Planned giving offers many choices and benefits for donors and their beneficiaries, while also providing substantial current or future support of AEI.
Major ways of making a planned gift include:
Bequests
By including AEI in your will, you guarantee that AEI continues to fulfill its mission into the future. Such a gift also reduces the taxable portion of your estate by the full amount of your gift. You may make a bequest to AEI by preparing a new will or by adding a codicil to your present will. To make certain that your exact intentions are carried out, wills and codicils should be prepared by or with the advice of your attorney.
Unrestricted bequests permit AEI to use your gift whenever it is most needed; restricted bequests underwrite AEI activities in areas of greatest interest to you.
Suggested language for making an unrestricted endowment bequest:
"I give [the sum of _____dollars] [all or____ percent of the residuary of my estate] to the American Enterprise Institute, 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, DC, for the AEI Guarantors Fund, a general endowment."
Suggested language for a specific purpose:
"I give [the sum of _____ dollars] [all or ____ percent of the residuary of my estate] to the American Enterprise Institute, 1150 Seventeenth Street N.W., Washington, DC, for the following purpose: [state the purpose]."
Retirement account assets such as IRAs, 401(k)s, Keoghs, HR-10s, 403(b)s, and ESOPS are a particularly attractive way to support AEI. Left to your estate or to an individual who is not your spouse, these assets are subject to estate, income, and other transfer taxes that often exceed 75 percent. By designating AEI as the recipient of any benefits remaining in your retirement plan, the bequest will escape both estate and income taxes, leaving a greater share of your estate for your heirs.
Please contact AEI's Managing Director of Marketing, Nicole Ruman Skinner (800.862.5801, ext. 7189; nskinner@aei.org) if you have included a bequest to AEI in your will.
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Life Income Plans
Friends of AEI who would like to make a substantial gift, while considering their own and their spouses' financial needs, may find a life income plan to be an attractive solution. Life income plans allow you to make a gift to AEI and at the same time retain a benefit from the assets you give, in some cases making it possible to contribute more than you originally thought. When you establish a life income plan, you make an irrevocable gift of assets and in return receive payments for life or for a term of years. When the life income plan terminates, the assets remaining pass to AEI. Life income arrangements vary, but all share the following advantages and offer a number of important potential benefits:
- An immediate income tax charitable deduction;
- Increased income in many cases from low-yield, appreciated securities;
- Elimination of, or reduction in, capital gains tax liability if appreciated property is donated;
- Payments for life, to you and/or another beneficiary or beneficiaries you may designate;
- Reduced estate taxes; and the satisfaction of supporting AEI during your lifetime.
Charitable Remainder Trusts are separately managed irrevocable trusts that can be tailored to meet your financial goals, especially with respect to the payout rate, the length of the trust term, and the assets used to fund the trust. The two most common types of trusts are: 1) the annuity trust, which pays a fixed dollar amount each year based on a percentage of the initial fair market value of the trust assets; and 2) the unitrust, which pays a variable amount based on a percentage of the fair market value of trust assets as revalued each year. The recommended minimum contribution to establish a charitable remainder trust is $250,000. At the termination of the trust, the remainder comes to AEI.
Charitable Lead Trusts provide a method of making a significant contribution to AEI while transferring income-producing assets to your heirs at a greatly reduced tax cost. It differs from the other trusts in that AEI receives the income for the term of the trust. At the end of the term, the remaining assets in the trust principal are transferred to your heirs at no additional tax cost. A charitable lead trust allows AEI to anticipate a current income stream for the support of its activities.
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Other Ways to Give
