“I want you to live out the fullness of your calling.”
That’s what Kate Gardner tells each of the 60 missionaries she supports around the world. It’s a promise she’s kept for a decade, through monthly financial gifts, biweekly prayer calls, and in-person visits to nations most donors will only ever read about.
Kate’s story starts with a decision many donors face at some point in their generosity journey: What do you do with an asset that’s grown in value?
For Kate, the answer became a lesson in how donating stock to nonprofits can fund far more than a single gift—it can fund a calling.
An early inheritance, an open question
At 21, Kate’s parents gave her an early inheritance: a stock portfolio that traced back through her great-grandfather’s legacy. This appreciating asset came with a question she couldn’t shake: God, why? And what is this for?
That question became the starting point for a giving journey that’s now spanned nations.
An unconventional approach: cold-calling missionaries
Most missionaries spend their time trying to reach donors. Kate flipped that dynamic. She built a simple thesis around the kind of impact she wanted her giving to make, identified missions organizations that she believed in, and reached out to them directly.
“This is the opposite dynamic of most missions organizations,” Kate said. Rather than waiting to be approached, she went looking for people to invest in.
More than a gift: A relationship
Kate didn’t want her generosity to stop at a transaction, so she created three ways to support the missionaries she funds:
- Financial support: a consistent monthly gift
- Prayer: regularly lifting up their lives and ministry spiritually, not just financially
- Regular check-ins: biweekly video calls asking simply, “What’s going on? How can I pray for you?”
In 2019, she took that commitment a step further, traveling around the world to stay with many of the missionaries she supports, turning a decade of financial partnership into in-person community.
For the missionaries on the receiving end, the impact goes beyond the dollars. Candace, one of the missionaries Kate supports put it this way: “Having someone believe in your calling enough to put real resources behind it is humbling. It means someone is giving you the ability to say a full yes to the work in front of you.”
The legacy behind the gift
Another question has reframed Kate’s giving entirely: “We obviously often know the names of the big missionaries … but who are the people who funded them?”
Generosity is not a side project for Kate. It’s a calling and an act of obedience to what God has entrusted her. That same call is for all Christians.
Ten years in, she now describes her giving as a window into the global body of Christ—a reminder that the same gospel is being lived out whether a missionary is serving in Thailand, Japan, or Iceland. Jesus is real and is making an impact all over the world.
Why donate stock instead of cash?
It’s worth understanding why Kate— and many experienced donors—choose to give stock rather than cash in the first place.
When you donate appreciated stock through a donor advised fund, two things happen:
- You may avoid capital gains tax on the growth, since you’re transferring the asset itself rather than selling it and donating the proceeds.
- You may receive a charitable deduction for the full fair market value of the stock at the time of the gift, not just what you originally paid for it.
The practical result: potentially more of the asset’s full value reaches the mission field and less is lost to taxes along the way.
How a donor advised fund makes this simple
Kate manages her support for 60 missionaries in dozens of countries through a donor advised fund (DAF) at The Signatry. A DAF makes it possible to:
- Contribute appreciated stock in a single transfer, rather than managing individual paperwork for every gift
- Recommend grants to multiple missionaries and organizations from one fund, on your own schedule
- Simplify the tax and administrative side of giving, so more of your time can go toward the relationships that matter—not the paperwork
If you’re holding stock that’s grown in value and wondering how to put it to work for a cause you believe in, you don’t have to reinvent Kate’s approach to benefit from the same principle: an appreciated asset, given well, could fund far more than you’d expect.
Considering whether your current giving setup is as fruitful and efficient as possible?
About The Signatry
The Signatry seeks to inspire and facilitate revolutionary biblical generosity across generations. Through donor advised funds and other innovative tools and resources, families are empowered to live generously, modeling biblical values for future generations and making a greater impact for causes that align with their passions. Since 2018, The Signatry has facilitated sending over $3.9 billion to organizations around the world that are dedicated to solving the world’s greatest problems.
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