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 which produces income for the donor or other beneficiary, for a fixed period of time of up to twenty years or until the donor or other beneficiary dies. At the conclusion of the trust period, the remaining principal assets will be distributed to Trinity.
- Charitable trusts take two forms — charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts.
- A charitable remainder trust allows you to designate the beneficiary of regular payouts from trust proceeds (for either a fixed dollar amount or a fixed percentage) during your lifetime or for a period of time, not to exceed twenty years. At the same time, Trinity is designated a remainder beneficiary. This allows you to claim a tax deduction for the estimated portion of the assets that will ultimately go to Trinity upon death or the expiration of the fixed period.
- Charitable lead trusts appeal to individuals who wish to make a gift but retain the property. These irrevocable trusts are, essentially, the reverse of charitable remainder trusts in that the payments from a charitable lead trust will first go to Trinity for a specific period of time, usually between 10 and 20 years, after which time the principal of the trust will revert to you or to those you have designated.
Charitable Required Minimum Distribution
Eligible IRA Owners who are required to make an annual Required Minimum Distribution can make a qualified charitable distribution directly to Trinity without having to pay federal income taxes on the distribution.
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 and Wills
The simplest way to make a planned gift is by naming Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in your will. 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 you can add a codicil at any time.
There are several types of bequests:
- A specific bequest indicates the amount of cash, securities or other 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 other bequests have been satisfied.
- You can make Trinity the recipient of a contingency bequest, which takes into account the possibility of a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.
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 [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 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.
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 are often exposed to significant taxes.
Therefore, you might find it beneficial to leave all or part of these funds to Trinity while leaving other assets to your heirs. Simply name Trinity Episcopal Cathedral a 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.
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 in which you have an account to place your asset in a trust (often called a Pay on Death or a Transfer upon Death Account) which will be transferred, upon your death, directly to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.
This allows you to retain complete control of the asset during your lifetime and to give the remaining asset to Trinity upon your death. Most Pay on Death or a Transfer upon Death Accounts can be created easily, using a form obtained from your bank or financial institution, and could allow assets 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 result in a federal estate tax deduction for the full amount of the proceeds payable to the charity, regardless of policy size. Or you can make an assignment or gift of a life insurance policy that you currently own or donate a new life insurance policy, approaches which allow a current income tax deduction.