Planned Giving: What’s It All About?
You plan throughout your life. Everything from the day-to-day, to the career choices you make to meet goals and ensure financial security for your family. Why would you need to plan a charitable gift? For many of the same reasons: As you decide what you want to accomplish, taking thoughtful steps will make you more successful.
Planned gifts are many shapes and sizes. The beauty lies in this: It is set up to make the most sense for you and the charitable causes close to your heart.
Since The Community Foundation received its first planned gift in 1994, realized planned gifts have given proceeds every year since, to create new funds or add to existing ones – ultimately, to help people give in personally meaningful ways.
Leaving Your Charitable Legacy
There are a variety of ways you can make a planned gift and create a legacy through The Community Foundation. We work with you to learn about your charitable goals and to offer suggestions for how those goals can be realized through one or more funds within The Community Foundation.
Planned giving through The Community Foundation allows you to establish a charitable legacy, while also providing you with significant financial and tax benefits. Once you are ready to incorporate your charitable goals with financial and estate plans, we can also provide information to your professional advisor.
Your charitable goals may be realized with one or more of the following planned giving options:
A bequest to a fund within The Community Foundation is an ideal way to ensure that the charitable causes important to you and your family continue to be supported beyond your lifetime. You can designate a set amount or percentage of your estate, leave your house or leave all remaining assets. Bequests to The Foundation can create significant tax savings for your heirs.
You may designate The Foundation as a primary or contingent beneficiary of your IRA or other retirement plan assets to support your charitable interests. Among other options, the IRA Charitable Rollover is easy for donors with IRAs to ‘rollover’ up to $100,000 once they reach the age of 70½ to public charities without having to count the distributions as taxable income. We’re ready to help our donors take advantage of this legislation and make gifts during your lifetimes. Our personalized service and local expertise helps you address the issues and causes most important to you.
You can transfer ownership of a cash value policy during your lifetime to create or support your fund and be eligible for an immediate tax deduction based on the policy’s current value. Naming The Foundation as a beneficiary of any insurance policy can be part of an estate planning strategy.
With a charitable lead trust, you provide income to support your charitable fund now, for a designated period of years or for the lives of individuals. At the end of the term, substantial tax-reduced or tax-free assets are transferred to your heirs or others you designate. Your community and your loved ones both benefit from your generosity.
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee offers customized and personal charitable solutions to donors interested in current and planned giving opportunities. When you entrust The Foundation to connect your generosity with need, we honor your wishes in perpetuity.
For information on current gifts, such as giving stock, personal property or real estate, review the Types of Gifts section.
