Dennis and Megan Doyle have a gift for recognizing real estate investment opportunities.  They own Welsh Companies, a real estate conglomerate in Minneapolis that offers a broad spectrum of real estate brokerage, property management, development, and investment services.  God has richly blessed their business, and they in turn have obediently and gratefully blessed others as His wise and faithful stewards.  

In 1995, the Doyle's established a private foundation in order to more effectively support a wide range of non-profit charities.  The ministry closest to their hearts is Hope for the City (www.hope4thecity.com), which they started in 2000.  It gathers corporate surpluses and distributes them to approximately eighty-five qualified non-profit organizations, primarily in the Twin Cities area. These organizations then distribute the surpluses to the poor.

When The Kingdom Oil Christian Foundation (KOCF) opened its doors in Minneapolis in 2003, as an affiliate of The National Christian Foundation (NCF), the Doyles decided to close their private foundation and transfer the assets to a KOCF Giving Fund.  As a result, over the next several years the Doyles gained numerous major advantages:

• They saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in income taxes, because they could receive tax deductions for up to 50 percent of their adjusted gross income on contributions they made to their Giving Fund, compared to only 30 percent with their private foundation.

• They saved tens of thousands of dollars because their Giving Fund is exempt from excise taxes, while private foundations must pay excise taxes of 2 percent of net investment income earned.

• They shed themselves of many of the burdens of operating a private foundation and turned over virtually all administrative responsibilities to KOCF.  For example, the Doyles saved time and effort, as well as considerable accounting and legal fees, because they no longer had to file the annual tax returns required for private foundations.

• They gained the ability to give anonymously because their Giving Fund information is kept private, whereas private foundations' IRS 990 forms are subject to public record searches.

"I couldn't believe the excellent support we received from Kingdom Oil," recalls Dennis.  "I had a particularly complex situation, because I owned a large amount of real estate investment trust (REIT) stock that I had acquired through a tax deferred exchange.  Restrictions prevented me from liquidating it for approximately three years.  So I contributed the REIT stock to my Giving Fund and received a fully substantiated fair market value tax deduction."

It was a win-win situation.  The Giving Fund received money that it could give away to charities in the future, and the Doyles saved several hundred thousand dollars in income taxes in the year of the donation.

In fact, far more than the Doyle's original contribution became available for the Lord's work.  While the REIT stock resided in the Giving Fund awaiting the lapse of the restrictions, it appreciated 45 percent and paid out numerous dividends.  The Doyles paid no capital gains tax on the stock appreciation and no income tax on the dividend income allocated to their Giving Fund.

Dennis and Megan have continued to donate to their Giving Fund on a regular basis, including additional REIT stock contributions five times greater than their original contribution in 2003.  "I'm a great believer in contributing appreciated stock rather than cash," says Dennis.  "We get an income tax deduction for the full appreciated value in the year of our donation, and we incur no capital gains tax liability on the amount of the appreciation.  Once the money is in the Fund, we can take time to carefully choose the ministries we want to support.  Meanwhile, KOCF does an excellent job managing the assets in the Fund.  As they appreciate tax-free, we have even more to give away.

"Jay Bennett, the president of KOCF, his son, Andy, and the rest of the staff are extremely professional and helpful," adds Dennis.  "We simply send them our grant recommendations via e-mail or by going on-line.  They send the checks out to ministries, collect all the receipts, and give us comprehensive reports.  They're knowledgeable and accurate; I know it's done right.

"Megan and I are extremely busy, and we deal with so many financial matters.  It's good to know KOCF is there to handle everything properly, so we don't overlook something that might create problems down the road.  Our Giving Fund is much less expensive to administer than a private foundation, and we have more peace of mind."  

The Doyles also prefer their KOFC Giving Fund to a private foundation because it creates a proper system of checks and balances.  "We started Hope for the City and are personally involved with it," explains Dennis.  "We feel more comfortable having Kingdom Oil, a respected, professional organization, as a trusted intermediary between our personal finances and the many ministries to which we contribute."

During the first six years of its existence, Hope for the City has experienced exponential growth.  In 2000, its first year, the charity distributed food, medicines, clothing, and other goods with a wholesale value of approximately $2 million dollars.  In 2006, it distributed products worth over $40 million.  It's now one of the largest non-profit organizations in Minnesota.  By using volunteer labor and efficient methods, the ministry holds its operating costs below 2 percent of the value of its distributions.  Dennis likes to tell people that what began as a good idea became a God idea.  

"God has used the Kingdom Oil Christian Foundation in amazing ways to promote Christian stewardship in the Twin Cities area," notes Dennis.  "They faithfully reach out to non-profits.  More and more smart Christian givers and ministries in the region are utilizing their expertise and resources."

"Roughly 90 percent of giving in America is in the form of cash," observes Jay.  "Yet roughly 90 percent of our wealth is in non-cash assets.  A massive untapped potential exists for innovative giving of complex gifts to further the Lord's work. The Doyles have creatively used their Giving Fund to provide very substantial assistance to those who are less fortunate. Their Fund and related ministry are a mustard seed that has blossomed beyond anyone's wildest expectations!"