An estate gift provides significant support to Arizona Elk Society. The gift can be made through a will or a trust, and both vehicles enable assets to be distributed to individuals and nonprofit organizations in the amounts or proportions indicated.
• The opportunity to make a major gift while preserving assets during your lifetime • Reduction in federal estate taxes • The opportunity to designate the gift to support a specific program or service offered by Arizona Elk Society.
• Specific Bequest – Arizona Elk Society receives a specific dollar amount, a specific piece of property or a stated percentage of the estate. This is one of the most popular forms of bequests • Residuary Bequest – Arizona Elk Society will receive all or a stated percentage of an estate after distribution of specific bequests and payment of debts, taxes and expenses. • Contingent Bequest – will receive part or all of the estate under certain specified circumstances.
Making a gift of a qualified retirement plan asset such as a 401(K), 403(b), IRA, Keogh or pension plan is another way to benefit Arizona Elk Society and receive significant tax savings. Retirement plan assets are often subject to extremely high estate taxes and the income is fully taxable when received by an individual beneficiary. By naming Arizona Elk Society as the beneficiary of a retirement plan the donor maintains complete control over the assets during his/her lifetime, but at the donor’s death the plan passes to Arizona Elk Society free of both estate and income taxes. When creating an estate plan, donors may wish to consider leaving his/her heirs other assets, such as cash and securities, which are not as highly taxed.
Donors can use life insurance to make a gift to Arizona Elk Society by naming the organization as the owner and beneficiary of a life insurance policy. A donor receives a charitable income tax deduction based on the lesser of the policy’s fair market value or the net premiums paid. Donors may also wish to make gifts of paid-up policies, resulting in a charitable income tax deduction for the policy’s cash surrender value. An important use of life insurance is its ability to replace the value of an asset that has been given to Arizona Elk Society. A donor can use the tax savings produced by the charitable income tax deduction to purchase and pay premiums on life insurance policies whose proceeds equal the value of the gifted property. This arrangement can serve to protect the interests of family members.
Donors can make gifts of tangible personal property, such as art, books, antiques and collections to Arizona Elk Society. A donor’s charitable income tax deduction is based on the “related use” of the property, which means that if the property is related to the Arizona Elk Society tax exempt purposes, the donor can take a charitable income tax deduction for the full fair market value of the property, up to 30% of the donor’s adjusted gross income. If the property is unrelated to the exempt purposes of the charity, the donor can deduct the cost basis of the property. All gifts of tangible personal property must first be approved and accepted by Arizona Elk Society.
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