Give a Gift that Costs Nothing During Your Lifetime
You can show your personal compassion and set an example for others by remembering the Missionary Society of St. Columban in your will, trust or other planned gifts. No gift has a more lasting impact.
With thoughtful planning, you can choose which ways to support work best for you and your loved ones and make sure your gifts are made in a way that will maximize their total value while minimizing their after-tax cost. There are many planned giving options, including some you may not have considered before. Planned gifts provide a major impact in our missions, and we offer the following suggestions to aid selection of the best giving option for your stage of life.
Bequest
A bequest is simply any asset given in your will or trust. A bequest might be a specific amount of money, a percentage of any asset or any percentage of the residual (what is left over after specific bequests and other obligations are paid) of your estate.
IRA or 401K Beneficiary Designations
This type of giving allows you to preserve the value of your retirement fund and prevent your family from paying estate and income taxes on these funds after your death. Simply have your plan manager name the Columban Fathers as a partial or full death beneficiary on your account. Another option is to indicate in your will or trust that charitable bequests be satisfied first with retirement plan assets. Your IRA or 401K plan administrator can assist you in naming your beneficiary designations.
Life Insurance
Have your insurance agent name the Columban Fathers as the sole beneficiary, partial beneficiary or contingent beneficiary of your life insurance policy. A contingent beneficiary only receives death benefits if the primary beneficiary dies before you do.
Other Beneficiary Designations
Certificate of Deposits, bank accounts and any commercial annuities allow you to name a beneficiary. Simply add the Columban Fathers as a beneficiary of these accounts.
Savings Bonds
Redeem your savings bonds and use the cash to make a gift to us. The redemption will trigger a tax liability to you on the interest income, but if you itemize, you will receive the benefit of a charitable tax deduction to help offset the additional taxable income. Or you may choose to leave the bonds to us through your will. Because we are a tax-exempt organization, we will receive the full value of the bonds, which could have otherwise been reduced by up to 35 percent for income taxes.