Types of Gifts

Help your clients find the best way to achieve their charitable goals by considering how and when to make charitable gifts. Here are a few options:

Gifts made through your will or trust

A simple provision in your will or trust can provide for your favorite cause after your death. Flexible and revocable, a bequest allows you to make a gift that costs you nothing during your lifetime. You can give a specific amount, or a percentage of your estate. Consider a bequest to endow your lifetime giving, so that after you pass away your favorite organizations receive annual gifts in your name from a fund at the Delaware Community Foundation.

Gifts of retirement plan assets

An Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or other qualified retirement plan offers a strategic giving option. At your direction, the balance in the account can pay directly to a DCF charitable fund at your death. It goes to work, providing annual support for the causes you care about most.

Gifts of life insurance

For many people, life insurance affords a practical means of making a significant gift. You may name any charitable fund at the DCF as beneficiary of a new or paid-up life insurance policy. If you make DCF the owner of the policy as well as beneficiary, you may receive current income tax benefits.

Gifts that pay you income for life

With a charitable gift annuity, you and/or another can receive a fixed dollar amount each year for life. The older you are, the higher your income. For example, recent rates have offered a 70 year-old a 5.7% fixed annual income. Please note that rates can change; contact us for current gift annuity rates. You receive an income tax charitable deduction when you set up the gift annuity, and may benefit from estate tax savings. At the end of your lifetime, the amount remaining pays into the DCF fund of your choice, supporting your favorite organization’s good work far into the future.

A charitable remainder trust can provide a variable rate of income. Requiring a larger investment than a gift annuity, it offers a current income tax charitable deduction as well as potential estate tax savings.

Gifts through a charitable lead trust

Some donors donate the income from an asset to a fund at the DCF for a period of years, without contributing the income-producing asset itself. This is done with a charitable lead trust which allows the DCF to “borrow” the asset and can provide you with substantial tax benefits.

Gifts of real estate

Real estate offers many tax-wise giving opportunities. You may be in a position to transfer your personal residence, vacation home or farm to a fund at the DCF and reserve the right to use the property for your lifetime. With this plan, you receive a current income tax charitable deduction for the remainder value of the property, which depends on your age and the property’s appraised value.

Additional options for giving

Current and deferred gifts may be tailored to suit your needs using various assets including:

• Gifts of cash.
• Gifts of publicly traded securities.
• Gifts of closely held stock.
• Gifts of tangible property.

Please consult your accountant or tax attorney regarding your financial and estate planning.

The Delaware Community Foundation provides support for a full range of charitable gift planning options and services. Call us for more information about ways to create your charitable legacy. We will be happy to supply you with detailed gift examples based on your own circumstances.

Please contact Joan Hoge-North, 302.504.5224.