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Frank Connizzo retired July 1 after five years as planned giving officer for the Diocese of Kansas. He and his wife Carol have been active in parish and diocesan ministries.       Photo by Melodie Woerman

Planned giving officer Frank Connizzo retires July 1

By Melodie Woerman

Editor, The Harvest

It takes a lot of time, and gasoline, to raise a million dollars. Just ask Frank Connizzo, who has invested both in the five years he has served as planned giving officer for the Diocese of Kansas. He guesses he has put about 30,000 miles a year on his Buick, traveling to every parish in the diocese more than once each year, urging people to remember the church in their estate planning.

Those efforts paid off, too. In 2004 alone Connizzo was able to identify more than
$1 million in planned gifts by members of the diocese, and he knows there are others of which he isn’t even aware. Of those gifts, he said 71.4 percent are designated for parish use. Another 14.3 percent will go to the national church or diocesan institutions, and the remaining 14.3 percent will go directly to the Diocese of Kansas.

After five years on the job, Connizzo is retiring July 1 to pursue new business opportunities with his son.

Bishop Dean Wolfe expressed regret at losing Connizzo’s work in planned giving and praised his efforts on behalf of the diocese. He said, “Frank has been an extraordinary contributor to the life and ministry of this diocese. The pain of his resignation is mitigated by the knowledge that he will continue to be so actively involved in the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. Frank and Carol are pillars of this diocese, and I cannot thank them enough for all they have done and continue to do.”

Don’t leave a mess

When he was hired in the spring of 2000, Connizzo said he was asked to do three things: create an awareness of planned giving throughout the diocese, encourage people to have a plan for the final disposition of their assets, and to suggest they include the church in those plans.

The reason to do so is simple, he said. “God does not want us to leave a mess. Get your assets organized and distributed in a way that reflects your values.”

He said planning gives people control over what happens to their money and other  resources when they die,  regardless of the size of the estate. “Your financial plan,” he said, “reflects what you consider to have been of value throughout your lifetime — your heirs, important people, your church. You have an opportunity to leave a legacy, to help enhance the faith development, the mission and ministry of our church, for generations to come.”

In addition to this work, Connizzo has become a consultant to parishes in financial development, especially for those considering capital funds campaigns. He has worked with them to identify the steps needed, to do a feasibility study and in some cases has helped organize the campaign to raise the needed funds.

He has done all this without charge to the congregations. “This work is a ministry of the diocese,” he said. “It’s part of what the diocese offers to parishes.”

Experience of service

Connizzo has firsthand experience with such work, since he has overseen a capital campaign at St Paul’s, Manhattan, his home parish. He now serves there as senior warden, as well as chair of the stewardship committee and the planning committee.

His service extends to the diocese and wider church as well. He has served as a member of the Council of Trustees, and he is looking forward next summer to attending his fifth General Convention as a Kansas deputy. He currently holds an appointment until 2009 on the national Standing Commission for Small Congregations.

In the mid-1980s he was the first president of Episcopal Social Services in Wichita, when he and his wife Carol lived there. He recalls when Venture House was first started as an outreach ministry and served canned soup heated on a hot plate as the first lunch for those in need.

Shared ministries

Carol Connizzo also has been active in the ministries of the Episcopal Church. She has been able to support Frank’s work in planned giving by accompanying him on many of his trips crisscrossing the diocese to call on parishes and potential donors.

She currently serves as treasurer of the campus ministry at Kansas State University and is on the search committee for a new campus missioner for the diocese.  Both of them have been members of the bishop’s committee of the K-State campus community.

When the couple lived in Wichita, Carol Connizzo served as a full-time volunteer assistant to Venture House’s first executive director, Deacon Bob Parker. She called that experience life-changing. “To be able to work with the poor and to be so thankful we could help them, in ways you didn’t even know,” she said, “just being there and listening to them, ministering to them. The volunteers all had the same experience, the experience of loving these people, people who feel unloved.”