Charitable Giving
Winston Churchill once said, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." This is true no matter how grand or modest a contribution you can afford. And the fact is, your gift or bequest can have a significant and beneficial impact on the lives of others - if you know how to give most effectively.
A charitable gift of a life insurance death benefit can multiply the impact of your donation many times over. It allows you to leverage your gift and ensure that your own personal contribution impacts your charity directly in a way greater than you thought possible. Even if you have a limited discretionary cash flow, you can make a meaningful gift using a life insurance policy while your charity could receive significant sums of money.
Besides the good feeling that you can get from gifting to your charity, the other benefits are substantial.
- You control the amounts that you gift to your charity. Your gift may be made over one, two or ten years. The amount that you gift is a charitable contribution for which you may receive an income tax charitable deduction, subject to limitations.
- The amount that you gift is leveraged. The gifts to the charity that are used to pay life insurance premiums are only a fraction of the amount that the charity can receive at the death of the insured(s).
- Since the policy is owned by the charity, all rights associated with the policy belong to the charity. Therefore, it may borrow from any cash values in the policy or take loans out on the policy. (Loans and borrowing from cash values reduces the death benefit.) The benefit to the charity is immediate. Even if you die today, the charity will receive the death proceeds from the policy, provided they haven't borrowed against the policy.
- A policy, which is owned from inception by the charity, is not an asset included in your estate at your death. Therefore, your estate has no legal or administrative charges associated with the gift to your charity.