Ways to Give
Giving Today
- Cash gifts (tax benefits available with itemized tax return)
- Property gifts (such as real estate or artwork)
- Gifts in kind (vehicles, furnishings, etc.)
- Gifting stock or securities (which may offer a tax advantage)
- Establishing a charitable gift annuity (which provides income to you)
- Life insurance gifts
- IRA charitable rollovers
Planning for Future Gifts
- Making the Foundation a beneficiary in your estate
- Designating memorial gifts
- Life Use Fee contributions (deferred gift of remaining non-amortized amount from resident contract)
Other Giving Options
- Naming opportunities in households, fitness and wellness center, and expanded Community Center
- Corporate matching gifts
Groups
Friends of Meadowlark Club
This annual giving club provides support for our most immediate needs through undesignated contributions, and supports the Good Samaritan Fund with special events and mailings.
Meadowlark Legacy Society
Legacy Society members have planned for future giving to Meadowlark through a deferred gift. By notifying us of their intentions for future gifts, members enable us to budget accurately and plan carefully for the future of Meadowlark.
Neither the author, the publisher, nor this organization is engaged in rendering legal or tax advisory service. For advice or assistance in specific cases, the services of an attorney or other professional advisor should be obtained. The purpose of this publication is to provide general gift, estate, and financial planning information. Watch for tax revisions. State laws govern wills, trusts, and charitable gifts made in a contractual agreement. Advice from legal counsel should be sought when considering these types of gifts.
Basic forms of giving:
Gifts of Cash
Cash is the simplest and most common way to support the Meadowlark Hills Foundation. Donors may make their gifts by writing a check or by making a pledge payable in cash.
Checks should be made payable to the Meadowlark Hills Foundation with any designation of purpose noted on the check or indicated by an accompanying gift form or cover letter.
Cash gifts are tax-deductible for all taxpayers who itemize deductions. The charitable deduction comes off the top of your income — the part in the highest tax bracket.
You are entitled to a deduction for the entire amount of the gift as long as all your deductible gifts in the year do not exceed 50% of your adjusted gross income. If you cannot use the entire deduction in one year, you may carry it forward for up to five years.
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Gifts of Stock or Securities
Contributing securities that have appreciated in value is often more advantageous than gifts of cash. Highly-appreciated stocks and bonds, when sold, result in a taxable capital gain. Under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, capital gain taxes significantly reduce sale proceeds.
Residents, Families and Friends who have invested in growth stocks and have realized significant appreciation sometimes find they cannot reinvest that portion of their portfolio without incurring a substantial tax liability on the gain.
Donating appreciated securities to the Meadowlark Hills Foundation can unlock the profits of your investment and you will receive two tax advantages:
You avoid capital gain tax on the appreciation
You receive a charitable income tax deduction for the full present market value of the property, regardless how much the value has grown from the purchase price.
Generally, gifts of appreciated securities are deductible up to 30% of your adjusted gross income. Gifts in excess of this amount may be carried forward up to five years.
The appreciation element of charitable gifts is included as a preference item under the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The application of the AMT is rare, limited to taxpayers with highly unusual situations. For these few individuals, the AMT can limit the tax benefit available for gifts of appreciated property.
As always, consult your financial advisors before making such a gift. Charitable gifts of appreciated assets are especially attractive. Maximum benefits are a reality when you donate the securities because you avoid selling them and realizing the gain.
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EFT – Electronic Fund Transfer
For an electronic funds transfer the following information is required:
Your account number
Your banks routing number
The amount of the gift
The frequency of the gift
The intention of your gift
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Matching Gifts
Corporations sponsor Matching Gift Programs so their employees and retirees can help direct corporate philanthropic investments. It’s easy to get your gifts matched. If you work for a company with a Matching Gift Program, just complete the Matching Gift form available through your personnel office and send it with your contribution. the Meadowlark Hills Foundation staff will authorize the form and return it to your employer. You get credit for your gift PLUS the company’s gift and the Meadowlark Hills Foundation benefits from the additional private support.
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Other Unique Giving Opportunities
Gifts of Life Insurance
When properly arranged, life insurance offers an attractive way to benefit Meadowlark Hills Persons wishing to support the community through a gift of life insurance will find numerous advantages.
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Gifts of Real Estate
The outright gift of a parcel of appreciated land or other real estate is a method that may offer considerable tax savings, and the gift is immediately available to Meadowlark Hills.
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Retained Right to Use Real Estate
A special provision in the federal tax law permits a contributor to transfer ownership of a personal residence or farm to the Foundation and still retain the full use of the property while receiving a current income tax deduction.
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Gifts with Retained Use
To calculate the deduction of your preferred charitable contribution, click on the links provided after each option.
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Life Estate Agreement [ Lives | Term ]
A life estate agreement is an arrangement whereby you transfer title to a personal residence, farm, or yacht to charity while retaining the right to occupy and otherwise enjoy the full use of the property for your choice of a term of years or the lifetime of one or more individuals.
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Gift Opportunities which Provide Income to You
To calculate the deduction of your preferred charitable contribution, click on the links provided after each option.
Charitable Gift Annuity [ Immediate ]
A charitable gift annuity enables you to transfer cash or marketable securities to the charitable organization issuing the gift annuity in exchange for a current income tax deduction and the organization’s promise to make fixed annual payments to you for life. Annuity payments can begin immediately or can be deferred to some future date.
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Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust [ Lives | Term ]
A charitable remainder annuity trust is a custom designed and individually managed trust that enables you to retain a fixed income for your lifetime or a fixed term of years, claim a current income tax deduction, and make a future gift to charity.
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Charitable Remainder Unitrust [ Lives | Term ]
A charitable remainder unitrust is a custom designed and individually managed trust that enables you to retain a variable income for your lifetime or a fixed term of years, claim a current income tax deduction, and make a future gift to charity.
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Planned Gift
A Will
At your death, a will assists your personal representative in distributing your assets to other people or to a charity. Without a will, you are powerless over how your assets are distributed. Instead, the laws of the state where your residence is, the state in which you spend most of your time, register to vote and hold your driver’s license, determine how assets are divided.
Revocable Living Trust
A revocable intervivos or "living" trust is an important part of the estate plan of many people. Intervivos means "during life," which is when the trust is established. Revocable means that the creator, also known as the grantor, of the trust can change the terms of the trust or revoke it completely during his or her lifetime. Assets in trust are not part of your will; they are transferred according to the instructions in the trust document.
Power of Attorney
A general power of attorney permits the holder of the power to act on behalf of another individual, the grantor, and lapses upon the grantor’s incompetence. A durable power of attorney survives the incompetence of the grantor and allows the holder of the power to act. This document can be used when a grantor lapses from competence to incompetence for periods of time.
Living Will or Health Care Proxy
By creating a living will, you can articulate your beliefs on life-sustaining measures. With a health care proxy, you can name a trusted individual to make health care decisions if you are unable to do so. The health care proxy is used only for medical purposes. Like a living will, the health care proxy states when life-support equipment should be disconnected and medical efforts should cease.
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Gifts that Provide Income to Charity
To calculate the deduction of your preferred charitable contribution, click on the links provided after each option.
Charitable Lead Annuity Trust [ Lives | Term ]
A charitable lead annuity trust is a custom designed and individually managed trust that enables you to give a fixed annual amount to charity for either a fixed term of years or the life of one or more individuals.
Upon conclusion of the measuring term, the trust terminates and, according to the terms of trust instrument, distributes its remaining assets (called the remainder interest) back to you or to one or more individuals that you have specified.
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Charitable Lead Unitrust [ Lives | Term ]
A charitable lead unitrust is a custom designed and individually managed trust that enables you to give a variable annual amount to charity for a fixed term of years or the life of one or more individuals.
Upon conclusion of the measuring term, the trust terminates and, according to the terms of trust instrument, distributes its remaining assets (called the remainder interest) back to you or to one or more individuals that you have specified.
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Planned Giving Glossary of Terms
Administrator
The person appointed by the court to manage one’s estate when he or she dies without leaving a will. Administrators have the same duties as executors.
Annuity
A sum of money payable yearly or at other regular intervals.
Appreciated Property
Property, such as real estate or stock, which has increased in value.
Beneficiary
An individual designated to receive benefits or funds under a will or other contract, such as an insurance policy, trust or retirement plan.
Bequest
To give or leave something by will, typically personal property or assets.
Charitable Gift Annuity
Typically an agreement in which you transfer cash or other assets to a charitable organization in exchange for its promise to pay you an annuity for life or for a term of years.
Charitable Trust
A trust having a charitable organization as a beneficiary.
Codicil
A legal instrument made to modify an earlier will.
Corporate Fiduciary
An institution that acts for the benefit of another. One example is a bank acting as trustee.
Cost Basis
The original value of an asset, such as stock, before its appreciation or depreciation.
Durable Power of Attorney
A written legal document that lets an individual designate another person to act on his or her behalf, even in the event the individual becomes disabled or incapacitated.
Estate Tax
A tax imposed at one’s death on the transfer of most types of property.
Executor (or Personal Representative)
The person named in a will to manage the estate. This person will collect the property, pay any debt and distribute your property or assets according to the will.
Fiduciary
A person or institution legally responsible for the management, investment and distributions of funds. Examples include trustees, executors and administrators.
Gift Tax
Tax on gifts generally paid by the person making the gift, rather than the recipient.
Gift-Tax Annual Exclusion
The provision in the tax law that exempts the first $10,000 (as adjusted for inflation) in present-interest gifts a person gives to each recipient during a year from federal gift taxes.
Grantor
The person who transfers assets into a trust for the benefit of another
Gross Estate
The total property or assets held by an individual as defined for federal estate tax purposes.
Guardian
An individual legally appointed to manage the rights and/or property of a person incapable of taking care of his or her own affairs.
Inter vivos
A type of trust created during one’s lifetime to hold property for the benefit of another person.
Interest
Any right or ownership in property.
Intestate
The term applied when an individual dies without a will.
Joint Ownership
The ownership of property by two or more people, usually with the right of survivorship.
Life Insurance Trust
A trust that has the proceeds of an individual’s life insurance policy as its principal.
Living Trust
A revocable trust established by a grantor during his or her lifetime in which the grantor transfers some or all of his or her property into the trust.
Living Will
A legal document directing that the maker’s or signer’s life is not to be artificially supported in the event of a terminal illness or accident.
Marital Deduction
A deduction allowing for the unlimited transfer of any or all property from one spouse to the other generally free of estate and gift tax.
Power of Attorney
A right given to another in a written instrument, such as a will or trust that allows the other to decide how to distribute the property. The power of appointment is "general" if it places no restrictions on whom the distributees may be. A power is "limited" or "special" if it limits the eventual distributee.
Probate
The court process for determining the validity of a deceased person’s will.
Testamentary Trust
A trust that is created upon death by the terms of a person’s will.
Trust
A written legal instrument created by a grantor during his or her lifetime or at death for the benefit of another.
Trustee
The individual or institution entrusted with the duty of managing property placed in the trust. A "co-trustee" serves as trustee with another. A "contingent trustee" becomes trustee upon the occurrence of a specified future event.
Unified Credit
A federal tax credit that offsets gift-tax and estate-tax liability. The unified credit is being increased gradually from $192,800 in 1997 to $345,800 in 2006, which is equivalent to a combined gift- and estate-tax exclusion of $675,000 in 2001 to $1 million in 2006.
Will
A legally executed document that directs how and to whom a person’s property is to be distributed after death.
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