Planned Giving

St. Louis Center is dedicated to serving those in need, even if funding is not readily available to cover the costs of their care. Because of this, we must raise $1 million every year to keep our operation going. We need your help to build an endowment fund to help us serve those who need it most. By planning your major gift, you can help yourself and your heirs at the same time you benefit the residents of St. Louis Center for many years to come.

Over the years many individuals have left significant assets for charitable purposes: Kresge, Ford, Kellogg, Mellon, Carnegie, Walton, Gates and Rockefeller, to name a few. Although these names represent the wealthiest of the wealthy, many individuals of various means choose to participate in charitable asset planning by leaving a portion of their accumulated wealth to their favorite charitable organizations. In fact, over the next 10 to 20 years it is estimated that persons who will pass away during that time-frame own between 20 and 40 trillion dollars in accumulated assets. With the current tax structure, many of those dollars will be distributed to our government in the form of gift and estate taxes instead of going to family heirs ... unless of course charitable asset planning is built into their wealth transfer equation.

When you give to charity you are actually making a purchase decision. Instead of buying a typical good or service purchase transaction, when making charitable gifts, you are buying an extension of your own values, visions and philanthropic goals. The organizations you benefit provide services that carry out the values and philanthropic objectives they respect.

Every person has two pockets of money from which to give: their disposable income and accumulated wealth. Sometimes, it is easy to lose sight of the value of your accumulated wealth. When the actual amount of your net worth is calculated you may be surprised to find out just how much money your family members stand to receive. It can be a very satisfying experience to discover how to maximize this value to your loved ones at the same time you can benefit your charitable organizations.

The following three questions may help you to profile your values, visions and goals:

1. How would you like your resources to be used in order to best reflect your values and concerns?
2. Who are the individuals or groups of individuals you would most like to benefit in the future?
3. What are the reasons for wanting to benefit the particular individual or group?

Other Gift Planning Considerations

In addition to the end results of the gift, other planning issues we suggest people consider are the following:

1. Maintain Flexibility
2. Carefully select the proper assets to fund the gift
3. Determine whether your giving will be during your lifetime or testamentary

Once you have looked at these issues, select the best charitable gift planning method(s) to provide avenues for income tax benefits and the best options to address gift or estate tax liabilities. Only place into irrevocable giving arrangements the amount of assets that will take full advantage of income tax benefits; other assets are to be maintained in revocable type of vehicles allowing for maximum flexibility in use over your lifetime.

Charitable Asset Planning Methods

Some of the giving methods used to distribute accumulated assets are as follows:

1. Bequests by Will or distribution from revocable trust
2. Life Insurance & Wealth Replacement Trusts
3. Life Income Plans
4. Charitable Remainder Unitrusts & Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts
5. Charitable Gift Annuity
6. Pooled Income Fund
7. Charitable Life Estate
8. Distribution from a qualified retirement plan
9. Charitable Lead Trust

If you would like to know more about any of these options, or if you would like a copy of our brochure on this topic “Making a Will Work for You,” email our Development Director, Peggy Cole, your contact information at peggyc@stlouiscenter.org