Planned Giving
Members and friends may support Fuller Craft Museum in a number of ways. The most common forms of giving are outright gifts of cash and securities, but there are other types of assets that may be donated as well and planned giving options that have favorable financial and tax benefits. For more information and for any questions, please email Kara Matthews, Director of Development, at kmatthews@fullercraft.org.
From its very beginning, planned gifts have helped to sustain the Museum. In fact, in 1948, Myron Fuller left a lasting legacy when he put aside a sum of $1 million for the creation of, what is now, Fuller Craft Museum. Planned gifts include bequests, charitable trusts (remainder and lead), gifts of retirement plan assets, gifts of life insurance policies, and gifts of tangible personal property. We would be pleased to work with you and your advisors to structure a gift that best fulfills your charitable goals.
Bequests
A bequest is the simplest and most common form of planned giving. A testamentary gift, made by will or trust, allows you to make a substantial contribution to the Museum without diminishing the assets available to you during your lifetime. Since charitable requests are deductible from the overall size of your estate, significant estate tax savings are possible.
There are several ways to make a bequest to Fuller Craft Museum.
• Name Fuller Craft as a specific beneficiary, stating a fixed dollar amount or percentage of your estate that
you wish to donate to the Museum.
• Name Fuller Craft as a remainder beneficiary, providing for the Museum to receive assets from your estate after all specific beneficiaries have received their legacies.
• Name Fuller Craft as a contingent beneficiary, transferring the assets to the Museum only if someone named as a beneficiary does not survive you.
• If you have already prepared a will, your attorney can add Fuller Craft Museum as a beneficiary through a simple amendment called a “codicil.”
In addition to cash, you may make your bequest in the form of securities, real estate or other forms of personal property.
Gifts That Give Back
Charitable Gift Annuity
To create a charitable gift annuity you transfer your assets to the Museum and in return, Fuller Craft will make regular, fixed payments to you for the rest of your life on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. Rates of return for charitable gift annuities depend on your age at the time of the initial gift and can be generally higher than those from a traditional savings or money market account; the older you are, the higher the rate of return. Charitable gift annuities are attractive because every year you are guaranteed the same amount of income regardless of the state of the stock market.
In addition, you will receive a partial charitable tax deduction immediately upon making your gift and a portion of each annuity payment is also treated as tax-free income. A personalized illustration will be provided to you that will explore in greater detail the expected return and tax benefits of this option.
Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust
A charitable remainder annuity trust provides you and/or other beneficiaries with a fixed income for life or for a specified period of time. After this period, remaining assets pass to the Museum. An immediate partial charitable tax deduction is available upon creation of the trust. Charitable remainder trusts give you the flexibility to design a trust to meet your individual goals. You can select the beneficiaries, the trustees and the distribution rate.
Charitable Remainder Unitrusts
Charitable remainder unitrusts operate in the same manner as charitable remainder annuity trusts, except that instead of providing a fixed payout, payments from a unitrust vary annually depending on a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust’s assets. The exact amount of your annual payment is redetermined annually.
Other Ways to Give
Retirement Plans
A qualified retirement plan is an effective way to save for retirement, but is usually not a good way to pass assets to your heirs. If left to an individual other than a spouse, tax-deferred retirement plans such as an IRA or 401(k) can be subject to multiple layers of taxation. Naming Fuller Craft Museum as the beneficiary or the contingent beneficiary for all or a portion of your retirement plan allows you to leave other, less-taxed assets to your heirs.
Life Insurance
Life insurance offers an attractive way to make a major gift to the Museum. For example, if you have a policy that is no longer needed, you may name Fuller Craft Museum as a beneficiary or contingent beneficiary. Any benefit the Museum receives from your insurance is excluded from your taxable estate.
By taking the additional step of naming the Museum the irrevocable beneficiary and owner of your life insurance policy, you obtain an immediate charitable tax deduction equivalent to either the policy’s cash surrender value or replacement value. If additional premiums are due, you also may deduct those payments as charitable contributions each year.
This website is designed to give you general information about various ways of giving to the Museum, including some of the potential financial benefits. It is not intended to provide specific advice about the legal or tax implications of charitable giving. Before making a gift to the Museum, we recommend that you discuss the various types of trusts with your financial advisor and estate planner to determine which option is best suited to your philanthropic intentions.
