Donating

The Pike Center depends on grants and donations for its funding. Entities and members of SIL, as those we knew Pike and appreciate most deeply the value of his legacy, are also among those who may most want to support the Pike Center or who may want to advocate to others that they donate for this cause. After explaining more about how the Pike Center is funded, this page describes four ways in which donations may be made—via internal transfers, the public website, non-cash assets, and planned giving.

How the Pike Center is funded

Pike Center does not currently receive an allocation from SIL’s administrative budget. It is supported solely by funds it raises through sales of publications, grants for specific projects, and donations. The single largest source of funding to-date has been the Kenneth Pike Endowment for Integrative Scholarship. That is an endowed fund that was created to honor Ken Pike and to further his legacy, but the principal that has been raised is such that the interest that can be invested in scholarly activities is well under $10,000 per year. For the programs of the Pike Center to meet the demand, we must raise funds through donations.

Donating via internal transfers

SIL entities and members may elect to support the programs of the Pike Center in their tithing. This can be done by making an internal fund transfer to SPKC56—the cost center for the Pike Center’s restricted fund. Funds transferred to that cost center will not zero out at the end of the fiscal year and are thus guaranteed to go toward the support of the Pike Center’s program. (Note that the Pike Center also has an operational cost center, SPKC16. Do not transfer donations to that cost center since any excess at the end of the fiscal year will zero out and revert to SIL’s general fund.)

Donating via the public website

It is possible to donate online through a credit card account. Go to the Give page at pikecenter.org.

Donating via non-cash assets

It is also possible to donate by making outright gifts of non-cash assets like stocks and bonds, mineral interests, life insurance, and real estate. We are partnering with the Wycliffe Foundation to enable non-cash and legacy giving to SIL International. See their page on Ways to Give to learn about the kinds of assets that can be given and about ways of giving that provide tax benefits and even life income. Send an email to give@pikecenter.org if you are interested in learning more about how to give this kind of gift.

Donating via planned giving

A straightforward way to make a planned gift to the Pike Center is to designate it as a beneficiary in your will with a wording like “to SIL International (www.sil.org) for the programs of the Pike Center for Integrative Scholarship (www.pikecenter.org)”. Including the web address will help the executor to find the contact information. You may also request that the Pike Center be the beneficiary of gifts that are made in your memory.

There are also planned giving instruments like life estates, charitable gift annuities, charitable unitrusts, charitable lead trusts, and others that are more complex, but have advantages for some situations. See the Wycliffe Foundation page on Ways to Give to learn about these possibilities and how they provide tax benefits and even life income. Send an email to give@pikecenter.org if you are interested in learning more about planned giving.