A planned gift is a lasting way to ensure the future of the Rainforest Alliance's effective global conservation programs, while furthering your financial goals.
Your gift may: reduce your income taxes, reduce or even eliminate your capital gain taxes, reduce your gift and estate tax and provide income for you and your family.
Dr. Judith P. Sulzberger was a physician, board member, and longstanding benefactor of the Rainforest Alliance. Friends who have made a bequest or estate planning commitment to the Rainforest Alliance are members of the Judith Sulzberger Society and demonstrate her passion for safeguarding the environment and ensuring a sustainable future.
For more information, please contact us at 1-888-975-1384 or giftplanning@ra.org.
General Bequest
This is a donation of all or part of your estate transferred to the Rainforest Alliance after death, by will or trust. A charitable bequest may be included in your will when it is written or revised or through a separate document consisting of an amendment to your existing will.
Tax implications: All charitable bequests are fully deductible from your gross estate.
Suggested language: "I give and bequest (dollar amount, state specific asset, stock, royalties) to the Rainforest Alliance, Inc., a not-for-profit organization incorporated by the laws of the State of New York, having as its principal address 233 Broadway, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10279, for its general charitable purposes."
Contingent Bequest
The Rainforest Alliance receives all or part of your estate only under certain circumstances, if, for example another beneficiary predeceases the donor.
Suggested language: "If my wife/husband (name) does not survive me, I give, devise and bequeath the rest, residue and remainder of all my property, of whatever nature and wherever situated, to the Rainforest Alliance, Inc., a not-for-profit organization incorporated by the laws of the State of New York, having as its principal address 233 Broadway, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10279, for its general charitable purposes."
Charitable Gift Annuity
This type of life-income gift is a contract between you and the Rainforest Alliance. In exchange for a gift of cash or securities (minimum $10,000), the Rainforest Alliance guarantees to pay you and/or someone of your choice a fixed income for life, ranging from 6 percent to 12 percent, depending on your age. At your death, the Rainforest Alliance receives the balance of your gift annuity. If you are under age of 60, you may choose to defer gift annuities to supplement your retirement income.
Tax implications: You are entitled to a charitable tax deduction, at the time of your gift. In most cases, part of each payment is tax-free.
Charitable Lead Trust
A non-grantor charitable lead trust is a gift plan that allows you to transfer assets to your family at reduced tax cost while you make generous gifts to the Rainforest Alliance. You transfer assets (usually cash or securities) to a trustee of your choice through a formal trust agreement. During the trust term, the trustee invests the trust assets and makes annual income payments to one or more charities. When the trust term ends, the trust distributes all of its assets, including any appreciation, to your heirs.
Tax implications: You receive a gift tax deduction, which partially or even fully offsets the gift tax due on the transfer to your family.
Charitable Remainder Trust
You transfer assets (usually cash, securities or real estate) to a trustee of your choice through a formal trust agreement. During the trust term, which could be your lifetime or a set term of years, the trustee invests the trust assets and makes annual payments to you and/or a loved one, based on the trust payout rate chosen by you. At your death or at the end of the trust term, the principal is distributed to the Rainforest Alliance. There are two kinds of charitable remainder trust, one that pays a fixed income (annuity trust) and one that pays a variable income (unitrust).
Tax implications: If appreciated property is donated, no capital gains tax is due on the transfer, and your income tax deduction is based on the fair market value of the donated assets.
Gift of a Retirement Plan
You leave all or part of your retirement plan to the Rainforest Alliance, setting aside other assets for friends and family. All you need to do is contact the administrator of your retirement plan and inform them that you wish to give all or part of the remainder benefit in your retirement plan to the Rainforest Alliance and the assets in the plan would be removed from your taxable estate.
Tax implications: When retirement plans such as pension funds, 401ks and IRAs are left to an individual other than a spouse at your death, they are subject to income taxes and estate taxes. The two taxes combined could erode up to 80 percent of the remaining benefits. If bequeathed to the Rainforest Alliance, these funds would escape all taxes.
Gift of Life Insurance
If you own a life insurance policy that is no longer needed for the protection of your family or for other purposes, you may use it to make a gift to the Rainforest Alliance. The simplest way to give a life insurance policy to the Rainforest Alliance is to name the Rainforest Alliance as the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy.
Tax implications: You qualify for an income tax deduction for the cash value of the policy. Alternatively, you could simply name the Rainforest Alliance as the beneficiary of the policy. In this case, your estate would be entitled to an estate tax deduction equal to the value of the policy.
