Through planned giving, ACT supporters can create a legacy for themselves after their passing. We know that the mission of land conservation is a clear passion of every supporter regardless the level of giving. Bequests and planned gifts give every supporter the opportunity to make a significant impact, whether for themselves or their families.
Depending upon the type of planned gift you make, there are likely going to be tax benefits. Some, like charitable remainder trusts, are tax exempt.
Other gifts, like real estate, receive an income tax deduction equal to the value of the property and avoid capital gains taxes. Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from a supporter’s IRA account are a way for folks over 70 years old to make tax-free gifts.
Unrestricted gifts give ACT the flexibility and nimbleness to put the gift to work where it is needed most at that moment. However, through planned giving a supporter has the ability to exercise control about how their gift is used. Some supporters will want to focus their planned giving on targeted passions and will use language in their wills and estate documents to pursue those passions posthumously. This is the power of planned giving.
As far as the benefits of planned giving for ACT go, chief among them is security for the future. The knowledge that we, as an organization, are a part of your estate planning gives us the strength to act and to pursue mission critical goals with rock-solid financial footing. With this type of support, ACT's vulnerability to losing out on acquiring key lands needing to be conserved will lessen over time.
Organization is at the core of planned giving. You don’t want to go through the pains of setting up an estate plan only to have it be befuddled by loose ends.
First and foremost, when you select an executor of your will and estate, please let them know that you have done so. In fact, best practice is to ask them and let them politely refuse if they feel that such a task is beyond them. To wake up and find out that you just assumed a new role like executor can be an overwhelming and unforeseen burden.
Secondly, let the recipient of any bequests know ahead of time that they are a part of your estate planning. While it may be tempting to keep this information a secret, the real power exists in letting it be known. In this way you can engage ACT more directly about how your gift will impact the course of conservation in our region. It is especially important to know if you are leaving the gift of a home or other residence to the trust.
Lastly - those pesky usernames and passwords? Yeah, that’s something not to forget about. The majority of everything we do these days is digitally documented. Please make sure that whoever will handle your affairs can access your digital information and files.
The time to think about planned giving isn’t later, it’s now. And it isn’t just a way for others with more money to give. It affords an opportunity to everyone. Planned giving is a way to express what you are most passionate about. For ACT’s supporters, it is another tool in the kit to help protect the natural, historic, scenic and recreational resources of North Central Florida; another means by which to stem the concrete tide that forever crashes all around us.
We all know that our natural lives have a limit, but our legacies and how we plan them have an opportunity to go on and on.
