Friends of Iowa Public Television Foundation

Planned Giving: Types of Planned Gifts

Bequests

Bequests are gifts made through a will or living trust. They are especially popular for people who want to make a gift of significant size but who cannot give up income or capital during their lifetime. The future gift is revocable, and you retain control of the assets to meet future needs. Bequests of all sizes benefit IPTV. You can make a gift in the following ways:

A percentage of your total estate
In using this approach, your gift adjusts with changes in the size of your estate.
The residue or a percentage of the residue of your estate
After your specific gifts to loved ones have been made, you may designate that the entire residue or a percentage of the remainder shall go to one or more charitable organizations. With this approach as well, your gift adjusts with changes in the size of your estate.
A gift of a specific amount
You specify a dollar amount to be given to one or more charitable organizations. With this kind of gift, it is especially important to keep your will or trust up-to-date.
Contingent bequest
You specify that IPTV is to receive a gift only in the event of the death of other beneficiaries.

The following is sample bequest language you can take to your attorney:

I give, devise, and bequeath [insert amount of gift, percentage of estate, or residuary of estate here] to the Iowa Public Television Foundation, with office located at 6535 Corporate Drive, PO Box 6400, Johnston, Iowa 50131.

Checking Accounts, Savings Accounts, CDs

By filling out a simple form at your financial institution you can designate IPTV to receive the remaining funds in these accounts after you’re gone.

Life Income Arrangements

The IPTV Foundation offers two types of life income arrangements: the charitable gift annuity and the charitable remainder trust.

Charitable Gift Annuity — The charitable gift annuity pays a donor a rate of return for one or two lives. The rate is based on the age of the donor or donors. The older the donor, the higher the payment rate. This is a relatively simple transaction, but you should always consult with your professional advisors to ensure this, or any type of gift is good for your personal situation.
Charitable Remainder Trust — Under a charitable remainder trust, you make a gift to the foundation in a trust, reserving the income to yourself, another person, or yourself and another person, either for life or a set numbers of years. At the end of the trust, the remaining assets are distributed to IPTV. Charitable remainder trusts are complex legal instruments. Consequently, the use of an attorney and professional trustee, such as a bank trust department, is usually advisable.

Life Insurance

Many individuals have life insurance policies whose benefits they no longer need. If this applies to you, you may want to consider naming IPTV the beneficiary and assigning us ownership of the policy. In doing so, you will receive a charitable deduction; and in removing the life insurance policy from your estate, you may also reduce your estate taxes.

Retirement Plans

Retirement plans are excellent assets to leave to IPTV. IRAs and qualified retirement plans such as 401(k)s, when passed on to heirs, can incur as much as 70 percent in taxes, because this asset faces double taxation. Not only is the plan benefit reduced by estate taxes, but the recipient must also pay income taxes on the plan. (Estate taxes at gradually reduced rates continue until at least 2010 under the 2001 tax revisions.)

If you plan to make a Legacy Gift to IPTV, you may want to consider naming us the beneficiary of your 401(k), pension, or other retirement plan, and leaving other assets to your family. Naming us the primary beneficiary avoids all income and estate taxes on the retirement plan. Of course, you can also name IPTV for a portion of the assets, or as a contingent beneficiary, with the gift to be effective only after the death of a spouse or other family member.

Moreover, in 2001 the IRS issued favorable, simplified new rules for calculating minimum annual payments from IRAs and other retirement accounts such as 401(k)s. These new rules make it easier for you to accumulate more savings – tax deferred – in your account. Now you can name IPTV as a beneficiary without increasing the minimum amounts you must withdraw each year. By taking advantage of these new rules, you can keep more tax-deferred savings in your account during your life, and designate an important future gift to IPTV.

To designate IPTV, simply contact your plan manager, ask for a change of beneficiary form, and name Iowa Public Television Foundation.

Stock

The IPTV Foundation accepts gifts of stock for current year contributions and as well as to fund a Charitable Gift Annuity or other type of gift. Instead of giving cash as your contribution, give stock instead. An outright gift of these investments totally eliminates any capital gains taxes and gives you a tax deduction of the total current market value of the asset on the date we receive the stock transfer.

It is important that you transfer the ownership of these assets to IPTV instead of selling them and giving the proceeds of the sale. If you sell the asset and then gift the proceeds, you will be responsible for capital gains taxes. Transferring ownership eliminates the capital gains tax .

You can also use these assets to fund a charitable gift annuity. This does not eliminate the entire capital gains tax, but it does spread it out over the life of the annuity. We can provide you with an illustration to show you how you can use stock to fund a charitable gift annuity and receive an income for the rest of your life.

Please contact us for more information about how to make your gift of stock!