LHS Charitable Remainder Gift Annuities

LHS Charitable Remainder Gift Annuities offer donors a simple, inexpensive, and flexible way to support LHS programs and services while providing guaranteed income payments for one or two lives. Donors may fund the gift annuity using cash or marketable securities. In return, LHS Foundation agrees to pay the donor(s) or a friend or family member fixed annual payments for life. Donor(s) may also benefit from immediate and on-going tax deductions. LHS Foundation offers immediate, deferred, and deferred flexible gift annuities.

Immediate Gift Annuities, as the name implies, begin making life-income payments immediately—there is no waiting period. These may be established by donors aged forty-five and older.

Deferred Gift Annuities begin making life-income payments at some designated future time, usually the donor's intended retirement age (e.g., ages 62, 65, or 70). These often serve a valuable role in retirement planning for younger donors and provide the flexibility to receive payments when needed most.

Deferred Flexible Gift Annuities allow donors to defer their decision regarding when to begin receiving life-income payments until some future time. This additional flexibility is often very helpful to those who are uncertain when they want to begin receiving their life-income payments.

LHS gift annuities can be funded with assets of $10,000 or more and may provide life income payments for one or two lives.

Charitable Trusts

Charitable trusts offer great flexibility to donors wishing to support Lutheran Homes Society while either providing income to themselves or passing assets to family members or others in a tax-wise fashion. Many kinds of charitable trusts exist that allow donors to meet their financial needs and charitable giving interests by designing the size and timing of their income interest and their charitable gift. Four basic kinds of charitable trusts provide basic ways of giving, while variations of these offer different gifting, income, and taxation outcomes. Annuity, Unitrust, Remainder, and Lead Trust arrangements offer specific ways of accomplishing donor gift intentions.

Gifts that Provide Income to Donors

In addition to Charitable Gift Annuities, Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts provide a fixed income stream to donors for their lifetimes or fixed term of years (not to exceed 20 years), claim a current income tax deduction, and make a future (charitable remainder) gift to LHS.

Charitable Remainder Unitrusts offer the potential to grow the income stream to donors or their designated beneficiaries by receiving a selected percentage of the market value of the trust as valued each year. As the trust principal grows in market value, the income received would also increase. If, however, the trust principal declines in market value, the income received would also decrease. This variable income stream would be provided for a fixed term of years (not to exceed 20 years) or donor(s) lifetimes, again allowing donors a current income tax deduction while making a future (charitable remainder) gift to LHS.

Gifts that Provide Income to LHS

Charitable Lead Annuity Trusts allow donors to make a lead gift to LHS for a fixed period of time or for the life of one or more individuals and provide monies to themselves or family members later. At the end of the measuring term, the charitable lead annuity trust terminates and distributes its remaining assets back to the donors or to one or more specified individuals.

Charitable Lead Unitrusts allow donors to make immediate charitable gifts of variable annual amounts to LHS for a fixed period of time or the life of one or more individuals, and then pass the remainder trust principal to themselves or other family members later.

Please contact LHS Foundation staff to discuss these charitable gifting options in greater detail.

Gifts of Life Insurance

Life insurance gifts are especially welcome and allow donors to make a substantial and cost-effective gift in support of LHS programs and services. Paid-up life policies may be gifted directly at any time by transferring policy ownership to LHS Foundation and naming the Foundation as the beneficiary. Single premium paid up life policies, paid up whole life policies, paid up cash value life policies (such as universal or variable universal life) can make the perfect gift for some donors.

You may also name LHS Foundation as a beneficiary of a policy you own. Gifts of life insurance are often used to create or enhance a named endowed fund or underwrite a special LHS program or service.

Charitable IRA And Other Retirement Fund Asset Gifts

Retirement Plan asset gifts often provide significant tax savings to you and your heirs, since these assets may be taxed at substantial rates at death. Simply naming LHS Foundation as a retirement plan beneficiary can provide peace of mind and tax savings to you or your heirs.

Thanks to the Pension Protection Act of 2006, donors aged 701/2 or older may now gift up to $100,000 from their IRA or Rollover IRA directly to LHS Foundation until December 31, 2007.

Please contact Pastor Don Weiss at 419-861-5511 for more information about making retirement fund gifts.

Retained Life Estates

Donors may gift their home, farm, condominium, or vacation home to LHS Foundation, receive a charitable income tax deduction, and retain the right to live in and enjoy the use of their property for a specified term or years or for their lifetimes.

Bequest Intentions and Revocable Living Trusts

A bequest intention occurs when a donor decides to leave some assets to LHS Foundation by placing this gift intention in his or her will.

Bequest intentions may be either outright or contingent bequests and unrestricted or restricted as to use. Bequest gifts are often used to honor or memorialize family, friends, or favorite LHS programs or staff members.

Bequest language is important. Sample bequest language may state that “I, give, devise, and bequeath to LHS Foundation, a corporation existing under the laws of the State of Ohio and located at 1905 Perrysburg-Holland Road, Holland, Lucas County, Ohio, 43528 the sum of $_______ or _______% or my estate, whichever is greater . . . ”

Unrestricted Use language may state that your gift is “to be used in such manner as the Trustees thereof deem most useful for the general purposes of Lutheran Homes Society Foundation.”

Restricted Use language may state that your gift is “to be used for Lutheran Housing Services, the Lutheran Home at Toledo, student scholarships, building maintenance, capital improvement, etc.”

LHS Foundation staff can assist you and your estate advisors in crafting appropriate charitable gift language. Please contact them today.

Please contact them today 419-861-5511 or DWeiss@LHSOH.org