The goal of the Stewardship Committee is to help God’s people at St. Mark’s grow in their relationship with Jesus through the return of the money, time, and talents that God has allowed them to use. We believe stewardship must be based on biblical teaching and is about our need to give (as an act of discipleship), versus the church’s to receive.

Message from Eric Long, Stewardship Committee Chair:

Stewardship Update—Taxes and Charitable Giving

Now that we have all (hopefully) filed our federal and state tax returns for the year, here are a few tax related items for your consideration: 

New charitable deductions for Tax Year 2026. For many people, tax deductions for charitable contributions are a welcome incentive from the government to support churches, charities, schools, and other non-profits. For many years, the ability to deduct charitable contributions was bundled with other deductions such as mortgage interest. There is a new feature in the tax code for Tax Year 2026 (next April’s tax return), that will allow many more people to claim a deduction for charitable giving, even if they cannot otherwise itemize deductions. Less than 10% of taxpayers presently itemize. Here is what is new: according to IRS Topic no. 506 (Charitable contributions), 

“Beginning with tax year 2026, if you do not itemize, you may deduct up to $1,000 ($2,000 if filing jointly) of your cash contributions to certain qualified organizations.” (meaning tax exempt organizations, such as St. Mark’s)

This deduction will reduce your taxable income by the amount you report in this line item, and every little bit helps reduce your final tax bill. Please note that it does not reduce your tax by this full amount—it reduces your income used to calculate the tax. How can we take advantage of this as a congregation? 

  • For those who may be donating less than $1,000 individually to St. Mark’s, please consider increasing your contribution to the level where you could take that full $1,000 (or $2,000 filing jointly) deduction. This deduction may be a way to increase the charitable giving in your household budget.

  • For those who cannot itemize but already plan to exceed these special charitable deduction limits, please include this in your tax planning for next year. Please consider how nice little tax break this might enable you to increase your giving to St. Mark’s and other charities.

  • For questions about your individual situation, please contact a tax professional. For general questions, contact stewardship@stmarks-elca.org.

What are you going to do with that big refund you are planning to receive this year? Our feelings of abundance are boosted when we come into a little bit of extra money that was not part of our regular income planning: a bonus at work, that extra cash you found in your coat pocket, or a tax refund. Please consider turning that sense of abundance into a "gratitude donation" for some portion of that refund to St. Mark’s. You could donate it for the operating budget via regular offerings, or contributing to our dedicated funds that fill special needs. We have one suggestion for what to do with unplanned extra funds: the Organ Revitalization Fund. If you need any suggestions, please contact Erik Long via stewardship@stmarks-elca.org. All discussions will be handled confidentially.