Planned Giving

A donor advised fund is commonly held at a community foundation that distributes funds to other charities such as Heartlinks. You can open one with a written agreement between you and the organization that gives you (or other family members) the right to recommend that distributions (i.e., grants) be made from your fund to Heartlinks.

Once you have created a donor-advised fund, you can:

• At any time make contributions to your fund, which are invested by the sponsoring charitable organization, which then provides a regular accounting to you.
• Recommend that various amounts be distributed to qualified charitable organizations of your choice.
• Receive an income tax charitable deduction for gifts to your donor-advised fund.

Major Benefits:

• Convenience and timing: You can take a tax deduction now—when you make a gift to the fund—without immediately having to choose the charities you want to support.
• Simplicity: You can support a number of charitable organizations and centralize your giving without having to retain records for separate contributions.
• Expertise: You can take advantage of the staff’s expertise to research which programs you want to support.
• Family philanthropy: Families can build a tradition of giving and teach their children the value of philanthropy by involving them in the decisions about which grants to recommend. Plus, you can name your children as the next generation of fund advisors to carry forward a true legacy of giving.
• For donors who want to stay involved in advising on the use of their gifts, a donor-advised fund offers participation without being as restrictive or as expensive to operate as a private foundation.

We hope you’ll consider including a gift to Heartlinks in your will or living trust. Called a charitable bequest, this type of gift offers these main benefits:

• Just a few sentences in your will or trust are all that is needed.
• Because you are not actually making a gift until after your lifetime, you can change your mind at any time.
• You can structure the bequest to leave a specific item or amount of money, make the gift contingent on certain events or leave a percentage of your estate to us.
• Tax Relief. If your estate is subject to estate tax, your gift is entitled to an estate tax charitable deduction for the gift’s full value.

How It Works:

• To make a charitable bequest, you need a current will or revocable living trust.
• Your gift can be made as a percentage of your estate, or you can make a specific bequest by giving a certain amount of cash, securities or property. After your lifetime, Heartlinks receives your gift.
• There are four options for bequests:
  • A specific bequest gives us a particular piece of property. If you disposed of the property before your death, we won’t receive your intended gift because we cannot claim any other property.
  • A general bequest gives us a stated sum of money. If there is insufficient cash in your estate to cover the bequest, other assets will be sold for cash to honor your wishes for us.
  • A residuary bequest gives the “rest, residue and remainder” of your estate, or, more commonly, a percentage of the residue after all other bequests, debts and taxes have been paid.
  • A contingent bequest requires a certain event to occur before the gift can happen. For example, you could bequeath funds to a family member provided that person survives you; if not, the funds would then go to Heartlinks.
• Decide how you would like Heartlinks to use your gift. Choose from one of these three options:
  • An unrestricted bequest allows us to use the assets in the most beneficial way.
  • A restricted bequest allows you to specify how we are to use the funds. Contact us in advance to be certain your intent can be fulfilled.
  • An endowment bequest allows you to designate the purpose of your gift. Your gift is invested with and becomes part of our endowment and a distribution is made each year. Because the principal remains intact, the fund will support our mission in perpetuity.

Continue supporting our work even after your lifetime by naming us as beneficiary of your retirement plan, life insurance or insurance annuity assets.

Naming the individuals and charities that will receive your assets once you are gone can be a simple process. Most assets can pass to your intended beneficiaries by the terms of your will. Other assets, such as retirement plans, life insurance and insurance annuities, however, are not controlled by the terms of your will. These assets instead require separate beneficiary forms.

IRA and Retirement Plan Beneficiaries

• Most retirement plans, including 401(k)s and IRAs, are income tax–deferred, meaning that income tax is not paid until the funds are distributed to you in life, or upon your death. This taxation makes retirement assets among the most costly assets to distribute to loved ones.
• Because they are subject to income taxes to your beneficiaries, retirement assets make ideal gifts to tax-exempt charitable organizations such as Heartlinks. Otherwise, the income taxes on retirement assets you leave to your loved ones can be as high as 35%. This means that an IRA worth $100,000 will be worth only $65,000 by the time it reaches them. On the other hand, the naming of a charity as the beneficiary of retirement assets upon death generates no income taxes. The charity is tax-exempt and eligible to receive the full amount and bypass any income taxes. This means that in the above example, Heartlinks would receive the full $100,000 benefit.

Life Insurance Policy Beneficiaries

• Life insurance is a popular method of providing much-needed funds to a beneficiary at your death. It is also a low-cost way to provide a large benefit for someone in need. Life insurance proceeds are almost always income tax–free to the beneficiary. The beneficiary designation in your life insurance policy determines where the proceeds will be distributed. The death proceeds, therefore, are not typically transferred through your will. Life insurance can be distributed to a charitable organization such as Heartlinks if named as a beneficiary of the policy at the time of your death.

Insurance Annuity Beneficiaries

• Insurance annuities, unlike life insurance, carry an income tax burden. Your named beneficiary is responsible for paying the income tax due on the growth of the annuity while you owned it. The tax burden makes these assets a popular choice to leave to a charitable organization like Heartlinks because we, as the recipient, can eliminate the tax bill.

By making a gift to the Heartlinks Endowment Fund, you will be making a gift to Heartlinks that will last forever while realizing tax benefits for your kindness. When you make an endowed gift, your contribution is invested and becomes a part of our endowment. An annual distribution is made for the purpose you designate. Your gift to the endowment fund will ensure the services of Heartlinks will remain everlasting.