
Many of the Catholic churches we’ve worked with use this recognition society tactic and find it helps to normalize planned giving and even inspire planned gifts from others.
Beyond these three ideas, there are many ways to encourage planned giving in your community – and many different types of planned gifts beyond what we already mentioned.
With a parish committee focused on planned giving, you can explore some of these other avenues beyond encouraging parishioners to name a parish or diocese in a will:
- Charitable Gift Annuities
- Charitable Trusts
- Retirement Account Designations
- Life Insurance Gifts
- Real Estate and Other Non-Cash Assets
Planned gifts offer meaningful long-term benefits for both donors and the organizations they support. Many planned gifts come with potential tax advantages, too.
The Impact of Planned Giving on Parish Life
Planned giving helps keep parish ministries and Catholic education programs strong for future generations to enjoy. Still, it’s common to feel uncomfortable talking about bequests with donors. But hopefully by now you understand how helping someone make a bequest can both give peace to the donor and create real blessings for the Church.
A single bequest can make a big impact. Here are a few examples of what we’ve seen made possible by planned gifts:
- Creating new scholarships for students who may not be able to afford Catholic school.
- Launching a new young adult ministry.
- Replacing a leaking roof.
- Increasing parish retreat opportunities.
- Purchasing of additional food and equipment for the food pantry.
This is the power of planned giving: one person’s generosity can impact parish life long after they are gone.
Final Thoughts: Building a Lasting Legacy of Faith
Building a planned giving program is ultimately about helping parishioners create their own lasting legacy of faith. Planned giving is both a spiritual commitment and practical decision for both the donor and the Church — an opportunity for individuals to reflect on how God has worked in their lives and how they want that blessing to continue for others.
Planned giving is not, however, something parish leaders can assume donors are familiar with. Bottom line: Encourage parishioners to prayerfully consider the legacy they hope to leave and how their personal stewardship can support the Church.
Small conversations can open the door to big impact. Consider a simple next step such as a pulpit or bulletin announcement that invites parishioners to speak with parish leadership or explore the resources your parish may have in place for planned giving.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:21
Sources
Faith Client Stories. (n.d.). In Steier Group. Retrieved February 24, 2026, from https://www.steiergroup.com/client-stories/faith-client-stories/
Living Legacy Circle. (n.d.). In Archdiocese of Omaha. Retrieved February 24, 2026, from https://archomaha.org/legacy/
Vuorela, M. (2025a). Legacy vs Planned Giving: Which Is Right for You? In Steier Group. https://www.steiergroup.com/blog/legacy-giving-vs-planned-giving/
Vuorela, M. (2025b). Donor Development Strategies for Maximum Impact. In Steier Group. https://www.steiergroup.com/blog/donor-development/
Proverbs, CHAPTER 13. (n.d.). In USCCB. Retrieved February 24, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/proverbs/13
Write Your Legal Will Online, Free & Simple. (n.d.). In FreeWill. Retrieved February 24, 2026, from https://Freewill.com
