Ways to Give

Bequests

A bequest is a provision made in your will or living trust that specifically sets forth the portion or actual dollar amount that you would like to direct to Washington Performing Arts. However, today the term is widely used to include charitable gifts from a variety of estate-planning arrangements, including:

• lifetime revocable trusts, also called “living trusts”
• “payable on death” or “transfer on death” arrangements
• retirement plans, such as provision in Profit-Sharing plans, IRAs, 401(k) plans, and 403(b) plans
• life insurance policies, including whole-life and group plans

Gifts of Life Insurance Policies

A gift of life insurance is an ideal vehicle for making a significant charitable gift.

By naming Washington Performing Arts as the owner and beneficiary of an insurance policy, you may deduct the annual premiums payable on the insurance as a charitable contribution. Washington Performing Arts would receive a substantial amount, usually many times the annual premium.

 

Charitable Remainder Trust

When you create a charitable remainder trust, you guarantee a gift to Washington Performing Arts in the future.  In return, you receive an annual income during your lifetime or up to a period of 20 years of at least 5% of the amount you use to fund the trust, together with an immediate tax deduction.

Charitable Lead Trusts

A charitable lead trust is a vehicle for transferring substantial assets to your children, grandchildren, or others with a reduced estate tax by permitting the income from those assets to go to a charitable institution such as Washington Performing Arts for a fixed period of time or for the life of one or more individuals. The income is distributed to the charitable institution each year for a chosen number of years, and  the income can be the same amount each year (a charitable lead annuity trust) or a percentage of the trust’s value, determined once a year (a charitable lead unitrust). When the term is up, the remaining trust principal is returned to the donor or paid to the donor’s family, with estate and gift taxes reduced or even eliminated.

Real Estate Gifts

Real estate often becomes the most challenging asset to deal with in an estate plan. To begin with, real estate may be your most valuable asset. It may be located in a different state than your state of residence. It may be your most illiquid asset. And the capital gains tax breaks available when you sell your personal residence do not apply to non-residential properties. You may find that transferring ownership to Washington Performing Arts, now during your lifetime, or with a deferred arrangement such as a charitable remainder or a bequest, may give you significant benefits while helping support Washington Performing Arts.

Gifts of Appreciated Securities

If you’re holding marketable securities with long-term capital gains, it may be a good idea to contribute shares of stock, rather than cash. If you’ve owned the security for more than a year, the charitable deduction is the current market value of the security and you avoid Federal income tax on the long-term capital gain. When giving appreciated securities to Washington Performing Arts, you can deduct up to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income, instead of 50 to 60 percent when you contribute cash. Any unused charitable deduction can be carried forward for up to five years. Your broker or investment advisor can wire your gift to Washington Performing Arts quickly and safely by using the Depository Trust Company (DTC) wire transfer system.

Qualified Charitable Distribution

The “IRA Charitable Rollover” is an attractive option for IRA owners who have reached age 70½ . Ordinarily, an IRA owner must report withdrawals as income and pay income tax on them. The charitable IRA rollover provisions allow IRA owners over age 70½ to direct gifts from their IRAs to qualified charities – gifts that would count toward the IRA owner’s required minimum distribution (RMD) and not be reportable as taxable income (up to $100,000).  Direct gifts to charity from the IRA will not qualify for a charitable deduction.  The result is a tax break for those who do not itemize deductions and for those whose charitable gifts may exceed the deduction limits.  Check with your tax advisors to see if this option would be good for you.

Donor-Advised Funds

The recent popularity of donor advised funds has been astounding. “More than 36 million federal income-tax returns for 2013 reported deductions for charitable contributions, according to the Internal Revenue Service” (The Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2015).  If you have made gifts to a donor advised fund, such as the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the National Philanthropic Trust, the Schwab Charitable Fund, or the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, you can direct/advise grants from your account to Washington Performing Arts.

Beneficiary of a Qualified Pension or Profit-Sharing Plan, IRA, 401(k), or Keogh Plan

Naming Washington Performing Arts as a retirement plan beneficiary means that no income or estate taxes are due. If the distributions go to a spouse, the marital deduction will usually apply for estate tax purposes, although income taxes will be due. If the distributions go to others, such as children or grandchildren, both an estate tax and an income tax will be due, the aggregate of which can be as much as 75%.