PLANNED GIVING – ANOTHER WAY TO HELP

What is Planned Giving?

Sonoma county is proud of the many donors who have contributed money to The Foundation. Your contributions were likely made by writing a check or using a credit card. There are also ways of helping the Foundation, not now but later, through bequests in your Will or Trust, or by naming the Foundation as a partial beneficiary on a life insurance policy or IRA (or other tax deferred account). Here’s some information on these options:

A Bequest in your Will – this is extremely easy. Your estate planning attorney may suggest a stated amount of your gift, or use a percentage. The gift will come to the Foundation tax free, and will give your estate an estate tax deduction (should your estate be large enough to pay estate tax.) The Foundation will receive your gift when probate has ended (to avoid probate, consider a living trust with your attorney).

A Bequest in your Trust – this is similar to a bequest in your Will (see above) except there would be no probate and therefore no delay in the Foundation receiving your gift. Consult with your estate planning attorney for further information. 

Life Insurance. If you have a life insurance policy you can help in either of two ways:

• Give the policy to the Foundation, who will then change the beneficiary to be itself, or;
• Keep the policy but change the beneficiary designation to be the Foundation.

Beneficiary Designation on a Tax-deferred account  Name the Foundation as the beneficiary utilizing the Change of Beneficiary form from the company that holds your account. You can change the beneficiary again if you change your mind.

All of these gifts are tax-deductible charitable contributions, and provide a deduction from estate taxes. With tax deferred accounts there is even another opportunity – if you have to take a required minimum distribution each year, you can have the account manager send the distribution (or part of it) directly to the Foundation. You won’t have to pay income tax on it, but you can’t take it as a charitable deduction.

If you want to contribute in any of these ways, the proper designation is “The Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Foundation”. If you want your gift to go to a specific fund (and if there isn’t enough room on the transfer form for this) the Foundation can provide a letter outlining your wishes signed by you and the Foundation President. For details see our Gift Policy. 

If you have questions or need assistance, contact Jeanne Levin 707-579-5076 (trustsandprobates@gmail.com). We all appreciate your help.