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How to Plan Your Legacy

Leaving a Bequest to Charity

Will Planning

The mission of the Carroll Community Foundation is to connect people, resources and causes to produce a positive and sustainable change in the communities we serve. In other words, we get money from donors, we grow that money through prudent investment practices, and we give the money to a wide variety of non-profit organizations that are doing the real work of making this community a better place. Those organizations are providing the needed services and enhancements to the quality of life that will give us the community that we dream about for ourselves and those who come after us. Many of the gifts that we receive come in the form of bequests as public minded citizens of this community decide that they want to create a legacy by leaving behind some financial resources to provide real benefit to the community that has meant so much to them. We invite you to join them. Working together we can create the community of our dreams.

As you begin to think about planning your legacy, consider the following questions:

  1. Do you have charitable organizations that you currently support on an annual basis?
  2. Do you want to include a gift to any of these organizations or other charitable organizations as a part of your estate plan?
  3. If there was a way to make a gift to charity largely out of federal estate tax dollars, would you be interested in exploring options to accomplish this goal?

There are several ways that a person can make plans to create a legacy that supports a non-profit organization by adding to their endowed funds in the Community Foundation.

Will Language

I give, devise and bequeath to the Carroll County Community Foundation, a fund of the Community Foundation of Howard County, Inc., an Indiana nonprofit corporation, _____________________. (describe devise - for example "Fifty Thousand Dollars", or _________% of my estate, or "all the residue of my estate") to be added to the _______________________ fund ( or to create the ______________________fund to support __________________________.)

Sample Will Language for Bequests


Life Insurance Policy

You can have your insurance agent complete a beneficiary designation form that make a fund in the Foundation a beneficiary of your life insurance policy. You can do this in any amount that you choose.

IRA or Retirement Plan

You can use your IRA or other qualified retirement plan. For many people, this is the largest asset that they will possess at the time of their death. It also will be the most heavily taxed asset if it is transferred to anyone but a spouse or a charitable organization. Many people are choosing to avoid the very heavy tax burdens of these plans by using all or part of these assets to make charitable contributions. The process is very similar to using a life insurance policy. You may contact the company holding your IRA and ask to make a beneficiary designation. It does not effect your use of these assets in any way while you live.

Charitable Remainder Trust

A Charitable Remainder Trust is a very useful tool that will allow you to make a gift to a trust, receive a very nice tax deduction, receive an income for life, and be a philanthropist. We are aware that several donors have established these trusts that will help with their retirement income and provide strong support to the community at the end of their lives.

Charitable Gift Annuity

A Charitable Gift Annuity allows you to make a gift to the Community Foundation and receive a quarterly payment for the rest of your life. Because this is a gift, you will receive a return that is higher than the commercial market and you will be able to receive a nice tax deduction. For more information on this opportunity call (765) 454-7298.

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