Planned Giving

What is a planned gift?

A planned gift is a charitable donation or commitment to a non-profit organization, made as part of the donor’s overall financial and estate plan.  This is typically a larger gift than is made on a regular basis.

Why consider a planned gift?

Your planned gift can make a significant difference for both you and Elderhaus.   It ensures that your assets are directed at supporting an organization that is valued and meaningful to you or your family members.  It can avoid or defer capital gains taxes.  It maximizes your estate by reducing income taxes and/or estate taxes for you and your beneficiaries.  It can create a legacy for you and your family within the community that will last for years, or honor someone else who has been inspirational to you over the years.  Even relatively smaller planned gifts can be game-changing for Elderhaus, who can use these gifts to sustain certain programs or facilities, add capacity or services, establish endowments for future services, or realize long term objectives and goals for the organization. 

Ways to make a planned gift.  Please consult with your financial advisor and/or legal advisor to identify which methods work best for you.

Bequest or Estate gifts – A bequest is a written statement in a donor’s will directing that specific assets, or a percentage of the estate, will be transferred to Elderhaus at the donor’s death.  By specifying Elderhaus in your will, you can direct a portion of your assets to support Elderhaus.  

Life Insurance and Retirement Plans – By naming Elderhaus as a primary or contingent beneficiary of a life insurance policy or a retirement plan, you can make a contribution at the time of your death to Elderhaus, delivering certain income and estate tax advantages for the donor.   You can also transfer a paid-in-full life insurance policy to Elderhaus resulting in a tax-deductible donation of the present value of the policy.  

Gifts of appreciated stock – Using appreciated publicly traded stock is a common method for giving to a charitable organization.  By making a donation of appreciated stock, you can enjoy not only the tax benefit of the donation itself, but you can avoid paying the capital gains on the sale of the stock.   By using a donor advised fund, you can designate how your donation will be used while timing the donation to best suit your tax needs and financial picture.  

What are some things your planned gift can accomplish at Elderhaus?

Establish or grow an endowment fund – An endowment fund has long been a goal for Elderhaus.  This would establish a sustainable source of funds to accomplish our mission into the future, especially in these times of uncertainty regarding government support for services for our most vulnerable populations.  

Facility Expansion – Even though our current facility is relatively new for us, we have expansion ideas that will improve our ability to offer services to our participants.   An indoor gymnasium,  expanded programming areas, property easements to reduce impacts of future neighborhood access roads, renewing/increasing the fleet of buses to improve our ability to transport participants, and ongoing maintenance costs of hard surfaces are all areas that will require significant funds over the coming years.