Advisors

At The Community Foundation, we recognize the key role advisors play in charitable giving. We consider attorneys, accountants, financial planners, trust officers and other professional advisors our partners in improving the community. We understand it is no small task to develop charitable plans, and are here to help however possible.

Please search the advisor section to find resources you may find beneficial. If there are other documents you’d find helpful, we would love your suggestions! Our dedicated development staff is always available to take your questions.

Contact Tasha Dimling, Donor Engagement Officer at (419) 425-1100.

Planned Giving

Bequest by Will

Making a bequest to your community foundation is an easy way to transfer assets to charity. Through your will, you can choose to give a stated dollar amount, a specific property, a percentage of your estate, the remainder after distributions to other beneficiaries, or you can make your gift contingent on certain events. And, you can decide to do it at any age by adding to an existing will or drafting a new one. In doing so you leave a legacy to your community, while enjoying the assets you need to maintain your current lifestyle. Plus, you are able to distribute some or all of your assets, tax free.

Charitable Gift Annuity

Charitable gift annuities offer you a way to make a gift that will allow you to experience the joy of giving now, while you can enjoy it. Plus, in today’s tough economic circumstances, gift annuities offer three distinct advantages: Lifetime income, tax benefits and a lasting legacy.

Charitable Remainder Trust

Giving through a Charitable Remainder Trust allows you to receive income for the rest of your life, knowing that whatever remains will benefit your community. You can use it to supplement your own lifestyle or that of someone other than yourself: a sibling, a dependent parent, a friend, or a former employee. A portion of the income may be a tax-free return of principal, while some is taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. The amount of income received depends on the payout rate selected by the donor. The tax deduction allowed depends on the age of the recipient, the payout rate, and the discount rate (as determined by the Internal Revenue Service).

Charitable Lead Trust

A Charitable Lead Trust helps you build a charitable fund with your community foundation during the trust’s term. During its term, the trust can be managed expertly by experienced trust professionals, which may help your trust investments grow over time. When the trust terminates, the remaining assets are transferred to you or your heirs. Any growth in the trust passes to recipients, often with significant transfer-tax savings. It shelters investment earnings from tax and offers gift, estate, and generation-skipping tax benefits.

Retirement Plan Assets

One of the most tax-efficient ways to give back to your community is by designating the Community Foundation as a beneficiary of your retirement plan, whether it is a 401(k), 403(b), IRA (individual retirement account), or other qualified retirement program. These assets could be taxed at rates as high as 70 percent upon your death. Estate taxes may be due in addition to the taxes your heirs may pay on the income in respect of the decedent (IRD). For these reasons, many advisors recommend retirement plan assets as the first to be designated for charitable purposes.

Life Insurance

Giving life insurance through the Community Foundation is one of the simplest ways to make a significant contribution to your community and establish your legacy of giving.

You can make a gift when life insurance is no longer needed for personal financial wealth replacement. You may receive a number of tax benefits, including reduced income taxes and estate taxes. And, if you choose to continue paying premiums through the Community Foundation, you will be entitled to a charitable contribution deduction of up to 50 percent of your adjusted gross income.

You can replace the dollar value of an asset transferred to the Community Foundation with a life insurance policy. Or you can use regular payments from a Charitable Gift Annuity or Charitable Remainder Trust to establish an irrevocable life insurance trust. The trust can purchase insurance on your life to benefit your heirs. This way, you can make a gift to your community foundation and replace the value of this gift within your estate with life insurance proceeds.

Appreciated Stock

By giving stock through the Community Foundation, you can avoid capital gains taxes that would be due as a result of its sale and establish a charitable fund that benefits the local causes and organizations you care about most. With gifts of appreciated stock, your stock market earnings translate into community impact, so you get a more rewarding return on your portfolio. Your gains are put to good use. Your gift of stock is reinvested in your community, and it qualifies for an immediate tax deduction based on the full fair market value.

Real Estate

A gift of real estate releases potential that has been tied up for years, enables you to make a bigger charitable difference than you may have thought possible, helps you avoid estate taxes, and minimizes or eliminates burden placed on your heirs. Charitable gifts of real estate range from personal residences and vacation homes to rental properties, farmland and commercially developed land. You may choose to give real estate outright and receive an immediate tax deduction or retain the use of the property during your lifetime and make a planned gift to the Community Foundation.