Have you ever struck up a conversation with someone sitting next to you on a plane and discovered you had way more in common than you thought possible? That’s the feeling Joe and Delores Collier had the first time they heard about The Orchard Foundation. A friend handed over our newsletter to Joe one day and said, “I know you’re looking for someone to help you nail down the details of your estate.” Joe replied, “You’re right—and this time I want someone thinking creatively about it with me.”

What the Colliers wanted
Joe and Delores had just a few desires for their material wealth. Their list was pretty common for the people we serve at The Orchard Foundation:

1. When either one of them passed on, they wanted some secure income for the surviving partner.
2. They needed to leave the family business to the one child who was still active in it, yet offer something equivalent to their other grown children.
3. They wanted to put some dollars in a trust for their grandchildren’s education.
4. Through their estate, the Colliers wanted to invest in their church, the college where they met and married, and in a few outreach programs they really believed in.
5. They wanted to minimize the tax hit their estate would take when it passed to the next generation.

What the Colliers believed
Delores was always one to say, “You know, we’ve been so blessed with our family and what we have.” Using the word “blessed” was not something Delores said lightly. She really believed that the hand of God was behind every good thing she enjoyed in life. Joe agreed. He had built his business on the understanding that “it’s all God’s.” That meant more to Joe than writing out a charitable check at Christmas in the company’s name. It meant treating his employees like they had value, because as Joe saw it, God had allowed them to come to work for him. It meant being wise with profits, and growing the net worth of his business strategically. It meant taking care of himself and his family through the business—not ignoring his responsibilities, but not working himself into an early grave, either.

What the Colliers did
With the Colliers’ views about their estate, their responsibilities, and God, it’s little wonder that our tag line at the end of the newsletter caught their attention: Helping God’s people to use God’s resources to build His Kingdom. “Whoa!” Joe thought. “Someone’s out there who thinks like I do!” He called us on his cell phone—toll free at (888) 689-6300 to talk with an Orchard representative. Then he wondered, “Can Orchard really deliver what I want?”

What Orchard did for the Colliers—and could do for you, too
Over the next few weeks, we at The Orchard Foundation did everything we could to help Joe and Delores move from having only a simple will into having a detailed, airtight estate plan: We assigned a personal Orchard consultant to Joe and Delores. He talked through their desires, and offered the current options available to them to reach each of their financial goals. At the Colliers’ request, we put their hometown attorney in touch with an attorney in their state that specializes in estate planning. That helped everyone involved to clarify issues, draw up the proper paperwork, and explain every benefit of the emerging estate plan. We coordinated an estate design that included:

1. An educational trust that will help provide college or trade school expenses for each of their grandchildren,
2. A series of gift annuities with two-way benefits: First, secure income for Joe and Delores upon their retirement through the time of the surviving spouse’s death; and second, substantial legacy gifts for their church, their alma mater, a medical mission in Africa, and a refugee resettlement program they’re currently involved in.
3. A strategy to pass Joe’s business on to his oldest daughter and her husband while providing their other children with an equal amount of benefit from the estate.
4. An absolute minimum of tax liability at the time of estate settlement.

You and The Orchard Foundation
“We had far more in common with The Orchard Foundation—goals, beliefs, ideas—than we knew,” Joe remarked to his Orchard consultant during a follow-up phone call. Maybe you do, too. Today, Joe and Delores feel that they’re doing all they can to make the most of the resources God gave them in this life. They’re satisfied that, as God’s people, the Orchard helped them make the most of God’s resources to provide for their family and build His Kingdom. We want you to enjoy the same satisfaction, and the peace of mind that comes with it. It doesn’t matter whether your estate adds up to millions or not. Every Orchard estate design is as unique as the people who need it. Some are more involved—like the Colliers’. Others are simple enough to handle with a few phone calls and faxes. We just want you to know this, whatever your situation: Today and in the days to come, we’re ready to help you make the most of what God has given you.

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