With the help of an advisor, you can include language in your will or trust specifying a gift to be made to Children’s Cancer Association as part of your estate plan.

• A significant benefit of making a gift by bequest is that it allows you to continue to use the property you will leave to charity during your life. A bequest is generally a revocable gift, which means it can be changed or modified at any time.

• You can choose to designate that a bequest be used for a general or specific purpose so you have the peace of mind knowing that your gift will be used as intended. Bequests are exempt from federal estate taxes.

• If you have a taxable estate, the estate tax charitable deduction may offset or eliminate estate taxes, resulting in a larger inheritance for your beneficiaries. Please consult with your financial advisor about your financial situation and potential tax benefits.

There are several ways you can make a bequest to Children’s Cancer Association. For sample language and more information, please contact us.

If your life insurance policy is no longer needed, or will no longer benefit your chosen beneficiary, consider making a gift and help further Children’s Cancer Association’s mission.

For example, you may have purchased a policy to provide for your children, and they are now financially independent adults.

You can give a paid-up policy to Children’s Cancer Association, or even a policy on which you are still paying premiums. There are two simple ways to set up a gift of life insurance.

• You can irrevocably designate Children’s Cancer Association as the owner and beneficiary of your life insurance policy, and you may be entitled to a generous charitable income tax deduction.

• You can name Children’s Cancer Association as an irrevocable beneficiary of your life insurance policy but retain ownership of the policy itself. You can call or write to your insurance company to request a form to make this change of beneficiary.

Charitable remainder trusts allow you to irrevocably transfer assets, and you and/or your beneficiaries receive payments from the trust for life, or another time period of your choice.

The remainder of the trust then goes to Children’s Cancer Association.

• A Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust (CRAT) pays a fixed dollar amount to income beneficiaries for life or a term of years, regardless of market conditions. The CRAT cannot accept additional gifts after it has been established.

• A Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) pays the income beneficiaries a fixed percentage rate for life or a term of years. The annual income amount is based on the current value of the trust’s assets, so the payout will increase or decrease based on changes in the trust’s value.

Most people do not use all their retirement assets during their lifetime, and those unused assets can be used to make a gift to Children’s Cancer Association.

A retirement plan can be a tax-efficient and simple way to include Children’s Cancer Association in your estate plan. Because charities do not pay income taxes on the donations they receive, distributions to charities will avoid being taxed as income.

Types of retirement plans that can be given to charity include individual retirement accounts (IRAs), 401(k), 403(b), and pension plans.

Estate and income taxes can consume a large portion of the money remaining in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs and other qualified retirement plans. Giving your retirement plan to Children’s Cancer Association may result in a significant reduction of tax burden for your heirs.

Charitable gift annuities (CGA) may interest you if you want to transfer cash or securities to Children’s Cancer Association and receive lifetime payments for you and/or a loved one. When the contract ends, the principal passes to Children’s Cancer Association. 

A charitable gift annuity (CGA) might be right for you if:

• You want to receive fixed payments for life that will not fluctuate. CGA payments are guaranteed.

• You have assets that would be advantageous to give away during your lifetime, such as cash or funds earning low interest rates, or appreciated securities.

• You want to reduce your current income taxes with an income tax charitable deduction.

Children’s Cancer Association is currently able to accept CGAs of $100,000 in initial assets.