Please remember Common Ground
in your will and trusts.
Planned gifts come in all shapes and sizes. They can include gifts given during your lifetime, as well as bequests made for later through a will or a trust.
A planned gift to Common Ground not only supports our mission, but can also provide you with valuable tax benefits and/or income for life. Whether you use cash or other assets, (stock, securities, real estate, life insurance, artworks, etc.) a planned gift can be structured to your own advantage or even to the advantage of a loved one.
Planned Gifts can help you:
- reduce your income tax;
- avoid capital gains;
- increase current income for you or someone you love; and
- pass assets to a loved one at a reduced tax cost; while
- making a significant contribution to a charity you care about.
Planned gifts include bequests, trusts, and other contracts. Some are simple, others require planning with an experienced financial advisor. All can provide significant tax advantages. Some examples are:
- Bequest: When you leave Common Ground something in your will, you are making a bequest and your estate will receive a charitable estate tax deduction. (see below)
- Donate Your Home (but still live in it - Retained Life Estate): You can make a gift of your residence to Common Ground and keep the right to live there for the remainder of your life.
- Gift Annuity: In return for a donation of cash or other assets, Common Ground agrees to pay a fixed payment for life to you or someone else you choose.
- Charitable Remainder Trust: This makes payments, either a fixed amount (annuity trust) or a percentage of trust principal (unitrust), to whomever you designate to receive income.
- Charitable Lead Trust: This makes payments, either a fixed amount (annuity trust) or a percentage of trust principal (unitrust), to Common Ground during its term. At the end, the principal can either go back to you (grantor lead trust) or to someone you name (a non-grantor lead trust).
Bequests and Estate Planning
Thank you for thinking of Common Ground while you are planning your estate or updating your will or life insurance policies. For simple language to add to your will or trust, we have some suggested Bequest Language which you can download as a PDF or Word document.
Your legacy gift to Common Ground is so important to our future; please get in touch and let us know when you have made such a designation so we can properly acknowledge your thoughtfulness and generosity now.