Planned gifts are also known as legacy gifts and come in three forms
1. A GIFT IN YOUR WILL OR TRUST
A gift in your will is the most popular (75%–80% of planned gifts) and easiest gift to make, often at no cost to you. Your will is a legal document expressing your desires for distribution to personal and charitable beneficiaries. A will represents the final testimony of your Christian faith. Don’t wait until it’s too late to share your will with loved ones. Think about ways to leave a legacy with eternal impact through a gift to Crossroads in your will. A gift from your will enables you to give more and can extend your giving beyond your lifetime.
Your will is not a static, one-time representation of your values, but rather a fluid, ongoing reflection of your stewardship desires. Your will can be changed and should be reviewed and updated whenever one of these major family events happens:
- • Death
- • Birth
- • Marriage
- • Divorce
- • Children leaving home
- • Relocation
- • Other life changes
A trust is a legal contract between you as a donor and a selected trustee to manage property on your behalf. At termination of your trust, the trustee will distribute your property to your named beneficiaries. Either your will or your trust can designate your charitable gift to Crossroads to be a stated dollar amount, your entire estate that remains after all other gifts are made or a percentage of the remaining estate.
Perhaps you’ve already included Crossroads in your will or trust. We’re so humbled and grateful for this decision. If you have remembered Crossroads in this manner, would you please let us know? We want to acknowledge your commitment to create a spiritual legacy to advance the Kingdom of God.
If this is a new concept to you or if you’ve put off consideration of this option for a future time, why not prayerfully ask the Lord if He would have you join with other Crossroads friends in this act of worship? Through careful planning, you can guarantee that your personal property will be passed on to the people and organizations dear to your heart. To get started, click here.
2. A GIFT THAT PROVIDES INCOME TO YOU FOR LIFE
An irrevocable gift of cash or securities can be transferred to Crossroads in exchange for our promise to pay you, or someone else of your choosing, a fixed income payment for life. In addition to receiving a guaranteed income stream for life, you also receive an immediate charitable income tax deduction. When the term of this gift ends after your life, Crossroads receives the balance of the funds left over, which is the remainder of the gift benefits. This giving option is known as a charitable gift annuity.
The amount of the payments from a charitable gift annuity depends on age, the amount of the charitable gift and applicable federal interest rates for determining the present value of the gift annuity. The charitable gift annuity can provide income to one or two people for life. In addition to an income tax deduction, part of the income you receive is tax-free, and some capital gains tax is avoided if the charitable gift annuity is funded with stock.
3. A GIFT FROM APPRECIATED ASSESTS
There are many advantages for you and for Crossroads through a gift of appreciated assets. With this type of gift, you are not constrained by your cash flow, and you avoid the hassles of ownership, including the costs of holding the assets. You receive a fair market value deduction for the gift while avoiding the tax liability that would have existed on the sale of the asset. You benefit by being able to give more at a reduced cost, and Crossroads benefits by receiving a gift that can be much more substantial than a cash gift. Here are the most common ways you can fund non-cash gifts from appreciated assets to Crossroads:
• Securities: publicly traded stocks and bonds; mutual funds; privately held stocks
Tax-smart stewardship can be accomplished by gifting securities that can yield eternal dividends through the work of Crossroads. Donating appreciated securities is a simple and tax-effective way for you to make a gift to Crossroads. Appreciated securities that have been held for more than one year are eligible to be gifted to Crossroads. Crossroads then sells the securities and keeps the proceeds while you receive an income tax charitable deduction based on the fair market value of the securities. Since the appreciated stock or bond was gifted to Crossroads, a qualified charitable organization, you also avoid capital gains tax on the sale of that stock.
• Real estate: residence; second home; vacation property; rental property; farms and farmland; undeveloped land; commercial property
You can leave a lasting legacy through a gift of real estate to Crossroads. Real estate provides unique giving opportunities in the forms of an outright donation, funding for a will or trust or as a retained use for life. When contributing real estate outright to Crossroads, you avoid capital gains taxes on the transfer as long as the gift is made prior to any sale of the property. You will also receive an immediate tax deduction for the fair market value of your gift. Real estate can also be converted into a stream of income for the duration of your life by establishing a charitable remainder trust. This option transforms a low-yield asset into a higher-yield, income-producing asset while providing a tax deduction for the charitable portion of the gift.
• Business interests: C corporations; S corporations; limited liability corporations; partnerships; commercial business holdings; proprietorships
You can support Crossroads with a business interest gift while creating business continuity for your company. A single gift to a donor-advised fund can be leveraged to achieve a range of charitable goals. Depending on the type of business, you can maximize your income tax deduction equal to the fair market value of the gift while reducing or avoiding income taxes attributable to the gifted portion. By gifting before a sale, you reduce or eliminate the capital gains tax, creating more charitable impact from your gift. You also remove these assets from your estate, reducing your potential tax liability.
• Retirement plan assets: individual retirement account (IRA); 401(k); 403(b); pension plan; profit-sharing plan; stock bonus plan; employee stock ownership plan
You can name Crossroads as a beneficiary of your IRA (individual retirement account), 403(b), 401(k) or other qualified retirement plan. The proceeds of the plan transfer, free of taxes, to Crossroads. If you name a family member as a beneficiary, that person will incur income taxes and potentially estate taxes as well. When it comes to retirement assets, the better act of stewardship is to leave your loved ones a gift of assets other than retirement assets. Alternatively, retirement assets can be transferred to a donor-advised fund or charitable remainder trust.
A special provision exists for making a gift to Crossroads from your IRA. If you are 70 1/2 or older, you can take advantage of an IRA charitable rollover gift. Through this option, you can avoid taxes on transfers of up to $100,000 each year from your IRA to Crossroads. The gift is a qualified charitable distribution (QCD), which counts toward your required minimum distribution (RMD) for the tax year. This reduces your taxable income even if you don’t itemize deductions on your federal tax return.
• Life insurance
As the need for life insurance declines with age, policies that have built up cash value and are no longer needed for their original purpose represent a giving opportunity to Crossroads. The cash value of the policy becomes a hidden asset. A portion or all of the cash surrender value can be gifted, creating significant estate tax savings and an immediate income tax savings.
A life insurance policy is a legal contract between you as the purchaser of the policy and a company licensed to provide insurance. In exchange for your payments to the life insurance company, the company agrees to provide you a fixed sum benefit at your passing. You designate beneficiaries to receive this payment. You can name Crossroads as a beneficiary or contingent beneficiary of the entire payment or a percentage of the proceeds of your policy. You can donate the policy during your lifetime and receive an income tax deduction for all or a portion of the cash value of the policy.
• Tangible personal property: artwork; precious metals; collectibles; jewelry; motor vehicles; aircrafts; watercrafts; livestock; harvested crops; timber; business inventory and equipment
Tangible personal property represents any property, other than real estate, which can be seen, handled, touched or moved by an individual. Gifts of tangible property are also known as gifts in kind. Crossroads may accept such gifts following a thorough review of the marketability of the personal property and the intended purpose of the gift. Required documents must show proof of ownership, the cost basis in the gift, the date of acquisition and a qualified appraisal of the donated asset. There are also special tax considerations.
• Other: trademarks; patents; royalties; copyrights; oil and gas interests; mineral rights