Beneficiary Designation Gift
A beneficiary designation gift is a simple way to make a gift by designating WHRO as a beneficiary of your retirement, investment or bank account or your life insurance policy.
Benefits of a beneficiary designation gift
- Support the causes that you care about
- Continue to use your account as long as you need to
- Simplify your planning and avoid expensive legal fees
- Reduce the burden of taxes on your family
- Receive an estate tax charitable deduction
Beneficiary designation video
How a beneficiary designation gift works
- To make your gift, contact the person who helps you with your account or insurance policy, such as your broker, banker or insurance agent, to determine how you can add or update the beneficiary to include WHRO.
- When you pass away, your account or insurance policy will be paid or transferred to WHRO, consistent with the beneficiary designation.
Important considerations for your future
If you are interested in making a gift but are also concerned about your future needs, keep in mind that beneficiary designation gifts are among the most flexible of all charitable gifts. Even after you complete the beneficiary designation, you can take distributions or withdrawals from your retirement, investment or bank account and continue to freely use your account. You can also change your mind at any time in the future for any reason, including if you have a loved one who needs your financial help.
- Flexibility— You can name WHRO as a "full" or "partial" beneficiary of your account or life insurance policy. You can also name WHRO as a "primary" or "contingent" beneficiary.
- Family Considerations—Beneficiary designation gifts allow you to provide for family and support the causes that matter most to you. With your designation, you could, for example, name your spouse as the "primary" beneficiary and each of your children and WHRO as "partial contingent" beneficiaries. With this arrangement, if your spouse survives you, he or she would receive the account. If not, the account or policy would be paid out to your children and WHRO in whatever shares (or percentages) that you indicate for your designation.
- Terminology—Beneficiary designation gifts are simple and straightforward. Common terminology includes "beneficiary designation" but also includes "payable on death" or "transfer on death." The term "beneficiary designation" is most commonly used when naming beneficiaries of retirement plans or life insurance policies. The term payable on death (or POD) typically involves the designation of a beneficiary of a checking account, savings account or certificates of deposit, and transfer on death (or TOD) often involves the designation of a beneficiary for stocks, bonds or mutual funds.
- Beneficiary Designations and Real Estate—Some states even allow "beneficiary designation deeds" or "transfer on death deeds", which would allow you to name WHRO as the survivor beneficiary of your home, farm or other real estate. As with other beneficiary designation gifts, these gifts are revocable by filing a revocation or new beneficiary designation deed.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about leaving a beneficiary designation gift to WHRO, please contact us. We would be happy to assist you.
If you have already designated WHRO as a beneficiary of an asset or as part of your estate plan, please let us know. We would like to recognize you and your family for your gift!
