Financial giving options

Our mission to worship, witness, learn, serve, and reach out with words and deeds of love is empowered by gifts of time and talent, and also by the monetary gifts we share. These gifts begin as a thank offering to God, and they become the vital energy and support we need to do God’s work in the world. It takes just over one million dollars each year to fully fund this work we do together, and you can be a part of that by giving in any of the following ways.

You may also choose to make contributions directly through your bank. You can set up a one-time or recurring payment to St. Mark’s through bank bill pay. Your bank then mails a check to St. Mark’s. The church does not incur fees for bank bill pays that you initiate. Please check with your bank for fees, if any, that they may charge you.

Offering envelopes are the traditional way of making weekly or monthly gifts which can be recorded and acknowledged. If you wish to use offering envelopes, you may request them from the Financial Recording Secretary via the church office (office@smlutheran.org or 253-752-4966). Personalized and numbered envelopes will be mailed to you semi-annually.

Through this program, funds are automatically withdrawn directly from a checking, savings, debit or credit card account by Vanco Services and deposited directly into St. Mark’s bank account. You can make contributions online on a recurring or one-time basis and enroll yourself in online giving. St. Mark’s is assessed processing fees for these electronic transactions.

Gifts of stocks and other securities can be made at any time, for any purpose of the donor’s choosing. For information about ways to donate securities through electronic transfer or physical delivery, please contact the Director of Finance and Operations at St. Mark’s. The church does not offer financial advice on the decision to donate securities, but we have St. Mark’s members who can advise you on the processes to use.

By including St. Mark’s in wills or estate plans, we are able to pass along some of what we have received for future generations of faith. The language can be as simple as naming a specific dollar amount or a percentage of your estate’s residual value with the church as beneficiary. Contact your attorney for specific advice on wills and estates, and please let the church know if you have made the decision to give a bequest to St. Mark’s. You can contact one of the pastors or the Manager of Finance and Operations.

Are you a member of Thrivent Financial who’s eligible to direct Choice Dollars? The Thrivent Choice program —Thrivent’s member-advised charitable grant program— is an easy way for eligible Thrivent members to recommend how Thrivent Financial should distribute a portion of its charitable outreach funds. This is done through a vehicle called Choice Dollars, which you can direct to support St. Mark’s.

Simply go to Thrivent.com/thriventchoice to learn more or call 800-847-4836 and say “Thrivent Choice” after the prompt. Our church is listed on the Thrivent webpage as “St Marks by the Narrows Lutheran Church.” Every dollar earned will be applied to our Mortgage Principal Retirement Fund.

St. Mark’s can benefit financially almost any time you shop with Amazon! AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices, shopping features, and Amazon Prime member benefits as Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice. Since you use the same account on Amazon.com and AmazonSmile, your shopping cart, Wish List, registries, and other account settings remain the same.

To register, go to smile.amazon.com. Under your Accounts & Lists menu, click into Your AmazonSmile, search for “St Marks Lutheran By the Narrows“, and designate St. Mark’s from there.

If you have a free Rewards Card from Fred Meyer, eligible purchases you make there can benefit St. Mark’s. (If you don’t have a card, applications should be available at all registers or at the Customer Service Desk.) You just need to link your card once to St. Mark’s. Go to www.fredmeyer.com. If you don’t have an online account, you will need to create one. Then scroll all the way to the bottom of page and click on Fred Meyer Community Rewards link. Follow the directions to link your card to an organization and search for “St. Mark’s Lutheran Church by the Narrows.”