There are many ways you can support Crossroads. With your time, your prescence, your prayer and your gifts. Your financial gifts to Crossroads can also come in many different forms, other than the traditional regular “offering” or “tithe” to our church. All financial gifts to Crossroads are utilized to support the ministries and operations of our church on an annual basis, but also provide funding to many local, national and global missions. Read below to find out more about ways to support Crossroads financially.
Direct Deposit for Financial Gifts
Want to contribute to Crossroads on a regular basis but are unable to make it to service to put your gift in the weekly offering plate? Do you get to church and forget your gift at home? Here’s a helpful solution. Consider authorizing a direct withdrawal from your bank account to Crossroads on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. You determine the timing and the amount, fill out the authorization form, and mail or fax it to our church office. Our financial team will do the rest. No more remembering, stamps or missing a donation because you couldn’t make it to church. Download the authorization form here.
Donating Stock
“Give each what would keep (them) above want, and bestow all the rest in such a manner as would be most for the glory of God.” – John Wesley
If you have shares of stock you’d like to donate to your church, the Wisconsin United Methodist Foundation can process gifts of stock. When you donate your stock to your church you will not pay capital gains taxes nor a selling fee and/or commission. By following the Foundation’s simple procedure, you can make a larger gift to your church than if you sell the shares of stock yourself and write a check to the church for the proceeds.
In 2011, the Foundation assisted 79 people in giving $483,512 in stock gifts to 48 different churches and ministries. That’s an average gift of $10,073 per church! Individual gifts ranged from $165 to as much as $22,393. By making these gifts through the Wisconsin United Methodist Foundation, these individuals made sure that 100% of the proceeds from the sale were used for ministry.
For more information on how you can make a gift of appreciated stock to your favorite church or United Methodist ministry, please find the most current securities processing form at http://www.wumf.org/assets/ProcessingStockGifts.pdf.
Many Ways to Help & Save with Scrip
Crossroads’ Scrip fundraising program now offers you many ways to order: 1) Order Scrip cards by printing out this scrip form and bring it with you to service to order on the first and third Sundays of each month and pick them up after worship on the second and fourth Sundays each month. 2) setup an account and order online by going to www.shopwithscrip.com. Now setup with PrestoPay. 3) get your scrip instantly at ScripNow! and 4) reused your cards by reloading them online!
Scrip is a fundraising program in which you purchase gift cards for places you shop every day such as grocery stores and gas stations, as well as places to eat, cards for traveling, and stores you do your holiday shopping! A percentage of each card purchase is given to Crossroads. We use the Scrip program to help supplement our annual budget for such things as programs and equipment. In 2009, we raised over $2,300.
Our order schedule will remain the same in 2010. You can submit your orders the first and third Sundays by 5:00 p.m. and gift cards will be distributed on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. We also now provide “cash & carry” cards on Sunday, making some of the more popular gift cards from local stores (groceries, gas, etc.) available without pre-ordering. If anyone has questions about this fundraising program, please contact our church office.
Labels for Education
Another unique way to support Crossroads education programming is to collect and donate your Campbell’s UPC Labels for Education. Labels can be found on more than soup too! So check out the labels for education flyer and see all the great products you buy all the time anyway that you can cut UPC’s off of or save the lids! Last year we were able to get a new DVD player. So, if you buy it just remember to cut us out the UPC code and bring it in. Thanks for your help.
Forget Google – Join the GoodSearch Movement
With our economy in the state it’s in, many of us are looking for ways to stretch our financial resources. If someone volunteered to match your pledge dollar-for-dollar, you’d jump at the chance. What if someone offered to donate money to Crossroads every time you did an internet search?
GoodSearch.comis a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine. To make it easier, you can download an application that puts a GoodSearch tool bar at the top of your web program. Over 67,000 organizations are signed up with GoodSearch. The ASPCA has earned over $17,000 this way. In the last year, we raised just under $25. But I know we can do better.
Don’t forget, GoodSearch has a second part of its program: GoodShop. GoodShop.comdonates a percentage of each purchase, much like our Scrip program. Hundreds of popular stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop. Even better, you can combine your Scrip with GoodShop, often doubling the percentage that Crossroads receives.
Now we have something new and exciting we’d like to share with you to make it even easier to support CUMC!It’s the new Crossroads United Methodist Church toolbar! Once added to Internet Explorer or Firefox, each time you shop at more than 1,300 stores (from Amazon to Zazzle!) a percentage of your purchase will automatically be donated to Crossroads United Methodist Church – at no cost to you (and you may even save money as the toolbar provides coupons and deals as well!). The toolbar also has a search box and each time you search the Internet, about a penny is donated to Crossroads. Help us out by using the tool bar, and even pass this along to all of your friends to help. The two minutes it takes to add this toolbar to your browser can make a lifetime of difference! Get the toolbar NOW! http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/crossroads-united-methodist-church-umc-waunakee.
