Community as your beneficiary.
Life insurance provides a simple way for you to give a significant gift to charity and establish your legacy, with tax benefits that you can enjoy during your lifetime.
You can make a gift when life insurance is no longer needed by either giving a paid-up policy or by continuing to pay premiums. You may receive a number of tax benefits, including reduced estate and income taxes. And, if you choose to continue paying premiums through your community foundation, you will be entitled to a charitable contributions deduction for your cash contribution of up to 50 percent of your adjusted gross income.
You can also replace the dollar value of an asset transferred to your community foundation with a life insurance policy for your heirs. Or, you can use regular payments from a Charitable Remainder Trust to establish an irrevocable life insurance trust. The trust can purchase insurance on your life to benefit your heirs. This way, you can make a gift to your community foundation and replace the value of this gift within your estate with life insurance proceeds.
Example Donor Story
A gift that delivers exponential value.
When her children were young, one of Our Community Foundation's donors purchased a life insurance policy to provide for her family in the event of her death. After one of her children predeceased her and her other children grew up, her circumstances changed such that the policy was no longer needed to protect the family. “My daughter was grown and doing well for herself and over the years, my husband and I became fairly comfortable — we no longer needed to ensure that there was a death benefit from my policy,” she said. This supporter had initiated a modest scholarship fund in memory of her deceased son during her lifetime. After talking with her financial planner, she decided to give her life insurance policy to Our Community's Foundation. “After giving my policy, I received a charitable tax deduction,” she said. “I had owned the policy for so long that I decided to continue paying the premiums in order to maintain a sizable death benefit.” When this donor passed away in 2005, the death benefit from her life insurance helped the memorial scholarship that she had created to become four times its original size and thus it will now provide more substantial educational assistance to local children in her family's name forever.
There is so much more we’d like you to know. For more information and ideas on ways to integrate your financial planning with charitable giving, we suggest that you consult your personal professional financial advisor or contact our Executive Director at director@pacfwv.com or 304.428.4438 (toll free 1.866.428.4438).