Planned Giving
An Eagle Helping Build a Nest Egg for Future Generations
Scouting was important to Steve as he was growing up. Steve, who earned the rank of Eagle, recalls the mentorship of youth leaders, participation in the National Jamboree and serving on camp staff as truly formative. He sees Scouting as an effective way of helping young people acquire life skills, particularly leadership skills, and learn about mentoring others. His wife Judy is also a Scouting enthusiast-her father and brother were both Eagles.
Steve and Judy are big proponents of planned giving, as they know this can be an important way of building assets for an organization and keeping it strong in the long term. So when Steve received some stock as part of a compensation package, they decided to use it to establish a charitable remainder unitrust, with Northern Star Council as one of the beneficiaries. Charitable remainder unitrusts are a great way of creating income while bypassing both ordinary income and capital gains taxes and receiving the benefit of a tax savings from a charitable deduction.
Steve: It was relatively simple to set up. I used a gift calculator online that was confidential and private, similar to the one on the Northern Star BSA website, entered our ages and the payout rate we wanted so we could determine our deduction for making the charitable gift. The numbers looked attractive, so we told our lawyer and our financial planner we wanted to create a charitable remainder trust and they took care of the rest. We get the income from the unitrust while we are alive as well as the tax deduction when we made the gift. Ultimately, NSC and other organizations will receive the remaining funds.
More people should consider planned giving. Most of us cannot afford to part with significant amounts of money while we are living. Life is too uncertain - we don't know how long we are going to live, health care is expensive, we are worried about outliving our assets, etc. Planned giving allows an individual or a couple to leave a legacy and, depending on the type and size of gift and personal circumstances, positively benefit their family and kids in ways that ultimately support charitable organizations too. Given the tax laws, would you rather give it to the IRS or Northern Star Council? I would rather give it to Scouting, thank you very much!
Is a tax-free sale from a charitable remainder unitrust right for you?
If you own highly appreciated property, such as real estate or stocks, you could benefit from a charitable remainder unitrust. The trust will help you bypass capital gains, will provide you with a charitable income tax deduction in the year of the gift and could increase your income.
*Please note: The names and image above are representative of a typical donor and may or may not be an actual donor to our organization. Since your unitrust benefits may be different, you may want to click here to view a color example of your benefits.