Planned Giving

Estate gifts

• WILL
  A will is the simplest way to distribute your estate and can be used to provide for the needs of loved ones and make meaningful gifts to the charities you want to help. You can give to the South Carolina Bar Foundation through your will or via a codicil to your will. A bequest, either a specific sum or a percentage of your estate, enables you to make a lasting gift while retaining full control of your assets throughout your life. A charitable bequest can also reduce estate taxes. 
• REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST
  A revocable living trust allows you to pass your property on to loved ones while minimizing probate costs and maintain privacy. Similar to bequests from your will, a gift through your trust can also reduce estate taxes.
• LIFE INSURANCE
  A simple way to make a significant gift in the future is to name a charitable organization as beneficiary to receive all or a portion of the proceeds of a life insurance policy. You can also make a gift of insurance by purchasing a new policy and naming an organization you want to help as beneficiary. One of the benefits of this gift option is that if the policy is designated with an irrevocable charitable beneficiary, the premiums are tax deductible.

Life Income Gifts

• CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUST (CRT)
  A charitable remainder trust is a gift that allows you to retain income from your property for life or for an amount of time that you specify. Your funds are held separately and invested for payment of a fixed or variable income to you and/or someone else you name. When the trust ends at the death of the income recipient or at the end of the specified time period, whatever remains in the trust is distributed to the charity(ies) you designate. A tax deduction is allowed at the time the trust is created. The size of the deduction depends on beneficiary age(s), payment percentage and other factors.
• CHARITABLE LEAD TRUST (CLT)
  A charitable lead trust provides a substantial gift over a period of years while ensuring that the property will ultimately return to the donor or to loved ones. Under the terms of a CLT, assets are transferred to a trust that pays income to one or more charitable recipients for a length of years you determine. At the end of that period, the assets remaining are returned to you or other persons you name. 
• CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY
  A charitable gift annuity is a contract between you and the South Carolina Bar Foundation which allows you to transfer cash or securities to the Foundation and, in exchange, the Foundation agrees to pay you (and/or another beneficiary) a guaranteed fixed income for life. You receive a current income tax deduction in the year of your gift as well as potential future income tax savings. You realize income and tax benefits today for a gift that you might otherwise have planned to make in the future through your will or other long-range plans.
  

Asset Gifts

• RETIREMENT PLANS
  If you are participating in a company pension plan or other private plan, such as an IRA (Individual Retirement Account), you may have saved funds in excess of your needs. These excess funds can be donated at death or during your lifetime (subject to minimum age requirements for penalty-free withdrawals). The funds you carefully saved over a lifetime can make a difference for those in need now or as a part of your estate planning. Leaving retirement account assets to a charity allows you to maximize the tax-deferred nature of the account when you pass away. Rather than your beneficiaries being such to income taxes on the funds in this account, a charity will receive tax-free.
• STOCKS, BONDS, SECURITIES
  You can earn an income tax charitable deduction equal to the FMV of the gifts of stocks, mutual funds or other publicly traded securities on the date of the gift and you will not have to pay capital gains on the transfer of these securities to the SC Bar Foundation.

Qualified Charitable Distributions from IRAs

• Donors can make qualified charitable distributions directly from an IRA Gifts up to $100,000 are excluded from federal income.
  • A qualified charitable distribution can be made if you are least 70 ½ years old when the distribution is made; it is made from a Traditional (It doesn’t really make sense to make QCDs from a Roth IRA because Roth distributions to tax-free to individuals) and is made to a qualified charitable organization like the SC Bar Foundation.
  • It will count towards your yearly required minimum distribution