Gift Options: Planned Giving
Planned gifts include designating the American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter in your will, charitable gift annuities, charitable trusts, or gifts of life insurance.
Gift by will
A gift by will may take one of the following forms:
- a bequest of cash, securities, or property in a specific sum or by percentage;
- a bequest of real estate (i.e. a home, farm or ranch);
- a testamentary charitable remainder trust created by placing all or a portion of the estate in trust to benefit family members during their lives, with the principal to be transferred to the American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter at the termination of the trust.
The following is the correct language to use when making a bequest to the American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter:
"I give, devise, and bequeath to American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter (the sum of $___________), or ( ________ percent or fraction of my estate), for the benefit of American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter."
Charitable gift annuity
A donor may transfer cash or negotiable securities to the American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter for the purpose of setting up a Charitable Gift Annuity that assures the beneficiary a fixed income for life. The donor receives a charitable deduction in the year the gift is made. (The size of the deduction is based on the amount given, the annual income, and the age of the beneficiaries and is computed using actuarial tables.) A donor may reduce or delay capital gains tax when giving long-term securities that have risen in value.
Charitable trust
A donor may create a life-income trust, which provides the donor and any beneficiaries with either a fixed income through a charitable remainder annuity trust or a variable income through a charitable remainder unitrust.
Gift through life insurance
Life insurance policies provide donors with additional ways of making generous gifts to the American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter. A donor may name the Central Illinois Chapter as a beneficiary, co-beneficiary, or contingent beneficiary of an existing policy, or add the American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter as a remainder beneficiary in case the primary beneficiaries do not survive the policy holder. A donor may give ownership of a paid-up policy to the Central Illinois Chapter and enjoy a tax deduction, or may purchase a policy and irrevocably name the American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter as owner and beneficiary. If annual premiums are paid by the donor on a policy owned by the Central Illinois Chapter, the donor enjoys a charitable deduction in the amount of those premiums.
For more information on how to make a planned gift, and to get your free copy of "Touching the Future -- A Guide to Estate Planning and Charitable Giving," please call John Wahlfeld at (309) 677-7272, Ext. 214. E-mail John.
Also, find more information -- including a gift calculator -- by clicking here.