Leave a legacy and give generations of babies with hearing loss a Sound Start.

Sometimes long-term planned giving is the best way to make a gift. Planned giving can have

significant estate, financial and tax-planning advantages.

A planned gift is one which helps you:

- achieve your philanthropic wish to provide support for The Sound Start Program;

- ensure that your personal and financial objectives are met;

- realize tax benefits in your current financial planning and/or lower the taxes for your estate.

How do you make a planned gift?

Bequests:  The simplest way to make a deferred gift to The Lake Drive Foundation is to name The Foundation as a beneficiary in your will or revocable trust. In doing so, you retain complete control over your property until your death enabling you to change the amount you wish to leave The Lake Drive Foundation at any time. Depending on the size of your estate and the amount of your charitable bequest, you will avoid estate taxes on the bequest itself and you can place the remainder of your estate in a lower tax bracket, thereby benefiting your other estate beneficiaries.

Retirement Accounts:  Assets accumulated in tax deferred retirement accounts such as IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and SEPs, can fund deferred gifts.  Since retirement accounts are subject to income taxes in addition to possible estate taxes, they are less valuable to heirs than to charities, which pay no income taxes or estate taxes. Selecting these assets for deferred charitable gifts means that your heirs inherit more valuable and tax–favored assets.  To make such a gift, simply obtain a beneficiary designation form from the company managing your retirement account and name The Lake Drive Foundation as a beneficiary of your account.  Because retirement accounts are important and complex assets, advice from an attorney or other advisor is encouraged to ensure consistency with other estate plans.

Life Insurance Gifts:  There are various ways to support The Lake Drive Foundation with an outright gift of life insurance.  A paid–up policy that you no longer need can be cashed in to benefit The Foundation and your income tax deduction would be roughly equal to the surrender value of the policy. A current policy (on which premiums are being paid) can be used to make an outright gift for which your income tax deduction would be roughly equal to the policy's surrender value. Continued premium payments you make would also be tax deductible.

There are other ways to make a gift of life insurance that do not involve transferring ownership of the policy. You can name The Lake Drive Foundation as beneficiary of any life insurance policy you own. Simply complete a form supplied by your insurer. If your employer provides group term life insurance and pays the premiums, you can name The Lake Drive Foundation the beneficiary of that policy and avoid paying taxes you would otherwise incur on the premiums.

Charitable Remainder Trusts:  In a charitable remainder trust (CRT), you make an irrevocable transfer to a certain kind of trust. In exchange, the trust will pay you and/or other designees (beneficiaries) an income stream for life or for a period not to exceed twenty years. At the end of the trust, the remainder will be used by The Lake Drive Foundation according to your wishes.

Contact Sueanne Sylvester at ssylvester@mtlakes.org or call her at 973-299-0166 to find out more about leaving a legacy to give babies with hearing loss a sound start for the future.