Stewardship
Interested in making a one-time donation for something specific? Visit our designated Gift page.
Committed to Community 2025
We are the community we build.
And building community requires each and every single one of us.
Nearly fifty years ago, as the new Saint Peter’s Church was beginning to rise from the bedrock of Manhattan at the creation of Citicorp Center, Dr. Robert A. Bell, the then president of Saint Peter’s, wrote, “We have traveled a great journey together over the past years, yet the greatest challenges and opportunities lie ahead.” This sentiment is as true for us today as it was then.
What lies ahead is the vitality of the community. The challenges are many: the vulnerability of so many people in our community, the many people whose deaths we continue to mourn, and an increasingly expensive city. The opportunities are also numerous: expanding services to people in need, partnering with the Arts and Architecture Conservancy at Saint Peter’s to present arts and cultural programs, and continuing to foster faith and a spirit of togetherness in people of all ages.
Our 2025 stewardship theme is rooted in this very idea: We are the community we build. And building community requires each and every single one of us.
Your commitment today is Saint Peter’s hope for tomorrow.
Stewardship Goal for 2025:
Your tax-deductible gifts enable Saint Peter’s mission and ministry to flourish.
Want to learn more about our scope and impact? Check out our Annual Report.
Thank you for your continued support!
RESOURCES FOR DISCERNING YOUR COMMITMENT: 2025
A great cloud of witnessesOver the past few years, more than 10 long-time members have died or are no longer in a position to give. We feel their loss in many ways as a community: their passion, their dedication, their stewardship.
If all we see is loss, however, we do not see, as scripture puts it, the “life that is set before us” — the opportunity to be inspired by the witness made clear to us by these losses. What is that witness? Nearly $100,000 in annual giving in support of our mission and ministry. Giving that began 10 or 25 or 50 years ago, and matured over time.
None of us can meet the challenge of this witness overnight or alone. None of us is asked to, either. We are invited to discern what our individual commitment to community is in our own time.
Forming our own witness
When we adopted our FY2025 budget, together we made a commitment to support our mission and ministry with $365,000 in stewardship. That may seem like alot. But, when every person fulfills their share, together we reach our goal.
A guide to discerning your COMMITMENT: 2025
Fulfilling our $365,000 stewardship intention may seem insurmountable. Yet, if we imagine the table below as a mountain, we see how, together, we climb it. Where do you see yourself? Can you start giving for the first time? Can you reach higher? Even part way to the next level? Each of us is needed to reach our goal!
Steel structure of Saint Peter’s Church Sanctuary,1975.
SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
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Instead of thinking about dollars first, think about the ways in which God has blessed you and you are able to live an abundant life. Imagine what happens if you commit a portion of that abundance to our life together in community: we are strong, we are whole, we serve others with vitality.
Your stewardship commitment may be
10% of your annual income
A match of what you spend on coffee weekly
A percent of what you spend on TV, internet, or phone subscriptions
“Rounding up” on all your purchases
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While this page is filled with resources to discern, ultimately this is a personal question which only can be answered by each individual person. Here’s a way of assessing your own position:
Ask yourself frankly to look at what you have been giving to the Church, then decided whether it has been “token,” “adequate,” or “sacrificial.” This is is a tremendously individual matter. Only you can answer it.
If your giving has been “token,” try to increase it generously.
If your giving has seemed “adequate” to you over the past few years, bear in mind the ways in which matters like inflation have been running at exceedingly high rates (10%+ in several years), and an increase of these proportions would support the Church in keeping pace.
If you have been giving “sacrificially,” nothing in the world will change that.
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There are multiple ways:
Make a one time gift. This can be done at anytime using the form above and selecting “One-time donation”. You will receive an email confirmation.
Make a recurring gift. Use the form above and selecting “Recurring donation”. Your first gift will process the same day and all subsequent gifts will process on a schedule you determine.
Make a pledge. Pledges can be made through a card mailed out and paid through the end of the year. If you need to change your pledge, all we ask is that you write a brief note to giving@saintpeters.org. You do not have to give a reason to cancel your pledge.
To use other charitable distributions or appreciated securities, you can contact giving@saintpeters.org.
It is also possible to give by stewardship envelopes. To receive envelopes write to Edgar Guerrero, parish secretary, at eguerrero@saintpeters.org
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There are many opportunities for individuals to make a commitment beyond the foundational stewardship needs of the Church, specifically for one of the four pillars — the organ, preservation of Modernism in our Sanctuary, Nevelson Chapel, and even the Center for Community, Arts and Culture — of the For the Future campaign. Given how crucial stewardship is from year to year, think of stewardship as a base, with giving to other initiatives, including the capital campaign, after this base commitment.
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All gifts to Saint Peter’s Church are deductible for income tax purposes in accordance with IRS regulations. This may make it possible for your giving to go even further with various tax benefits, based on your income tax bracket. SOme may find that the gift of appreciated securities provides them with additional tax savings. While the Church cannot provide tax advice, you are urged to discuss this matter with your lawyer and/or tax accountant.
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Your commitment can be fulfilled at any time over the next year. However, it is naturally helpful to the Church if you were to set up some sort of regular contribution. For some this is annually or twice a year; for others this is monthly or weekly. A regular pattern is what is most helpful to developing and maintaining a plan.
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Saint Paul puts it better than any other theologian:
“...the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as each has made up in their mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
“You will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”
— 2 Corinthians 9:6&7, 11
Saint Peter’s Church, 2024.