For more information

Bob Hennessy
Executive Director -
Founder

(408) 287-9919 x19

PLANNED GIVING

Whether supported through an outright gift or planned gift, all San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School programs are made possible through the generosity and commitment of people like you. A planned gift to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School helps to ensure the future of the services and programs we provide in your community and may further your financial goals.

What are planned gifts? Planned gifts include gifts through your will, charitable gift annuities, gifts of life insurance, pooled income funds, and charitable trusts.

Endowment Fund
Endowment is an institution's invested capital that generates funds to be used, in perpetuity, to support the institution. Gifts to the Endowment Fund may take many forms:

A bequest through a will or other forms of testamentary disposition

Current deductible giving alternatives

Gifts of appreciated assets such as stocks

Naming the Corps as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, a charitable trust or foundation

Making a direct cash contribution

Bequest
Supporters make charitable gifts by naming the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School as a beneficiary in their wills. The federal government encourages these gifts or bequests, by allowing an unlimited estate tax charitable deduction.

To make a bequest to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School, the following language will be helpful to your lawyer:

"I give, devise, and bequeath to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School the sum of _______ (or otherwise describe the gift or specify a percentage of the estate)."

There are three ways you can make a bequest:

Specific Bequest
You designate a specific dollar amount, specific percentage, or specific property to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School.

Residual Bequest
Your estate will pay all debts, taxes, expenses, and specific bequests. The remaining amount - the residual - will be transferred to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School .

Contingent Bequest
You can ask that the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School receive all or a portion of your estate only under certain circumstances. For example, you can name the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School as a beneficiary of your estate only if there are no surviving close family members. Childless couples sometimes provide for the entire estate to go to the surviving spouse, or if the spouse does not survive, to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School.

When you are a planned gift donor, the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School will honor you with membership in the Legacy Society. If you have already made a plan to give to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School in your will or estate plan, please contact Bob Hennessy at (408) 287-9919 x19. We realize that with your special gift, you consider us to be part of your family, and we want to do our best to keep you informed as to how your gift will be used and to give you the opportunity to tell us of your wishes.

Life Income Gift
Family obligations and the need to provide for retirement, coupled with the high cost of living, make it difficult for many people to consider substantial charitable gifts now.  But there is a way to have the satisfaction of making a meaningful lifetime gift without sacrifice.  In fact, you can get current income tax and financial benefits.  It is called a life income gift.  You irrevocably transfer some assets to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School now, and in return, you (and a survivor, if you wish) receive income for life.  As a result, the assets are used to carry out our mission.

By making a life income gift to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School , you will receive the following benefits, in addition to the pleasure of knowing the good work your gift will do. The benefits include:

• A charitable deduction in the year you make the gift for the present value of our right to eventually receive the assets.
  
• Your effective yield is increased by substantial income tax savings.
  
• Income can be taxed more favorably in some plans.
  
• Your probate and estate administration costs may be reduced.

Examples of life income plans:

The San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School uses the charitable gift annuity rates recommended by the American Council on Gift Annuities. The following are rates for a single-life charitable gift annuity:

For example, Miss Anderson, age 75, transfers $10,000 to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School for a gift annuity. She will receive a guaranteed annual income of $730 ($10,000 x 7.3% -- the annuity rate for her age).

The rates are different for an annuity for two lives. The rates for two lives are less than rates for one life because the period of payment may be longer. The following chart shows some sample rates based on two lives:

For example, Mr. Edwards is 75 and his wife is 70. They transfer $20,000 to the American San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School for a gift annuity and receive $1,260 annually for life ($20,000 x 6.3% -- the annuity rate for their combined ages). The full guaranteed payments continue for the survivor's life.

If you wish, you may defer charitable gift annuity. You can make the gift now, and the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School will pay you (and another beneficiary, if you wish) life income starting at any date you specify. This is a great option if you are concerned about retirement income. Also, you receive the income tax deduction in the year you make the gift. The amount you receive each year depends on the amount transferred, your age now, and your age when the payments are to start.

For example, Miss Baker, age 50, transfers $10,000 to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School for a deferred gift annuity with payments to start at age 70. Her rate of return will be 13.4 percent, and she will receive $1,340 per year for life ($10,000 x 21.4%).

Charitable Remainder Trust

This life income plan is created by transferring assets to a trust that pays you (and another beneficiary, if you wish) income for life.  At the end of the trust, the remaining trust assets are transferred to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School.  A bank or trusted advisor can serve as trustee.

The type of charitable remainder trust you choose determines your annual payments:

Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust

The charitable remainder annuity trust pays you a fixed dollar amount annually for life. The fixed payments are determined by the payout percentage selected at the beginning of the trust. You can claim a charitable deduction on your income tax form the year that you create the trust. The payments you receive are taxed as ordinary income, and in some cases as capital gain or tax-free return of principal.

For example: Mrs. Edwards irrevocably transfers $100,000 to create a charitable remainder annuity trust that will provide her with life income payments. Included in the trust agreement is the stated payout percentage of 7. She will receive $7,000 annually for her life ($100,000 x 7%). If income earned by the trust exceeds the fixed payment of $7,000, the excess is reinvested.

Charitable Remainder Unitrust

The charitable remainder unitrust pays you a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust assets, as revalued each year. Like the annuity trust, you can claim a charitable deduction on your income tax form the year that you create the trust. The payments you receive are taxed as ordinary income, and in some cases as capital gain or tax-free return of principal.

For example, Mr. Edwards irrevocably transfers $100,000 to create a charitable remainder unitrust that will provide him with life income payments. The trust agreement provides that he will receive 6 percent of the fair market value of the assets each year. The first year he receives $6,000 (100,000 x 6%). One year later the trust assets are valued at $120,000, so he is paid $7,200 ($120,000 x 6%). If the trust assets are worth $110,000 at the beginning of the next year, he will receive $6,600 ($110,000 x 6%). And so on each year. If trust income exceeds the stated payout percentage, the excess is added to the unitrust assets and reinvested.

Gift of Life Insurance
Some of our supporters no longer need their life insurance that was purchased years ago to provide for children or other family members. If that is your situation, please consider donating the policy to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School. You may claim a charitable deduction for approximately the policy's cash surrender value, and the proceeds are completely removed from your estate.

Charitable Lead Trust
Individuals with very large estates can use a charitable lead trust to benefit the San Jose Conservation Corps and pass principal to family members with little or no tax penalty. It works like this: you would transfer assets to a trust that provides payments to the San Jose Conservation Corps for a term of years.
Then the trust principal goes to your children, grandchildren, or others free of, or at greatly reduced, federal gift and estate tax. (Please note that a generation skipping tax [GST] is imposed on large transfers to grandchildren and others who are more than one generation younger than you.)

Gifts of Retirement Plans
Many individuals today have large qualified retirement plans such as an IRA, 401(k), or Keogh plan. These assets have been growing tax-free for years. Once the owner begins to receive payments from the qualified plans, the distributions are taxed. The plans are also included in the owner's taxable estate. A retirement plan may be an excellent source of funds for making a gift to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School.
One way to make a gift of your retirement plan is to create a charitable remainder trust through your will. It works like this: Your IRA assets will be transferred to a charitable remainder trust. There is no tax due because the charitable remainder trust is a tax-exempt entity. The trust will provide life income to the beneficiary (for example, your child) with an eventual gift to the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School. The beneficiary will pay income tax on the distributions from the trust. Your estate will receive an estate tax charitable deduction for the value of the San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School 's right to eventually receive the trust assets.