Planned Giving allows you to leave a legacy gift, that will have a lasting impact on the community while enabling you to derive a benefit and possibly reduce tax and estate burdens.
There are many ways to leave a lasting impact on a charitable organization. Planned gifts are the best means for ensuring that your charitable wishes are fulfilled while ensuring income and stability for you and your loved ones. Here are a few examples of the options available:
Appreciated Securities - You don't have to use cash to make your gift. You can donate appreciated securities instead, and use an asset that costs you less than the tax deduction you'll receive for it. To make a transfer to the Elliot, please call the Foundation at 603-663-2834, or email us at foundation@elliothospital.org. We will need the following four pieces of information to initiate your transfer: 1. Donor(s) name(s); 2. Name of stock(s) to be transferred; 3. Number of shares being transferred and; 4. Purpose of the donation
We will provide specific information for the transfer after we have this information so the shares received may be properly credited to the proper donor(s).
Bequests - This is a common type of planned gift that requires only language in an individual’s estate plans (will or trust) leaving cash, property or real estate to the Elliot. Bequests are revocable. If you have already established a provision in your will remembering the Elliot, please notify us so we may properly acknowledge your gift. Please include this language in your will to make an estate gift to Elliot:
"I give, devise, and bequeath (describe dollar amount, property to be given or percentage of your residuary estate), to the Mary & John Elliot Charitable Foundation, a not for profit, 501 (c) (3) organization, located at Bedford Commons, 701 Riverway Place, Building 7, Bedford, NH 03110-9930, to be used by said organization to meet the immediate or future needs of the hospital, as determined by the Foundation Board of Trustees."
Trusts - These are a more sophisticated way of leaving a planned gift and can take on different forms (Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) or a Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust (CRAT)). Both types of Charitable Remainder Trusts provide for specific distributions for one or more beneficiaries for life with an irrevocable interest to be held for the benefit of a charitable organization.
IRA Charitable Rollover Gifts - You may be eligible to make a tax-free gift directly from your individual retirement account (IRA). A permanent law enacted in December of 2015 allows individuals who are age 70 ½ or older to make a distribution from their IRA directly to charity. Although this direct gift to charity counts toward satisfying your required minimum distribution requirements, the amount of the distribution is excluded from your taxable income. Donors may transfer up to $100,000 directly from their IRA in a given year and must transfer the funds outright, and directly, to one or more qualified charities.
Real Estate & Life Estate Gifts - You may donate property or a residence, or a % of the residence, to Elliot while retaining the right for you and/or a spouse to live in the house for life or until sold. You receive an immediate charitable income tax deduction for your ultimate gift to Elliot and effectively remove the property, or a portion of the property, from your estate. Furthermore, a gift in the form of a retained life estate does not prevent you from relocating at a later point.
Charitable Gift Annuities - These are contracts established between donors and the charity of their choice allowing the charity to enjoy the benefit of a more substantial gift while the donor receives a guaranteed payment each year from the charity. The American Council on Gift Annuities offers appropriate rates so charitable organizations are not competing based on rates offered to prospective donors.
Charitable Lead Trust - These are somewhat opposite of a Charitable Remainder trust in that the CLT is established with a distribution flowing to the charitable organization for a specified period of time. The remainder interest is retained by the donor and reverts to him or her or some other specified, non-charitable beneficiary.
Life Insurance - Donors may name a charity as the beneficiary of their policy. Accepting life insurance does come with risk if the policy is one that is not paid.
Retirement Plans - Donors may name a charity as the beneficiary in whole or in part or as a contingency beneficiary of a qualified retirement plan (IRA’s, 401k’s, 403b’s, and more).
For more information about planned giving and the Elliot Heritage Society, please contact Kelli Rafferty at the Mary & John Elliot Charitable Foundation at 603-663-8934 or email your question to foundation@elliothospital.org.