Remembering HDSA In Your Estate Plans
When you remember HDSA in your estate plans, you are providing HDSA the power to continue its work in years to come. The Gift Planning staff at HDSA is ready to assist you in meeting your financial need. They can:
- Provide gift plans that benefit you and your family
- Help you acquire immediate and deferred tax advantages to both you and your heirs
- Direct you in making a significant impact on HDSA and our goals
Planned giving involves integrating your charitable gift into your overall financial, tax and estate planning objectives to maximize benefits for you and for HDSA. Make a contribution to HDSA and receive valuable tax advantages. Careful planning of your will, trust, insurance policy and other financial vehicles and including HDSA in those plans will help fulfill HDSA’s mission.
Wills and Bequests
Leaving funds to HDSA is a meaningful way to ensure HDSA’s future financial and security while you save on estate taxes. A bequest to HDSA, fully deductible for estate tax purposes, might place your estate in a lower tax bracket. You may bequest cash, property or appreciated securities.
An unrestricted gift enables HDSA to use the funds to support whatever programs t deems most urgent at the time. Or you can specify how your gift will be used. If you plan to make a restricted gift, kindly contact HDSA to ensure that we can meet the conditions specified in your will.
Suggested Wording for a Specific Bequest
“Leave [dollar amount] to the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, a non-profit corporation having its principal office at 505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 902, New York, NY 10018, or its successor, to be used for general purposes of the organization.”
Suggested Wording for a Residual Bequest
“All the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, real and personal, give, devise and bequeath to the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, a non-profit corporation having its principal office at 505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 902, New York, NY 10018, or its successor, to be used for general purposes of the organization.”
HDSA’s Gift Planning Options
Charitable Remainder Trust
A legal agreement under which a donor funds a trust that provides income to the beneficiaries for life, or for a term of years, after which the remainder of the trust is distributed to HDSA and/or to other charitable organizations. This kind of trust allows you to lower your tax impact by your pledging some of your assets to HDSA while you receive yearly income payments. For the donor who has highly appreciated, non-income or low income-producing assets, converting those assets into income can result in high capital gains taxes on the appreciation. By transferring the asset to a charitable remainder trust, the donor can create a tax-free environment in which to sell the appreciated asset. This enables the trustee to reinvest the entire proceeds and produce a higher income stream. There are several different types of trusts that you can establish with HDSA as a beneficiary that will reduce your tax burden.
Charitable Remainder Unitrust
The most common kind of trust vehicle. After establishing this trust, the donor receives an annual lifetime income. Upon the donor’s death, the charity receives the rest of the trust. In this kind of trust, the donor usually retains the right to a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust assets, to be valued annually. If the value of the trust assets increases, so does the annual return. If the value of the trust assets decreases, the annual return decreases.
Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust
Similar to the Unitrust above but pays a fixed dollar annuity each year, year after year. The increase or decrease in the value of the trust does not affect the yearly payout to the donor.
Charitable Lead Trust
This trust is the opposite of a charitable remainder trust. It is an excellent method of supporting HDSA while you are alive. When you establish a Charitable Lead Trust, HDSA receives income for a set number of years. At the end of the set time period, your heirs inherit the assets of the trust.
Life Insurance
The easiest type of planned gift to make to HDSA. Most people own life insurance policies. Many have outlived their original purpose. By contributing your policy to HDSA, you are entitled to a tax deduction for the policy’s full cash value. You can transfer ownership of a policy to HDSA or simply name HDSA as a primary or secondary beneficiary of the policy.
To learn more about planned giving please contact Jamison Skala, Director of Development at (212) 242-1968, ext. 235 or email at jskala@hdsa.org.
Important Note: In all cases, it is advisable for you to consult your own financial planner, tax or legal advisor when you consider making a planned gift to HDSA.
