Estate Planning Ways To Give
Ways to Give
You can leave a legacy for future generations by adding to your existing fund or creating a new fund with a gift from your estate.
- Bequest Name the Heart of Illinois Community Foundation as a charitable beneficiary in your will or trust. It can be for a stated dollar amount or percentage, specific property, or the residual amount after other distributions have been made.
- Retirement Plan Assets/IRAs Retirement plan accounts and IRAs are some of the most heavily taxed assets at death, potentially subject to both estate and income tax. Avoid these taxes by naming the Heart of Illinois Community Foundation as beneficiary to all or a portion of these assets. This is easy to do with online beneficiary forms.
- Life Insurance Name the Heart of Illinois Community Foundation as owner and beneficiary or simply as beneficiary of an existing or new life insurance policy. A gift of life insurance may provide valuable income and estate tax savings including an immediate income tax deduction.
- Charitable IRA Rollover (during life) A Charitable IRA rollover (QCD) allows you to direct up to $100,000 from your traditional IRA to the Heart of Illinois Community Foundation tax-free. This option can't be directed to donor-advised funds.
- Charitable Remainder Trust Receive income for your lifetime (or others you designate) from the trust. At the end of the trust, the remaining amount benefits an existing or new fund at the Heart of Illinois Community Foundation. You can improve your cash flow while saving on income taxes, deferring capital gains taxes and eliminating gift and estate taxes.
- Charitable Lead Trust Establish a trust that provides annual distribution to the Heart of Illinois Community Foundation for your lifetime or a term of years. The remainder is then returned to you or your heirs. Benefits may include the transfer of assets to others free of estate, gift and income taxes.
- Gifts of Stock and Non-Cash Assets
Bequest Sample Language
A will provision allows you to make a substantial contribution without diminishing the assets available to you during your life. Since bequests are deductible from your taxable estate, significant estate tax savings are possible.
"I bequeath to the Heart of Illinois Community Foundation, a charitable foundation, the sum of ____________ dollars ($_______), or (_______%) of my estate, or the rest, remainder, and residue of my estate. Such bequest shall be devoted to the general purposes of the Foundation as set forth in its bylaws, as amended."
If it is desired that the gift or bequest bear the name of the donor or some other person, the following sentence may be added:
"This gift/bequest shall be known as The (Name) Fund."
If the funds are to be used to benefit one or more charity, add the following:
"The gift/bequest shall be held in trust by the Foundation and the income distributed to the following organizations: ___________________________."
