Lifestyle

How Can Your Donations Help the Episcopal Church Foundation?

Published

4 years ago

July 5, 2022

Donating to causes that are important to you not only benefits the charities but can also be extremely rewarding for you. Millions of people donate to charity on a regular basis to support causes they believe in and to benefit their own lives.

The Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the growth, revitalization, and transformation of Episcopal faith communities. The organization is succeeding in its mission to inspire and nurture church leaders, assist in the acquisition and management of financial assets, and provide high-quality and innovative resources and ideas for use throughout the Church.

Donation Programs

ECF’s programs play an important role in constructing the Church of the future. This work does not come cheap. Individuals, foundations, and others who care about this important work make generous contributions to ECF. We hope you will consider making a contribution to help ECF continue to respond to God’s call in meaningful and lasting ways.

Here’s how you can help if you’re interested in donating to ECF:

Ways to Make a Planned Gift

Bequests and Wills

The most straightforward way to make a planned gift is to include the Episcopal Church Foundation in your will. A bequest is a meaningful way to support their work while not interfering with your cash flow during your lifetime. Your attorney can include it when preparing or revising your will, or you can add it at any time.

Some examples of bequests include:

A specific bequest specifies the amount of money, securities, or other assets that you want to leave to ECF. It can also represent a specific percentage of the total value of your estate.

After all other bequests have been satisfied, a residuary bequest leaves the remainder of your estate (or a percentage of the total) to your beneficiaries.

You can designate ECF as the beneficiary of a contingency bequest, which accounts for the possibility of a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.

Unrestricted and Restricted Gifts

If you want to make a restricted gift, make sure to include language that allows ECF to re-direct the use of your gift if the specified initiative, program, or purpose no longer requires funds in the future.

Charitable Gift Annuities

A charitable gift annuity is a straightforward arrangement between you and the Episcopal Church Foundation. ECF pays one or two annuitants to whom you designate a fixed annuity for life in exchange for your irrevocable gift of cash or securities, and you will be eligible for an income tax deduction in the year you make the gift.

The minimum age to begin receiving annuity payments at ECF is 55. You can, however, establish a charitable gift annuity at a younger age and postpone the start of annuity payments until the age of 55. ECF requires a minimum of $5,000 to establish a charitable gift annuity.

You will receive an instantaneous income tax deduction for a portion of your gift, and your annuity will be backed by the entirety of ECF’s assets.

Retirement Plans

Through your retirement plan, you can make a contribution to the Episcopal Church Foundation. Certain retirement plans, such as IRAs, Keoghs, 401ks, and 403bs, allow you to postpone paying taxes until you withdraw income during retirement. However, these accounts are frequently subject to significant taxes after your death.

Charitable Trusts

A charitable trust can help you achieve your short- and long-term financial, estate, and philanthropic objectives. A donor makes an irreversible transfer of cash, real estate, stock, or other assets to a trust that generates income for the donor or another beneficiary for a set period of up to twenty years or until the donor or another beneficiary dies. The remaining principal possessions will be distributed to ECF at the end of the trust period.

Pooled Income Fund

A contribution of $2,500 or more to a pooled income fund is “pooled” with other contributions in a professionally managed investment portfolio. You or your designated receiver will be guaranteed an income for the rest of your life, with the amount determined by the fund’s investment returns. You will receive an instant federal income tax deduction as well as possibly a reduction in estate taxes. When you die, or the final beneficiary dies, the remaining property will pass to ECF.

Bank Accounts, Securities, and Certificates of Deposit

A planned gift to ECF can be made at no cost by designating it as the beneficiary of a bank account or security. You can direct any financial institution with which you have an account or are the holder of a security to place your asset in a trust (also known as a Totten Trust or a Transfer upon Death Account) that will be transferred directly to the Episcopal Church Foundation upon your death.

Life Insurance Policies

ECF welcomes philanthropic support in the form of gifts of life insurance policies once the policies have been paid in full and ECF has been named as the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy.

End Note

ECF works hard every day to ensure that all lay and clergy leaders have access to the resources they need to thrive. But they can’t do it alone. There are ways you can help them achieve their mission: you can donate money to support their programs, or you can also spread the word about our work by sharing our website and social media posts with your friends and family. Whatever you do, know that your support is essential to ECF’s success. Thank you for helping ECF strengthen the Episcopal Church community!

Lifestyle

The Message Women Need Today: Cathi Carrier’s Mission to Bring Back Self-Worth

Published

1 day ago

March 27, 2026

Michelle Langton

Many women spend years quietly stepping out of the frame, avoiding cameras, hiding behind filters, or brushing off compliments because they no longer recognize the person staring back at them. It is not vanity that drives those moments; it’s a deeper feeling of slipping away from yourself. That emotional weight is something Cathi Carrier has witnessed for more than three decades, and it’s what shaped the mission behind Purely Bella.

Cathi didn’t build her career in a boardroom. She built it in a treatment room, one client at a time, listening to stories that rarely make it into conversations about skincare. Women would sit down and immediately apologize for their appearance, convinced they were “too late” to take care of themselves. What she saw instead were women who had given so much to others that they had forgotten how to give to themselves.

Her understanding didn’t come from textbooks. It began when she was a teenager struggling with acne that felt bigger than a skin issue; it affected her confidence, her social life, and even the way she carried herself. That experience gave her empathy long before she had professional expertise. She knew what it meant to feel uncomfortable in your own skin, and she never forgot it.

In her treatment room, skincare became something deeper than cleansing and moisturizers. It became a place where women were welcomed without judgment, where they could talk openly, exhale, and feel seen. Over the years, she learned that skin reflects far more than age or stress. It reflects how much space a woman has allowed herself to take up in her own life.

Stories like Sara’s stayed with her. Sara, a retired schoolteacher, walked in with her shoulders rounded and her spirit dulled. She apologized repeatedly for her skin, barely making eye contact. Carrier designed a simple treatment plan, but the real change came from the conversations, the consistency, and the small moments where Sara started to reconnect with herself. Months later, Sara hugged her and said she finally felt like herself again. That transformation, skin healing paired with emotional renewal, is what convinced Carrier that skincare can be a form of healing when done with intention.

Still, she reached a limit. Her treatment room could only help one woman at a time. The desire to create a greater impact pushed her to start Purely Bella, a brand built to carry her philosophy beyond the walls of her spa. The transition wasn’t glamorous. She had to learn manufacturing, sourcing, regulations, and everything in between. But she stayed focused on real women and real results, clean formulations that worked, without the fear-based marketing the industry often leans on.

Purely Bella’s mission is rooted in a simple promise: you don’t need to turn back time to feel beautiful. You need to move forward with confidence and grace, knowing your best self is not behind you. Cathi believes this deeply. She speaks often about how a morning skincare routine is not just about products, it’s a daily choice to care for yourself, a reminder that you matter.

Her mission is also a response to the pressures women absorb from the world around them. Society is quick to tell women their value fades with every birthday. Cathi rejects that entirely. She wants daughters to grow up watching their mothers feel proud in photos, not hide from them. She wants women to recognize that aging is not the enemy; the real enemy is the culture that tells them to shrink as they grow older.

In a crowded beauty landscape, Cathi Carrier is not asking women to chase perfection. She is inviting them to remember who they are, and to step back into the frame with confidence.