Make a Planned Gift
We hope that you will consider including Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in your estate or financial plans and help sustain our mission for generations to come.
Whatever approach you choose, your gift will honor the vision of our founder, the Rt. Rev. Henry Niles Pierce. There are many options for including Trinity in your long-range planning.
Planned Giving Options
Gifts during your lifetime
- Charitable Trusts
- Charitable Required Minimum Distribution from Retirement Accounts
- Appreciated Assets such as securities
Gifts planned during your lifetime to fulfill at your death
- Bequests and Wills
- Retirement Plans
- Bank Accounts, Securities, and Certificates of Deposit
- Life Insurance Policies
Gifts during your lifetime
Charitable Trusts
A charitable trust is a way to achieve your current and long-term financial, estate and philanthropic goals. A donor makes an irrevocable transfer of cash, stock, real estate or other assets to a trust, and that asset is invested to generate income. Charitable trusts take two forms — charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts.
- A charitable remainder trust allows the donor to designate an individual beneficiary to receive regular payouts of trust income (for either a fixed dollar amount or a fixed percentage) during his or her lifetime or for a period of time, not to exceed twenty years, and Trinity as the remainder beneficiary. Most often, the income recipient is the donor of the assets. At the time assets are transferred to the trust, the donor may claim a tax deduction for the estimated portion of the assets that will ultimately go to Trinity.
- A charitable lead trust is essentially the reverse of a charitable remainder trust. The income generated by a charitable lead trust will first go to Trinity for a specific period, usually between 10 and 20 years, after which time the principal of the trust will revert to the donor or to beneficiaries named by the donor. A charitable lead trust appeals to individuals who wish to make a gift but retain ultimate ownership of the property.
Qualified Charitable Required Minimum Distribution from an IRA
The owner of a traditional IRA must, by law, take a “required minimum distribution” (“RMD”) from the account each year beginning at age 73, and the owner must pay income tax on that distribution. An IRA owner may instead use RMDs to fulfill a pledge to Trinity or otherwise make a charitable contribution, up to $100,000 per year, by making the distribution directly from the IRA to Trinity or another charity. That direct distribution to a charity is known as a “qualified charitable distribution” or “QCD” and avoids the owner having to pay income tax on an RMD. To make a QCD, contact your IRA custodian.
Gifts of Appreciated Securities and Assets
Donors could receive current tax deductions for appreciated value of the gift.
Gifts planned during your lifetime to fulfill at your death
Bequests via a Will or Living Trust
One common way to make a planned gift is by naming Trinity Episcopal Cathedral as a beneficiary of your will or living trust. A bequest is a meaningful way to support our work without affecting your cash flow during your lifetime. Your attorney can include it when you prepare or revise your will or trust, or you can add a codicil to your will at any time.
There are several types of bequests:
- A specific bequest indicates the amount of cash, securities or another asset you wish to leave to Trinity. Or it can indicate a specific percentage of the total value of your estate.
- A residuary bequest leaves the remaining portion of your estate (or a percentage of the total) after all specific bequests have been satisfied.
- A contingent bequest leaves to Trinity what you’d planned to leave to someone else in a specific or residuary bequest, if that beneficiary does not survive you.
Examples of Specific Bequests:
You can make a bequest to Trinity for a specific dollar amount or percentage of your estate:
I give, devise and bequeath to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral the sum of $________.
Or, you can make a bequest for specific assets, such as securities, real estate or personal property. Please be as specific as possible in identifying the property:
I give, devise and bequeath to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral my [insert description of the asset].
Example of Residuary Bequests:
You can make a residuary bequest, which gives all or a portion of the residue of your estate to Trinity after payment of expenses and any amounts designated to other beneficiaries.
I give, devise, and bequeath to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral ___ percent of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate as an unrestricted gift, to be used at its sole discretion.
Examples of Contingency Bequests:
You can make a contingency bequest to Trinity, which allows you to account for a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.
I give, devise, and bequeath to [insert name] ____ percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate if s/he survives me. If [insert name] does not survive me, I give, devise and bequeath that portion of my estate to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, as an unrestricted gift, to be used at its sole discretion.
Retirement Plans
You can contribute to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral utilizing your retirement plan. Certain retirement plans, including IRAs, Keoghs, 401k and 403b plans, allow you to defer paying taxes until you withdraw income during retirement. However, after your death these accounts often incur significant income taxes.
Therefore, you might find it beneficial to leave all or part of these plans to Trinity while leaving other assets to your heirs. Simply name Trinity Episcopal Cathedral as beneficiary of your retirement plan. You will retain control of the plan during your lifetime, and you can change your beneficiary at any time if your circumstances change. Note that Roth IRAs and Roth 401k plans are not subject to the same high taxation as traditional IRAs and 401k plans; leave your Roth plans to individuals.
Bank Accounts, Investment Accounts, and Certificates of Deposit
A no-cost way to make a planned gift to Trinity is by designating it the recipient of a bank account or security. You can instruct any financial institution at which you have an account to place an “Pay on Death” (“POD”) or “Transfer on Death” (“TOD”) on your account. All funds remaining in such an account will then be transferred upon your death, directly to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, upon presentation of a death certificate.
POD and TOD designations allow you to retain complete control of the asset during your lifetime and to give the remainder to Trinity upon your death. POD and TOD designations can be easily documented using a form obtained from your bank or financial institution. They also allow those funds to avoid probate.
Life Insurance Policies
Trinity welcomes philanthropic support through gifts of life insurance policies when the policies are paid in full and Trinity is named as the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy.
You can name Trinity as the primary or contingent beneficiary of an existing or new life insurance policy. Although a current income tax deduction is not available, it will exclude the proceeds from your federal estate tax exemption amount, regardless of policy size. Alternatively, you can make an assignment or gift of a life insurance policy that you currently own, or donate a new life insurance policy, to obtain a current income tax deduction.