August is recognized as National Make-a-Will Month. It’s a reminder to ensure your estate plans are known if you pass away. 

One way people can give to a nonprofit organization is by leaving a gift to the organization in their will. It’s a fairly simple process, but it’s important to work with an estate planning attorney to ensure everything meets legal standards.

I asked our board member and major donor Jennifer Engler, the founder and managing partner of The Orlando Law Group, to help guide people on how this process works. She also prepared a simple document that can be used to amend a will without redoing the entire process. You can find that here. 

Here’s what Jennifer shared:

Planned giving is the term that nonprofit organizations like the Rescue Mission Outreach use to refer to the process of donors committing to a gift to the charity as part of their estate plan. While there are a few different ways to give via planned giving, bequests are by far the most popular and easiest type of planned gift. Bequests are gifts that are left in a donor’s trust, will, or estate plan, and given to a nonprofit upon the donor passing away. 

Planned giving can have a major impact on how an organization like Rescue Outreach Mission is able to plan for its future and sustain itself in the long run. This is also an excellent way for people to create a legacy and help others no matter what their resources are now. 

Because planned gifts do not impact everyday cash flow, these types of gifts are accessible to everyone — from those whose incomes rarely permit them to give to major, loyal donors. 

Contributions in estate planning can be a game-changer for Rescue Outreach Mission and its mission, but they also help the person donating in a few ways.

First, these gifts help the donor leave a legacy.  Making a bequest in a will is a powerful way to leave a lasting impact by supporting a favorite organization for years to come.  Donors can allocate how or where they want that money to be spent. Because wills are fairly easy to update, donors can also keep their bequests up to date, checking in with Rescue Outreach Mission  personnel on where their donations will make the most impact.  

Finally, depending on the type of planned gift a donor makes, there can be some tax benefits. Bequests can reduce federal estate taxes for heirs, and these deductions are not limited to cash — they can include assets like real estate, IRAs, and stock as well. Some other planned gift types, such as charitable remainder trusts, are granted tax-exempt status by the IRS. 

Planned gifts can come in a variety of forms, from simple bequests to complex trusts — all with different requirements and advantages depending on a donor’s circumstances. There are a few common ways to give, with the first being bequests, which are a popular and fairly simple way to make a planned gift. These ‘outright’ gifts are charitable contributions left as a bequest in a legal will. They are usually given as a specific amount, a remainder of a donor’s estate after other bequests have been paid, or a percentage of a donor’s total wealth.

If the donor has investments, he or she can use a charitable gift annuity, which allows a donor to give a large amount of cash or securities in exchange for a fixed income payment for life. The nonprofit keeps any leftover funds as well as any income it makes from investing those funds.

There are also a couple of types of charitable trusts, but in each, the remaining funds go to the nonprofit after the trust is terminated. A charitable remainder annuity trust pays the donor a fixed amount based on a percentage of the initial assets used to fund the trust. A charitable remainder unitrust pays the donor a percentage of its principal and is revalued annually, so that payments increase over time.  There are also charitable lead trusts which pay an ‘income’ to the nonprofit for a specified number of years or for the donor’s lifetime. When that term is up, the assets are given back to the donor or their beneficiaries.

Other gift types are non-cash assets, such as stock or real estate, giving from IRAs (also known as Qualified Charitable Distributions), and Pooled Income Funds.  In summary, almost any asset can be left to the charity to sell or use as it sees fit.

So, as you can see, there are many ways to give to Rescue Outreach Mission, either while you are alive through trusts and investments or after you pass through gifts in your will or your trust.  If giving a gift to help your legacy carry on through helping others is something that excites you, it is not difficult to begin.  If you first want to talk to the people who are executing the mission of the Rescue Outreach Mission each day to see how your gift can best help, you can speak to Gene at Gene.Musser@romcfl.org.

After deciding exactly how you want to help Rescue Outreach Mission, it is time to get assistance from the professionals on your team.  If you have investments and may want some of them or their proceeds to go to Rescue Outreach Mission, you should consult your financial advisor.  Your accountant can also help guide you on how to reduce the taxes you or your heirs must pay by using charitable gifts.  Finally, if you have a will or even if you do not, an estate planning attorney can help you add a gift to Rescue Outreach Mission in your will or trust.  If you do not have any estate planning documents, giving a gift to help the Rescue Outreach Mission is a great reason to start one. Please reach out to The Orlando Law Group here.