Money and You

Archived Featured Gift Opportunity No. 1

The gift opportunity below may potentially provide highly-desirable tax and estate benefits.
Read on — and be sure to always consult with independent tax and estate planning experts before you act.

The Unique Power of Planned Gifts

For many donors, planned gifts represent an exciting and desirable opportunity, because they can multiply giving capacity, while providing significant tax and estate planning benefits.

Imagine being able to support your top philanthropic priorities:

• at a giving-level far greater than you may have imagined possible…
• without negatively impacting your current income and cashflow…
• while also receiving significant tax and estate planning benefits!

At the most basic level, a planned gift is a major charitable gift made as part of a donor's overall financial and/or estate planning.

Planned gifts can be funded via cash, appreciated securities/stock, real estate, artwork, partnership interests, personal property, life insurance, or your retirement plan -- among other applicable financial assets.

As suggested above, some planned gifts provide a life-long income to the donor and/or loved ones, while other planned gifts leverage estate and tax planning techniques to maximize each gift's magnitude and protect the donor's estate.

How Might Planned Gifts Benefit You?

Depending upon your specific circumstances, the assets given and the type of planned gift employed, as a donor, you can generally expect to obtain some or all of the following highly-desirable income, tax, and estate benefits:

Income Benefits

• Increase the income you may be receiving from a specific investment.
• Provide an income stream for life — either for yourself or for other beneficiaries.
• Provide for the needs of a dependent child or other loved ones who cannot manage assets on their own.

Tax Benefits

• Reduce your income tax through a charitable gift deduction.
• Reduce or eliminate capital gains taxes.
• When donating appreciated securities and properties, your tax benefits may be especially substantial.

Estate Benefits

• Reduce or eliminate estate taxes.
• Reduce costs and time in estate settlement.
• Eliminate federal estate tax on property properties passed on to charity.
• Avoid property probate — reducing or eliminating probate expenses.

The total savings planned gifts provide (combining income, estate, and capital gains tax and estate benefits) can potentially exceed 50% of the total amount gifted to charity.

Future Developments

Planned Gifts take on many forms – such as Bequests, gifts from IRAs and pension plans, Life Insurance, Charitable Gift Annuities, and Charitable Remainder Trusts.

We understand that so much opportunity can be a little overwhelming!

In order to manageably share with you the full range of planned giving opportunities, each future edition of Money and You will present a specific gift-type for your consideration and review.

In the meantime, if you'd like have a direct conversation about planned giving opportunities at Downstate, please feel free to contact the Office of Philanthropy at 718.270.4188 – we'll be happy to chat about the options that may be appropriate for you!

Remember to Consider Downstate

As you and your advisors capably plan for the future, please remember to consider how a planned gift to Downstate can benefit both you and your loved ones -- while ensuring that Downstate's world-class excellence in education, research, patient care will continue far into the future.