Benevolent Foundation

A living trust is a legal arrangement that allows a trustee to hold a title to assets and manage them for beneficiaries. These trusts have become a popular alternative or supplement to a last will and testament. Assets can be held for one’s life and distributed at a later date.

In addition to being the most common way to distribute assets in the future, a will can be a thoughtful way to make charitable gifts. After first providing for the needs of your family, you may choose to benefit St. John's by giving: a percentage of estate, a specific amount, residual of estate after all bequest honored, or specific proper such as stocks, bonds, or real estate.

If you own low-yielding stocks, mutual funds, or other securities that have increased in value since they were purchased, you may want to consider using them to make charitable gifts. When you give appreciated securities owned for longer than one year, you can deduct their full appreciated value, not just the amount you paid for them. You also do not have to pay capital gains tax that would be owed in the event of a sale. You are thus allowed to use the “paper profits” in the investment to make gifts while eliminating tax on the gain.

You can make a gift of real estate while enjoying the use of the property for life or an exact period of time. Through such an arrangement, you can give a personal residence while reserving the right to live there as long as you wish.

Retirement plan assets are often considered the attractive option for making a planned gift since these are among the most tax burdened assets in an estate. Making a future gift may reduce estate tax liability, while allowing you to leave assets that receive more favorable treatment to other beneficiaries.

Your individual retirement account (IRA) is an excellent tool for saving for your retirement yours. Even better, it’s an easy way to support St. John’s and its mission. Making gifts from your IRA or similar retirement plan may result in little or no tax on these funds. If you are 59 ½ or older and itemize your deductions, you report the amount withdrawn along with an offsetting charitable deduction. Individuals aged 70 ½ or older can make tax-free charitable gifts in total amount up to $100,000 per year from a qualifying IRA. Consult with your IRA administrators or tax advisor to see if this is an option for you.

You may use one or more whole life insurance policies to make a future gifts. To use a life insurance policy, you could name the congregation as a beneficiary of a new or existing policy or transfer ownership of a new or existing policy.