Giving Options - Planned Giving
Why planned giving?
- Meet your financial needs and your philanthropic goals all at the same time.
- Express your appreciation for Saginaw Valley State University and its educational mission.
- Give significant assets without sacrificing needed income.
- Gain substantial tax benefits.
- Every estate plan is unique - choose one to suit your needs, priorities, and values.
Charitable Gift Annuity - Give and Get income for Life
The Charitable Gift Annuity is a simple contract between you and the SVSU Foundation. In exchange for your irrevocable gift of cash, or other assets, the SVSU Foundation agrees to pay one or two people you name a fixed sum each year for life. The payments are guaranteed by the general resources of the SVSU Foundation.
Part of each payment to you is tax-free. If you fund the annuity with an appreciated asset (i.e., stock) you will incur tax on only part of the gain. If you name yourself as an annuitant, this tax will be spread out over many years. The older your designated annuitants are at the time of the gift, the greater the fixed income the SVSU Foundation can agree to pay.
Charitable Remainder Trust - Give and Get Income for Life
When you establish a Charitable Remainder Trust, you will donate appreciated securities (or other assets) to the Trust and receive a substantial charitable income tax deduction.
Your Trust may be set up in one of two basic ways:
- you receive a set amount of money annually for your lifetime (Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust)
- you receive a set percentage annually for your lifetime (Charitable Remainder Unitrust).
Grantor Lead Annuity Trust - Make a Gift and Get It Back
The Grantor Lead Annuity Trust allows you to set aside assets for charitable use for a limited time period. Your gift is invested to provide income to Saginaw Valley State University, then the assets in trust are returned to you or your family at a date your specify. Such a plan can be used to fulfill a gift pledge over a number of years while serving to reduce estate and gift taxes which might otherwise be due on assets given to children, grandchildren or other loved ones.
Individual Retirement Accounts
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are good as a source of retirement income for many people. However, if you are planning on leaving funds in your IRA to your heirs, it is a good idea to investigate the possibility of leaving your IRA (or a part of it) to SVSU while leaving securities to your heirs.
An IRA is a part of one’s estate and, upon death, the principal amount left to an heir may be subject to estate taxes as well as income taxes. Federal Estate taxes can be as high as 55%. Add to that income taxes and, possibly, your state’s estate taxes and your heirs may inherit only 20-25% of your IRA. Depending on your individual circumstances, you may wish to reconsider and reorganize your estate plan to satisfy both personal and philanthropic objectives.
Life Insurance
The SVSU Foundation will accept fully-paid life insurance policies in which the donor has transferred ownership of the policy to the SVSU Foundation. Upon receiving a paid polity, the SVSU Foundation, as owner, can surrender it and obtain the cash value or keep the polity until the death of the donor. The charitable deduction to the donor is the fair market value of a paid insurance polity. The SVSU Foundation does not accept any other form of life insurance.
Bequests
In planning your estate, you should remember that an outright bequest to the SVSU Foundation, as well as certain bequests in trust, is not subject to estate taxation. Your actual cost is less than face value of your gift because of the tax benefits realized through charitable contributions. A bequest can take any of the following forms:
- Specific Bequest...of a dollar amount or of particular securities or other property.
- Residuary Bequest...of all or a portion of your estate, after the payment of a specific amount to other beneficiaries.
- Contingent Bequest...to take effect only in the event that your primary beneficiaries decease before you.
- Testamentary Trust...which takes the form of a charitable remainder annuity trust or unitrust, the corpus of which will be paid to the SVSU Foundation upon the death of the trust’s income beneficiary.
Often a bequest can be arranged simply with the addition of a codicil amending of your existing will. Please call the Foundation Office at (989) 964-4052 to discuss your personalized options.
Creating the Future Society
All donors including SVSU in their estate planning will receive recognition as members of the Creating the Future Society. This distinction is our way of expressing appreciation to friends who are making planned gifts today to create and support a bright future for our University.