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Special Olympics North Carolina relies on the generous monetary
and in-kind gifts from businesses, groups and individuals in order
to provide quality sports training and athletic competitions to
Special Olympics athletes across the state.
A thoughtfully planned estate gift can help Special Olympics North
Carolina reach even more people with intellectual disabilities and
provide them the opportunity to develop physical fitness, demonstrate
courage and experience joy!
Planned estate donations and legacy giving are an increasingly
popular way for individuals of all financial brackets to make charitable
gifts of all sizes to Special Olympics North Carolina, enabling
a donor to arrange charitable contributions in ways that maximize
his or her personal objectives. The most popular gifts include naming
Special Olympics North Carolina as a beneficiary in a will, making
Special Olympics North Carolina the owner and beneficiary of a life
insurance policy or making togift to SONC of tangible personal property
or real estate.
There are a variety of options you may wish to consider as you
plan your charitable gift to Special Olympics North Carolina. Planned
estate or legacy donations generally fall into two categories: Outright
Gifts and Deferred Gifts.
Outright gifts are available immediately for use by Special Olympics. The gift can be used or sold for cash. Examples of such gifts include cash, securities, real estate and paid up life insurance policies.
Cash is the simplest, most direct and most popular type of charitable gift to Special Olympics. In the United States, a gift of cash is tax deductible and, because of that fact, the net cost of the gift to the donor can be much less than the actual amount of the gift.
Popular alternatives to cash are gifts of appreciated property, such as securities and real estate. Such gifts generate a double tax benefit. In addition to receiving an income-tax charitable deduction for the full fair-market value of the property, the donor escapes any potential tax on the capital-gain element in the gifted property. To qualify for this double tax benefit, the property must have been held for more than one year.
As with gifts of securities or real estate, a donor is entitled to a charitable deduction for gifts of tangible personal property, such as works of art, rare books or stamp and coin collections. If the use of the contributed property is related to the exempt purpose of Special Olympics North Carolina (e.g. sports equipment), the donor is entitled to a charitable deduction for the full fair-market value of the property.
Deferred gifts are not available by Special Olympics North Carolina immediately. Usually, they become available only after the death of the donor, or for certain trusts, after a period of years. Examples of such gifts include bequests, life income arrangements and life insurance. Deferred gifts provide donors the opportunity to help ensure the future of our movement.
A bequest is the most common form of planned gift. A bequest is actually the element of a person’s will that speaks to the making of a charitable gift. Bequests enable individuals to make significant gifts that they may not have been able to make during life. Bequests can take many forms and specific language requirements do exist. An estate-tax charitable deduction is allowed for the full value of the gift.
A life income arrangement can allow a donor to make a substantial gift to Special Olympics North Carolina while still providing for the individual’s financial needs. There are several types of such plans, all of which combine lifetime payments for one or more beneficiaries designated by the donor with a gift to Special Olympics North Carolina.
The charitable gift annuity is among the oldest, simplest and most popular of the charitable life income arrangements. In exchange for a transfer or cash or marketable securities, Special Olympics North Carolina contractually guarantees to make specified annuity payments to the donor and/or another beneficiary. The payment rate depends on the age and the number of the beneficiaries.
The charitable remainder trust is a popular plan because of the financial and estate-planning flexibility it offers. A donor transfers property under a trust agreement that specifies how trust income and principal are to be distributed, and the trust may be created to become effective during life or at death. This trust is similar to the charitable lead trust, except that a charitable beneficiary received the remainder interest.
The lead trust is different from the remainder trust in that the charity received the income payments from the trust for a given number of years rather than the donor’s beneficiaries. Also, at the end of the trust term, the assets of the trust are returned to the owner or his or her designee. This allows the transfer of assets to heirs while greatly reducing gift taxes. The trust must be in the form of either an annuity trust or unitrust.
Life insurance itself can be the direct funding medium of a gift, permitting the donor to make a substantial gift for a relatively modest annual outlay. Life insurance allows a donor to make a substantial gift on an installment basis by making a series of modest payments, and a gift of life insurance is certain, the proceeds are paid promptly, without going through the time-consuming process of probate.
Individuals who make planned gifts to Special Olympics North Carolina are members of the Olympus Society, a group developed by Special Olympics, Inc. to recognize those individuals with the vision to realize that the plans and gifts they make today preserve the dreams of tomorrow.
To become a member of the Olympus Society, provide for Special Olympics North Carolina in your estate or financial plans. Anyone who provides for any Special Olympics entity in his or her plans, regardless of size of gift, becomes a member of the Olympus Society.
As a member the benefits include: an Olympus Society pin, a certificate proclaiming your membership in this special group, invitations to specific Special Olympics North Carolina events, access to our planned giving staff to discuss charitable estate planning and periodic estate planning updates.
A donor can generally expect to obtain some or all of the following benefits:
- Fulfill personal philanthropic goals
- Reduce income tax through a deduction for the gift
- Avoid capital-gain tax on gifts of long-term appreciated property
- Eliminate federal estate tax on property passing to charity upon the donor’s death
- Reduce costs and time in estate settlement
For more information on Planned Giving, contact Julie Talbert,
vice president of marketing & donor development at jtalbert@sonc.net
or 800-843-6276 ext. 114.
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