Charitable Estate Plans

Practical considerations when creating a charitable estate plan

The assets you have often help determine the best structures to create the best charitable estate plan for you and your family. Taxes on appreciated assets, for example, may make certain strategies more attractive and effective. While other assets, such as life insurance or retirement accounts, can be more easily passed on to heirs with minimal effort or tax implications. 

Our gift planning counselors specialize in creating the best plan for you, that not only meets your goals, but also maximizes your options and the potentially the size of the gifts you can leave your family and to ministry.

Possible components of a charitable estate plan

Bequest

A bequest is one of the easiest gift and estate planning options and is usually as simple as directing a gift be made as a component of your will. However, bequests have limitations. For example, if your will says to leave 10 percent of your estate to your church, but your life insurance policy lists your children as full beneficiaries, those funds will not be included in calculating how much of your estate will go to your church.

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Charitable remainder trust

A charitable remainder trust (CRT) is a gift and estate planning option that involves transferring cash, property or appreciated assets to a trust in return for a partial tax deduction and income payments while you're alive (or a term of years if you prefer) to either yourself or to your heirs. After you’re called home to Heaven, all funds still within the trust become a gift to the ministry of your choice.

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Donor advised fund

A donor advised fund (DAF) is an account you create specifically to support the ministries or charities of your choice. DAFs are a great way to establish a tradition of giving among your children and grandchildren, as each year (or more or less often) you can plan as a family what gifts to make out of the fund and which ministries to support. A donor advised fund is a simpler alternative to a family foundation. DAFs can be established with as little as $10,000.

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Personal endowment

Many of our donors want to leave a dependable stream of funding to a favorite ministry or to a cause that’s near-and-dear to their hearts. Most are surprised at how easy it is to create a personal endowment, and that you don’t have to be wealthy to do it. Whether it’s a teacher who wants to create a scholarship at her school, or the alumni of a childhood camp that wants to make sure more children can afford attending the camp in the future, creating a personal endowment can be a moving and joyful experience. Endowments can be perpetual or last for a term of years, based on the donor’s instructions.

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Donate real estate

An asset can be almost anything we own, and homes, properties and land aren’t uncommon gifts to ministry. But donating real estate, or any appreciated asset, can be tricky or have unexpected tax implications. However, donating real estate is a great way to provide a substantial gift to the ministries you want to support. In return, donors can receive tax deductions and avoid or reduce capital gains tax.

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Donate appreciated assets

Like donating real estate, donating appreciated assets is a great way to make a gift to ministry. Gifting appreciated assets—things like publicly-traded securities, stocks or even collectables—can be a blessing to both you and the ministries you choose to support. By donating assets that have grown in value, you can often avoid incurring capital gains tax on their sale, plus benefit from an immediate tax deduction that year. More importantly, that means you can provide a greater gift to ministry, versus much of the gift being reduced by taxes.

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Gift annuity

Gift annuities are often good charitable estate planning options for donors that want to make a gift to charity after they’ve died but want to guarantee the funds provide income while they’re still on this Earth. With an annuity, you make a gift and receive fixed, lifetime payments for one or two individuals. The remaining value of the gift becomes a gift to ministry when the Lord calls you home to Heaven.

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