Legacy Partners

Legacy Partners are those who include Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp in their estate plans. As a Legacy Partner, you help FLBC strengthen its mission and ministry base for the future. Various gifts may be considered in estate planning. Wills and charitable bequests lead the way. Charitable designations may be made with retirement accounts, life insurance, Charitable gift annuities, Charitable trusts, payable on death funds, property (land, farms, homes), and much more. If you would like to give a gift that will live on in perpetuity, consider a gift to one or more of the FLBC endowments, where only a distribution is made each year, allowing the endowment and earnings to grow and grow.

Our 3 Endowments Include:

The General Endowment

Used for needed upgrades, improvements to facilities, beds and mattresses, kitchen equipment and fun camper enhancements.    Items such as the  water slide, ropes course, archery, disc golf,  tree houses, escape rooms and hammock villages have been funded through the endowment.

The Campership Endowment

Each year a percentage of the earnings in this endowment, goes to the operation fund to ensure that no one is ever turned away, because of inability to pay… Making camp affordable and accessible to all.  A core value of FLBC.

The Staff Scholarship Endowment

These are named endowments. With $125,000 you can have your named endowment.  ie “The Smith Family Staff Endowment”   Once fully funded, each year approximately $5,000 will go to help FLBC hire a faithful, energetic summer staff person.  These funds are funneled to our operating fund, to pay for training, transportation, uniform, salary etc.  Asl long as you or your family would like, you will be notified of your staff person, so you can communicate with them if you would like!

 

If you would like to include Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp as a beneficiary in your estate plan, please consider the language found HERE for your will or living trust.
Please email Grace Schroeder Scott, Senior Development Consultant, at grace@flbc.net or call the FLBC Office, 406-752-6602, to arrange a visit with Grace and start a legacy gift conversation.

If you have already included Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp as a beneficiary of your estate, trust, or retirement fund, please share your plans with us by completing the FLBC Letter of Intent Form and contacting Grace at grace@flbc.net and/or Margie at margie@flbc.net and/or Jason at jason@flbc.net. By informing us of your plans, we will be able to document your gift along with your specified purpose, allowing us to use your gift as intended. We look forward to hearing from you and thanking you for your generous commitment to the future of FLBC! (And if you request to be anonymous. We will honor your request.) Thank you and God bless!

Please note: This information is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor.

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  • DANCE IN FRONT OF CROWD

Allan and Sue Ost live in Havre, Montana, where they are members of First Lutheran Church.  They have three grown children and four grandchildren.  Both are graduates of Montana State University – Northern in Havre.

Both Allan and Sue are active ELCA Mission Builders, and longtime supporters of Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp.  Their first Mission Builders project was construction of the Gathering Pavillion at FLBC in 2013.

“The work of the wider church, and the ability of the church to sustain its work for the long term, are very important to us,” says Sue.  Working with Beth Adams, Region I Gift Planner, the Osts have created a Charitable Remainder Trust.  The charitable beneficiaries of the trust are four ELCA organizations:  Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp, First Lutheran Church – Havre, Montana Synod of the ELCA, and ELCA Mission Builders.

“The thing that’s important for people to know“, says Allan, “is that you don’t have to be wealthy to make a difference.  We’re just regular working people, and we were surprised when Beth showed us how much we could do by creating this Trust.”

Dick Irvin, a longtime friend of Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp, shares the story about how he started his business in 1951 in Shelby, Montana, where he was raised. His father, who worked for the Great Northern Railroad, loaned him $3,000 to buy his first truck. Dick quickly paid the loan back and grew the business into Dick Irvin Inc. – Transportation Service.

Dick joined St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Shelby after marrying Pat White there in 1950. Pastor Olaf Borge, who married them, was persuasive in church membership, Dick recalls. Since joining the Lutheran Church, Dick has been a strong churchman for 71 years. Through the years Dick’s grandchildren have been campers at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp.

In the early 1980s, through his Church in Shelby, Dick learned of the critical infrastructure needs at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp. So, he gave a gift to the Camp to help rebuild the aging water and sewer system. Later, Dick was on the original committee that started the Camp’s Endowment Fund. He has continued to grow the Endowment Fund each year by giving a “planned gift” to the Camp using the Montana Charitable Endowment Tax credit.

Looking back 70 years, Dick says that he “gives thanks to God for his guidance and gives thanks to his father for the loan to get him started in business.” Dick added, “Something else, my father told me early on ‘that it’s not the money you make, but the money you save that makes the difference.’”

We would also say with thankfulness to Dick, “it’s also the money you give to help people that makes a difference.”

Thank you, Dick. Through your generosity, you are making a difference in the lives of thousands of Montana children now and in the future.