Planned Giving and Endowment

Planned Giving is the integration of sound personal, financial and estate planning concepts with a donor’s plan for lifetime or testamentary giving.

Thank you for taking the time to explore the benefits of gift planning.

Our hope is to serve you and your family with helpful information. As a community investor, you can benefit from life income gifts, gift annuities and other plans.

You may endow your planned gift. The United Way of Olmsted County Endowment Fund resides with the Rochester Area Foundation. 

So that we may recognize you, please let us know if you have included United Way in your will or estate plans. A Letter of Intent is a convenient means to indicate your gift intent.

The Hope Legacy Society recognizes those who provide a Letter of Intent and who wish to be publicly acknowledged for their planned gift. 

Endowment

United Way of Olmsted County Endowment Fund is kept in perpetuity to provide interest and dividend earnings for the benefit of United Way. Gifts of cash, stock or securities are welcome. Many of the gifts that go into the endowment fund will be planned gifts. 

Today. Tomorrow. United Way. 

A gift to the United Way endowment is an opportunity to grow your giving to change lives today and in the future.

Endowment builds the capacity to ensure that our community is a caring and safe place where children thrive, adults and families succeed and the basics of community support are maintained for those vulnerable or in crisis.

Gifts may be directed to the endowment fund at anytime.  Help us grow our endowment during our appeal campaign - Today. Tomorrow. United Way.

Wills

The most common gift is one made through a will or a trust. Assets including cash, securities, real estate, and tangible personal property, such as works of art, may be transferred through an estate. 

Bequests made through a will or living trust are one of most popular forms of planned gifts. In a bequest, one or more charities receive a specific dollar amount, a specific piece of property, or a stated percentage of the estate.   Click the link to learn the wording you need to include United Way in your will. 

Life Insurance

Donors can also choose to leave United Way of Olmsted County as a beneficiary in an existing or new life insurance policy. 

There are several ways in which a donor may use life insurance to make a gift.

• Make a gift of an existing life insurance policy naming United Way of Olmsted County as a primary beneficiary or a contingent beneficiary.
• Establish a new policy and name United Way of Olmsted County as the owner of the policy.
• Use life insurance to replace the value of gifts to a charitable trust. 

United Way Life_TM
United Way Life_TM provides an affordable and convenient way for any donor to magnify their impact on the community more than was dreamed possible. The use of life insurance products will help achieve this cost effective way to leave a legacy to benefit our future community.

United Way Life_TM is a customized program that uses life insurance to create a planned gift. A policy is gifted to United Way and is created through 5 annual payments to United Way for annual premiums. The policy is fully paid once the payments are completed. Working through a national partnership, United Way Life_TM identifies highly rated best-in-class insurance carriers and constantly searches the market for the greatest value for your charitable dollars.

Participation in United Way Life_TM qualifies you for a membership in the Tocqueville Legacy Circle.

Insurance allows you to make a gift outside of your will ensuring all your assets go to your wife/husband/kids without feeling like you are “taking away from them” if something was to happen to you.

You would receive a current tax deduction for the gift you make to United Way to cover insurance premiums. This lowers the gift cost by around a 1/3.

Retirement Plans

IRA /Retirement Accounts
Because of the significant tax penalties on over-funded retirement plans, some donors may find that leaving a charity as a beneficiary of their retirement plan avoids passing on huge tax burdens to heirs.

IRA Charitable Rollover
If you are 70 1/2 or older, you may make tax-free contributions with an IRA charitable rollover. View IRA Charitable Rollover - A Convenient Way to Make a Gift

Stocks, Bonds & Mutual Funds
A gift of appreciated securities such as stocks, mutual funds, and bonds can provide attractive benefits. An outright gift of long-term appreciated securities (held for more than a year) reduces capital gains taxes.

Real Estate
Gifts of commercial or residential real estate receive substantial financial benefits. A donor may give the property outright and qualify for a charitable income tax deduction based on the appraised value of the property. Donors may use a home, farm land or land to fund a life income gift.

Life Income Gifts  

Planned gifts can be done during a person’s lifetime and can provide income for the individual or their beneficiaries as well as a gift for a charity upon death.  

These gifts provide donors or a beneficiary named by the donor with an income for a specified period. 

They include:

Charitable Gift Annuity
A United Way Charitable Gift Annuity is a contract between the donor and United Way that provides advantages for both.

Donor Benefits:

• Guaranteed fixed payments for life, a portion of which is nontaxable
• Charitable income tax deduction for a portion of the gift
• Reduced capital gains taxes

The pay out rate on an annuity is based on the age of the donor at the time the gift is made. At the time of death, the amount remaining in the charitable gift annuity is given to United Way.

This is an irrevocable gift to the United Way in return for a guarantee to receive a life-time annuity payment from United Way.

(Use a Planned Gifts Calculator to view your personal gift.)

Pooled Income Fund
The pooled income fund is similar to a mutual fund.  Some call this a charitable remainder trust for multiple donors. A donor’s gift is pooled with other donors’ gifts and assigned a proportionate interest in the fund. The donor receives an annual income based upon their “share” of the fund.  Current earnings of the fund -dividend and interest- are paid out to each beneficiary on a quarterly basis. The rate is variable.  Ultimately, the gift will pass to a designated charity such as United Way of Olmsted County. The fund continues to pay out an income to the remaining donors and is able to accept additional contributions. Donors can generally participate in a pooled income fund with smaller gifts than a charitable gift annuity.

United Way Worldwide offers a national pooled income fund.

(Use a Planned Gifts Calculator to view your personal gifft.)

Trusts

Charitable Remainder Trusts
The donor gifts an asset to a charitable remainder trust. The trust pays an annual income, typically to the donor, for a specified period.  For example, the period may be for the life for the donor or a fixed number of years.  When the term of the trust ends, what remains is given to the United Way, hence the name “charitable remainder trust”. Two forms of Charitable Remainder Trust are the unitrust and the annuity trust.

(Use a Planned Gifts Calculator to view your personal gift.) 

 Charitable Remainder Unitrusts
A charitable remainder trust provides a donor with a lifetime income and a charitable income tax deduction.  The donor selects the pay out rate, usually between 5% and 7%.  The higher the pay out rate, the lower the charitable income tax deduction is. This gives the donor, and perhaps the donor's spouse, an income every year for life.  If the donor funds the trust with appreciated securities, the donor will avoid capital gains taxes. The donor may choose the trustee to manage the trust.  The trustee may invest in almost any investment, including tax free bonds.

(Use a Planned Gifts Calculator to view your personal gift.) 

Charitable Lead Trusts
The donor transfers a gift to a trust.  United Way receives an immediate benefit by receiving annual payments from the trust. At the end of the trust, what remains goes to the non-charitable beneficiary named by the donor, typically grandchildren.

(Use a Planned Gifts Calculator to view your personal gift.) 

Life Estate Agreement
Under this plan, a donor transfers the ownership of their home or family farm to United Way of Olmsted County. However, the donor retains the right to live on the property, receive all income and control the property for the remainder of their lifetime.

(Use a Planned Gifts Calculator to view your personal gift.)

More information on planned giving -  United Way Planned Giving.

Information presented on our site is for education purposes and is not professional tax or legal advice. Please consult a qualified professional advisor for tax or legal advice about your specific situation.

To discuss planned gifts or endowment gifts, contact:

United Way of Olmsted County – Resource Development
Bonita Schultz, CFRE
507-529-4830 or bonnies@uwolmsted.org

Legal Name and Address

United Way of Olmsted County, Inc.
903 West Center Street, Suite 100
Rochester, Minnesota  55902
Telephone:  507-287-2000
Fax:  507-287-2063
Anne Berberich
Interim President and Senior Vice-President, Resource Development