Planning Your Legacy
Planned giving, also known as legacy giving, allows you to make a significant contribution to a cause you care about beyond your lifetime. It’s like extending your current charitable giving, but with the potential for greater impact.
Unlike regular donations, planned gifts are scheduled for the future and often integrated into your financial or estate plans. They are typically arranged through a will or trust and come into effect after your passing.
Did you know there are several different ways to leave a legacy gift to support the causes you care about?
Call us at 765-529-2235 or email us at info@henrycountycf.org to set up a meeting to discuss options for your Estate Planning and how the Foundation can partner with you!
Gift Planning Guides
Our E-Booklets are great downloadable resources related to estate planning and increasing your impact. Feel free to download these resources and share! These resources are updated regularly to stay abreast of changing regulations and IRS code.
Estate Planning
Estate Planning Today
Estate planning ensures that an individual’s personal objectives are carried out after death. We look at the many issues facing estates without an estate plan, give donors a better understanding of how to develop an effective plan, and encourage the incorporation of philanthropy.
Estate Planning
We detail the many critical reasons to plan, along with the valuable role of charitable giving in providing important tax benefits and creating a lasting, meaningful legacy.
Plan Now, Give Later – Flexible Plans that Make a Difference
This document discusses several revocable gift options, including payable on death (POD) and transfer on death (TOD) designations, naming us as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy or retirement account, real estate transfer on death, and successor elections for donor advised funds.
Wills & Bequests
Planning Your Will
We discuss the key elements, their ability to change or revoke the will, and what makes a will highly effective.
Bequests: Frequently Asked Questions
A bequest is an easy way to make a gift in a will that allows for flexibility and modifications. We review the basics using a short selection of questions and answers on this popular giving method.
Flexible Giving and Your Will
We explore the treatment of a variety of assets to help donors most effectively tailor their gift to their own personal circumstances and objectives.
Six Steps to an Effective Will
Simple or complex, a will is more than just a tool to distribute assets—it is a reflection of an individual’s life values. We highlight six basic steps that will allow donors to make the most effective use of this important legal document.
A Gift in Your Will - How to Meet Your Chartiable Goals
We look at the many benefits of making a gift in a will—simplicity, flexible implementation and timing, ease of making changes, the potential tax impact, and more.
Steps to an Effective Will or Living Trust
We examine the steps donors can take now to shape their legacy through the effective and thoughtful use of a will or living trust.
Retirement & Personal Planning
Gift Planning Quick Guide
This one-page planning guide covers many tools and strategies for making gifts while accomplishing personal planning goals and reaping useful tax benefits.
Strategic Giving - Simple Ways to Make an Imapct
We start with a review of the steps to a sound giving strategy. Then, we introduce effective gift options for making a difference today as well as options for making a difference in the future.
Retirement Planning & Charitable Giving
We look at time-tested giving options including wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, appreciated stock, real estate, and gift annuities.
Retirement Planning - With Savvy Giving, Everyone Wins
We discuss several ways you can achieve a comfortable retirement while giving back by converting assets into income streams as part of a charitable gift.
Smart Personal Planning Strategies
We all have long-term personal, financial and philanthropic goals. We explore a variety of long-term strategies and creative gift plans that can help donors maintain their current lifestyle, take advantage of tax benefits, and make more satisfying charitable gifts.
Personal Financial Affairs - Your Book of Records
You can use this handy form to compile information and possibly even reveal areas where additional planning is necessary.
Increase Your Retirement Income with a Deferred Gift Annuity
Many people have maxed out their retirement contributions but still want to generate more income in retirement. Deferred gift annuities can provide an easy charitable solution. We discuss how they work and detail their many benefits.
Retirement Plan Assets
Retirement assets are heavily taxed when distributed to heirs, but not taxed when given to charity. For those planning a charitable gift, we discuss why retirement assets may be particularly beneficial for donation.
Year-End Planning
Completing a gift by the end of the year can reduce a donor’s current tax bill. We explore how various assets and giving strategies can help donors accomplish their year-end planning goals.
A Gift from Your IRA - A Simple & Smart Way to Give
IRA owners over age 70½ can meet philanthropic goals by making a qualified charitable distribution from an IRA. We discuss the details of this giving strategy so that donors can decide if it fits into their overall financial plan.
Planning Options for Your Stage in Life
We explore some common planning options that might prove particularly useful for those navigating three life stages: working, preparing for retirement, and the golden years.
Gift Annuities
Charitable Gift Annuities: Frequently Asked Questions
A charitable gift annuity is a life income gift that offers benefits to both donor and charity. We review the basics through a short selection of questions and answers on this popular giving method.
Charitable Gift Annuities - A Smart Way to Give & Receive
We explore this popular way to for you to give while receiving a life income and taking advantage of favorable tax benefits.
Charitable Gift Annuities
We use a simple question and answer format to look more closely at the reasons for this popularity and the ins and outs of gift annuities.
Charitable Gift Annuities - The GIft that Gives Back
We discuss how gift annuities work and help donors decide if this tool might have a place in their overall planning.
Planning with Gift Annuities
The charitable gift annuity allows a donor to support a charity while securing an income, starting either now or later. We explore the ins and outs of this flexible giving tool and the many ways donors can tailor it to fit their own situation and goals.
Trusts
Charitable Remainder Trusts: Frequently Asked Questions
A charitable remainder trust provides a life income before gifting the remaining trust assets to charity. We review the basics through a short selection of questions and answers on this important giving method.
A Charitable Lead Trust - How to Give & Pass Wealth to Your Heirs
Through a simple question-and-answer format, we present the basics of this win-win opportunity for tax-efficient wealth transfer, from interest rates to funding options.
Trusts in Financial & Gift Planning
We help understand a wide variety of trusts—including charitable trusts—and how each can help you accomplish their planning goals, provide financial security, control the disposition of their assets, and produce meaningful tax savings.
Charitable Remainder Trusts
We discuss how charitable remainder trusts works, how to tailor it to meet individual needs and objectives, and the significant tax benefits.
Other Gift Plans
The Nuts & Bolts of Donor Advised Funds
Versatile and unique, a donor advised fund is a way to make a gift to a sponsoring organization and qualify for an immediate federal income tax charitable deduction. Learn how donor advised funds work, including the donor’s advisory privileges regarding charitable distributions from the fund.
Revocable Gifts
A revocable gift is a comfortable commitment—an easy way to plan a future gift while retaining the flexibility to make changes if necessary. We provide more information about gifts in a will, beneficiary designations, gifts of retirement assets, and revocable living trusts.
Gifts of Life Insurance
Giving life insurance, either outright or through a beneficiary designation, is an effective way for a you to make a major impact with little or no immediate out-of-pocket cost. We discuss this gift option, along with the alternate strategy of using policy proceeds to replace other donated assets.
Gifts of Real Estate
We explore charitable giving options that unlock a property’s earning potential and create tax savings while making a meaningful gift.
Gifts of Property
We detail the many ways to give and the benefits associated with each gift, including securities, closely held stock, real estate, life insurance, and tangible property.
Gifts of Stock
We explore how to make the most effective use of appreciated stock in either outright or life income gifts.
Life Income Gifts Plans - Ways to Give & Receive
For those considering a major gift but concerned about its impact on future finances, a life income gift (charitable remainder trust or charitable gift annuity) may be the answer. We discuss this gift option that also provides income payments, possibly allowing a larger gift than the donor thought possible.
Making a Difference
For those who think that only a privileged few are wealthy enough to leave a meaningful legacy, we explore the many flexible and tax-favored ways to make gifts of all sizes—outright gifts, gifts in a will, life income plans, trusts, pooled income funds, beneficiary designations, and more.