Recently, Wiscraft was the beneficiary of a generous donation provided through a bequest.  A bequest is a written statement in a donor’s will directing that a specific dollar amount, or a percentage of the estate, will be transferred to Wiscraft upon the donor’s death.   In fund raising bequests are the backbone of what is called, “planned giving.”

There are several planned giving gifting methods, including:

• Publicly traded stock certificates.  (Wiscraft would then sell the stock and deposit the proceeds).
• Charitable lead trusts – an arrangement that pays Wiscraft the current annual income from the trust for a specified period of years, with the trust principal reverting to the donor or the donor’s family when the trust ends,

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  Expectancies — Expectancies involve a promise by a donor to make a gift to Wiscraft at some future date; however, that promise may be revoked at any time prior to the donor’s death. If the gift is not a completed gift during the donor’s lifetime, the donor may not enjoy the benefit of a charitable income tax deduction when the expectancy provision is created. The most common types of expectancies are:

  • Bequests, very simply naming Wiscraft as the beneficiary of proceeds from the donor’s estate either as a specified dollar amount, or percentage of the proceeds.
  • Retirement Plan, and/or IRA Designations, i.e. Wiscraft is listed as a beneficiary of all or a portion of the remaining retirement plan or IRA upon the donor’s death.   A donor may achieve significant income and estate tax savings by naming a charity as the beneficiary of the retirement plan assets—sometimes the tax savings is as much as 75 cents on the dollar.
  • Life Insurance Designations, Wiscraft is named as a beneficiary for a portion or all of the life insurance coverage. This option enables you to make a sizeable donation with a minimal outlay of cash.  Donors may give an existing policy, either fully paid or partially paid, or a new policy. Similar to a retirement plan designation, the proposed gift to Wiscraft is accomplished by naming Wiscraft as a beneficiary of the policy on the beneficiary designation form. Upon the donor’s death, Wiscraft would receive all, or a portion of, the proceeds from the policy.

Like any charitable giving program you may be interested in, prospective donors using planned giving should consult with his or her legal and financial advisors assuring that your intentions are carried out legally and with the most sound estate planning.

If you are interested in learning more about planned giving for Wiscraft, please contact Nick Czaplewski at nczaplewski@beyond-vision.org.