Planned Giving Blog

You may have hesitated to make a charitable gift to our organization because of the current demands on your resources or because of concerns about future needs like health care or retirement income. Some charitable gifts enable you to change them if needed; they don't lock you into commitments that may prove inconsistent with your evolving goals and objectives. These are known as "revocable" gifts.

Bequests. One of the most popular revocable gifts is making a provision in a will or trust. Often these are commitments that could not be fulfilled out of currently available assets. After making such provisions, you continue to use all of your assets however you choose. If needed, you may alter the provisions at a later time. Many of our supporters find that a gift of a certain percentage of an estate or trust ensures that other goals will not be inadvertently compromised.

Beneficiary Designations. You can also make a revocable gift to our organization through virtually any financial instrument with a beneficiary designation:

• Life Insurance Policies. If the original need for the policy no longer exists or has been addressed in other ways, you may want to consider naming us as a beneficiary of part or all of your policy.
• Retirement-Plan Accounts. Consider naming our organization as a beneficiary of all or a part of any retirement plan in which you participate, including employer-sponsored plans or an individual retirement account (IRA) or Keogh plan. Retirement-plan proceeds make an excellent choice for charitable giving because loved ones usually have to pay income tax on the proceeds but charities do not.
• Bank and Brokerage Accounts. In many states, it is possible to direct organizations that hold funds for you—such as banks and brokerage firms—to pay any account balances remaining at your passing to designated persons or organizations. Generally, these designations (known as POD and TOD) can be changed at any time.

Please contact us for more information about making a revocable gift to our organization.