Making a planned gift, such as bequests, insurance policies, retirement plan funds, and annuities or remainder trusts can provide significant future resources for The Guild while providing you with income, tax, and personal benefits. We suggest you engage your financial planner or estate attorney for more in-depth advice on planned gifts. Examples of suitable planned gifts for Guild families to consider include (but are not limited to):

 

Bequests

Bequests are the most popular type of planned gifts; a provision for The Guild may reduce the size of your taxable estate while helping The Guild’s long-term financial position. You can leave to The Guild a specific sum of money, a particular piece of property, a percentage of your estate, or the residue after making provisions for family and friends. Stocks, bonds, cash, and tangible personal property, such as works of art and real estate, make very appropriate bequest assets.

 

Annuities

A charitable gift annuity is a simple contract between you and The Guild that pays you a fixed dollar amount (an annuity) for your lifetime (and that of another individual, if desired) based upon your age(s) at the time of your gift. The older you are, the higher the rate of return. If you use appreciated property to fund the gift annuity, you will not be responsible for capital gains tax on the gift portion of the transaction and the remaining gain will be apportioned over your lifetime. This is a wonderful way to increase income from stocks that pay small dividends and carry heavy capital gains.

 

Life Insurance Policies

If you have life insurance policies that you no longer need, consider donating them to The Guild or simply naming The Guild as the beneficiary.

 

Retirement Assets

Because our tax laws often subject retirement plan assets to the highest combined income and estate taxes, charitable donations of these assets may be the most efficient estate planning option. Donors age 70 ½ or older can make tax-free charitable gifts of up to $100,000 per year directly from their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) to eligible charities, like The Guild for Human Services. Tax-free qualified disbursements are made directly from the IRA account holder’s financial institution to The Guild.

If you are interested in learning more about making a planned gift to The Guild, please contact Mark Green in the Development office at 781-893-6000 or mgreen@guildhumanservices.org. In addition, if you do include The Guild in your estate plans, it is very helpful for us to know your intentions. Please complete this simple Gift Intention Form for our records and return it to Mark Green in the Development office.