Plan a Future Gift
If you are considering a planned gift, we applaud your generosity and foresight. The Community Foundation staff will be happy to plan with you to make sure your gift achieves your philanthropic goals, as well as your tax and financial objectives.
Bequest by Will
Including a charitable bequest in your will is a simple way to make a lasting gift to your community. You can continue your charitable legacy for years to come by including a gift in your will to support a cause or organization that is important to you. This type of gift, known as a charitable bequest, is the most common form of planned giving, allowing donors to live on through the good work done by their gift, and providing important estate tax advantages.
A bequest can be for:
A specific dollar amount.
A percentage of the assets.
The remainder interest. (Remainder interest refers to a gift that consists of the remainder of a donor's assets after all expenses and other specific bequests have been paid out.)
By including a charitable contribution in a will, a donor can make a gift that is simple, yet potentially much larger than he/ she could consider during his/her lifetime. Adding a charitable bequest to an existing will does not require rewriting your entire will. Charitable bequests may be added through an amendment to an existing will, known as a "codicil." Donors may include or add this language to their will at any time, although it is generally easier to discuss charitable objectives with the Community Foundation ahead of time. If a donor prefers to remain anonymous, he or she may conduct these discussions through an attorney, accountant or other advisor.
Charitable Lead Trust
A charitable lead trust helps you build a charitable fund with your community foundation during the trust's term. When the trust terminates, the remaining assets are transferred to you or your heirs, tax free.
Charitable Remainder Trust
Giving through a charitable remainder trust to the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation allows you to receive income for the rest of your life, knowing that whatever remains will support the charitable causes or organizations you care about most. You transfer assets into a trust, and the trust pays you or a beneficiary you designate regular income payments. Upon the death of the beneficiary, or after a defined period of years, the remaining assets in the trust transfer to the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation. The Foundation will use these assets to support your charitable desires.
You may choose to receive a fixed income or one that changes with market conditions — income from the charitable remainder trust you establish may add up to more than the interest and dividends you earned when holding the assets. You can use it to supplement your own lifestyle or that of someone other than yourself: a parent, a sibling, a dependent, a friend, or a former employee. You can start receiving annuity payments immediately or defer them to increase your charitable income tax deduction.
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 annuity paid and the tax deduction received depends on the age of the recipient and current tax laws.
You can pick one of these options for your charitable remainder trust:
Annuity trust pays you a fixed dollar amount.
Standard unitrust pays you an amount equal to a fixed percentage of the net fair market of the trust and is recalculated annually.
Net income unitrust pays you the lesser of the fixed percentage specified by the trust agreement or actual trust income; some net income unitrusts allow you to make up deficiencies in past years.
Flip unitrust is a net income unitrust that converts to a standard unitrust upon a triggering event, such as the sale of an asset used to fund the trust.