Scott Billue, Founder and CEO of Matthew's Hope.
By Scott Billue, Founder and CEO of Matthew's Hope Ministries
Matthew’s Hope is highlighting planned giving as a way for supporters to leave a legacy and help sustain its services. Donors can designate gifts for specific programs, including housing, its medical clinic and preschool, or support the organization’s broader mission. The article encourages readers to work with financial, tax, and estate-planning professionals to determine an approach suited to their circumstances.
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What will happen after you're gone? After all, you can't take it with you. Planned giving is the term nonprofit organizations like Matthew’s Hope use to describe the process of donors committing a gift to the charity as part of their estate plan. While there are a few different ways to give via planned giving, bequests are by far the most popular and easiest type of planned gift. Bequests are gifts left in a donor’s trust, will, or estate plan and given to a nonprofit upon the donor's passing.
Planned giving can have a major impact on how Matthew’s Hope plans for its future and sustains itself in the long run. This is also an excellent way for people to create a legacy and help others no matter what their resources are right now.
"We are very sympathetic to the situations seniors find themselves in given the state of the economy. Because planned gifts do not impact everyday cash flow, it allows donors to feel good about pledging their support now while helping us plan for the future. Bottom line, contributions in estate planning can be a game changer for Matthew’s Hope and its mission," stated Scott Billue, Founder and CEO.
Donors can allocate how or where they want that money to be spent. Because wills are fairly easy to update, donors can also keep their bequests up to date, checking in with
Matthew’s Hope personnel on where their donations will make the most impact. A donor can decide he or she wants part of the gift to go to Matthew’s Hope’s housing, medical clinic, preschool or any combination of the services it provides. Contributions can also go to the organization in general for it to use as it thinks best.
Planned gifts can come in a variety of forms from simple bequests to complex trusts — all with different requirements and advantages depending on a donor’s circumstances. There are a few common ways to give, with the first being bequests, which are a popular and fairly simple way to make a planned gift. These ‘outright’ gifts are charitable contributions left as a bequest in a legal will. They are usually given as a specific amount, a remainder of a donor’s estate after other bequests have been paid, or a percentage of a donor’s total wealth.
If the donor has investments, he or she can use a charitable gift annuity, which allows a donor to give a large amount of cash or securities in exchange for a fixed income payment for life. The nonprofit keeps any leftover funds as well as any income it makes from investing those funds.
There are also a couple of types of charitable trusts, but in each, the remaining funds go to the nonprofit after the trust is terminated. A charitable remainder annuity trust pays the donor a fixed amount based on a percentage of the initial assets used to fund the trust. A charitable remainder unitrust pays the donor a percentage of its principal, which is revalued annually so payments increase over time. There are also charitable lead trusts which pay an ‘income’ to the nonprofit for a specified number of years or for the donor’s lifetime. When that term ends, the assets are returned to the donor or their beneficiaries.
Other gift types include non-cash assets, such as stock or real estate; giving from IRAs (also known as Qualified Charitable Distributions); and Pooled Income Funds. In summary, almost any asset can be left to the charity to sell or use as it sees fit.
So, as you can see, there are many ways to give to Matthew’s Hope either while you are alive through trusts and investments or after you pass through gifts in your will or your trust. If giving a gift to help your legacy carry on by helping others excites you, it is not difficult to begin.
After deciding exactly how you want to help Matthew’s Hope, it is time to get assistance from the professionals on your team. If you have investments and may want some of them or their proceeds to go to Matthew’s Hope, you should consult your financial advisor. Your accountant can also help guide you on how to reduce the taxes you or your heirs must pay by using charitable gifts. Finally, whether you have a will or not, an estate planning attorney can help you add a gift to Matthew’s Hope in your will or trust. If you do not have any estate planning documents, giving a gift to help the guests of Matthew’s Hope is a great reason to start one.
Key Points:
- Planned giving can help Matthew’s Hope prepare for future needs and sustain its mission.
- A bequest allows a donor to leave a charitable gift through a will or trust.
- Donors may direct their gifts toward particular services or the organization’s general needs.
- Potential gifts include cash, securities, real estate, and other assets.
- Financial advisors, accountants, and estate-planning attorneys can help donors evaluate their options.
