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For many clients, making a substantial gift to the Fairfield County Community Foundation through their estates is the most realistic way to make a lasting difference in their own backyard and create a philanthropic legacy.
There are few better ways to be remembered and few better gifts to leave behind than creating possibilities and opportunities for countless generations.
A planned gift to the Foundation can offer lifetime income for the client or a named beneficiary, with significant estate and income tax savings. In addition, clients who choose to designate their charitable gift to the Foundation know that it will be used according to their wishes in perpetuity.
Over $12 million has been committed to the Foundation through planned gifts. Those who have included the Foundation in their planned giving become members of our Legacy Society, which recognizes today those who plan to make a substantial gift tomorrow.
The Foundation's staff is available to Legacy Society members and their professional advisors to discuss estate and gift planning interests and options. They are listed in the Foundation's annual report (unless anonymity has been requested), which they receive. Members also receive the our newsletter and are invited to our events and community gatherings.
The Foundation offers many ways to help you guide your clients' planned giving decisions. Contact Sharon Reiss, Director of Philanthropic Services, at 203.750.3200.
With a charitable remainder trust, a client (or someone he or she selects) can receive income for life, knowing that whatever remains will benefit the community according to their wishes.
By transferring assets to establish a charitable remainder trust, your client receives an immediate tax deduction for the present value of the gift in the year the gift is made. He or she also reduces or avoids capital gains taxes associated with the gifted asset. Eventually, when the trust's term is complete, the remaining assets pass on to the Foundation. Grants from the fund will be made in accordance with your clients' charitable interests.
We accept gifts from a variety of charitable remainder trusts, including standard unitrusts, net income unitrusts, net income with a makeup provision unitrusts, and charitable remainder annuity trusts. We have the capacity and expertise to ace as trustee.
A bequest permits a client to help shape the future of Fairfield County while retaining complete control over assets during his or her lifetime. Bequests can be a specific dollar amount, a percentage of an estate or what remains after other bequests are satisfied.
Clients may name a new fund, an existing fund, or a specific organization to receive their bequest to the Foundation. They can give cash, appreciated stocks or other assets.
Bequests to the Foundation earn a full charitable deduction from estate taxes.
A client can place cash or property in a trust that pays a fixed amount to the Foundation for the number of years he or she selects. Once this period ends, the assets held by the trust are transferred to the beneficiaries your client names.
Those who have planned carefully for retirement may find that the assets in IRAs and other qualified plans exceed their needs. Your client can designate that assets remaining in the plan after death are contributed to the Foundation. This strategy can be far more advantageous than having those assets included in a taxable estate or leaving them to heirs—who may be taxed at a cumulative rate of over 65 percent.
A client can donate a life insurance policy to the Foundation for either a general purpose or specific purpose. If the policy is fully paid, the tax deduction is either the replacement value or your cost, whichever is less.
If the policy is not fully paid and your client decides to contribute the premiums, those amounts become deductible as charitable contributions. In either case, your client will enjoy an immediate tax deduction and substantial estate tax savings later.
Your clients' philanthropic legacy is easy to create. Contact Sharon Reiss, Director of Philanthropic Services, at 203.750.3200.
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