Spotlight on Giving

The Unexpected Power of Giving Life Insurance

Many people use life insurance to protect their family—to make sure loved ones can go to college or pay off the mortgage if they’re not around. But sometimes, those reasons for protection go away over time. The kids graduate college and get jobs. The mortgage gets paid off. If this is your situation, before you let the policy lapse, consider using it to help protect our work and our mission.

Giving a policy you no longer need

There are a few effective ways to give life insurance to support your organization while also potentially benefiting from tax advantages. 

• Donate the policy directly to us: You can transfer a paid-up policy directly to us—a gift that qualified for an income tax deduction. For a policy that is not paid-up, you can donate the policy to us and then make annual gifts in an amount that will cover the premium payments. 

• Transfer the policy into a charitable remainder trust (CRT): A CRT is a powerful giving tool that provides you with an immediate income tax deduction, a guaranteed income stream (for life or for a period of years up to 20), and then a gift to us of the assets remaining in the trust after the income payment period ends. You can choose to fund a CRT with life insurance—the trust is funded with an amount equal to the policy’s cash value (not the death benefit). You qualify for an income tax deduction based on the charitable remainder value, and a trustee will make regular payments to you and/or other designated beneficiaries. Assets remaining at the end of the trust term make a significant impact on our organization.

   

Giving with a policy you still need

Even if you are still relying on your life insurance policy to protect your family, you can make an easy future gift to us by naming us the beneficiary of a percentage of the death benefit. This requires no immediate expenditure and offers some flexibility, too, since you can modify the gift if your circumstances change. You can even make us the sole beneficiary if you reach a time when your family members are all financially stable and provided for. 

Taking Advantage of an Often-Overlooked Asset

Donating life insurance offers compelling benefits depending on how you give—simplicity, potential tax benefits, potential income payments, and perhaps the flexibility to change your gift in the future to meet your own changing needs and goals. To learn more about gifts of life insurance, click here.