Create a Legacy With Estate Plans
Passionate about supporting the Museum’s mission even after your lifetime? It's not only possible, it's easy to do with a planned gift. Creating a bequest or charitable gift annuity, or giving appreciated stock, may offer better tax savings for you than an outright gift of cash. In addition, some planned gifts can give you guaranteed income for life.
With a planned gift you can:
- Increase your fixed income.
- Supplement your retirement.
- Enhance your net estate.
- Create a personal legacy.
- Receive tax deductions.
- Avoid capital gains taxes.
- Provide income to your family.
- Give at the lowest possible cost.
Ways to Give
Bequests
The simplest way to make a planned gift is through a bequest in your will. You may direct a bequest to support a specific acquisition fund or to endow a specific program. Undesignated bequests allow the Museum to use the funds where they are most needed.
Charitable Gift Annuities
Charitable gift annuities provide beneficiaries with a fixed income for life in exchange for a gift of cash or marketable securities to the Museum. The rates of return are generally higher than those from savings or money market accounts, and you can choose whether to receive income immediately or wait until retirement.
Retirement Plan Assets and IRAs
Bequeathing retirement assets to the Museum allows you to fulfill your charitable objectives while preserving more of your estate's value for family members. Designating the Museum as the beneficiary of your retirement account or IRA may help your estate bypass multi-tier tax exposures, preserve the value of your estate, and protect your heirs from potential tax burdens.
Life Insurance
Giving a life insurance policy is a great way to transform a modest gift into a dramatic one. You can transfer ownership of a fully paid policy to the Museum, reassign ownership and beneficiary status for a policy on which premiums are still being paid, or establish a new policy and designate the Museum as applicant, owner, and beneficiary.
Charitable Remainder Trusts
Contribute to the future of the museum, secure lifetime annual payments for yourself and/or other beneficiaries, and generate substantial tax benefits with a charitable remainder trust. A trust of this kind provides beneficiaries with income for life or a specified length of time and then distributes the remaining assets to the Museum. An income tax deduction is available immediately.
Charitable Lead Trusts
With a charitable lead trust, you make a significant multiyear gift to the Museum and maximize the value of assets for your heirs. This type of trust pays an annual amount to the Museum, with the assets ultimately passing on to another beneficiary. You can decide whether to receive an income tax deduction or pass savings on to your estate.
Learn More About Planned Giving
Contact the development office at development@naturalsciences.org.