Why Should You Include a Charitable Gift in Your Will (Or Living Trust)?

1. It’s simple to do. It can be as easy as including language stating, “I give $20,000 to the Newtown Community Foundation”.

2. You can change your mind. We won’t receive the gift until after your death. During your lifetime, you can amend anything you choose, i.e., beneficiaries, amounts, etc.

3. Tax-wise, it could be beneficial. Gifts to qualified charitable organizations reduce the value of your estate for estate tax purposes.

4. It’s an easy way to support the Newtown Community Foundation, and we’d be grateful for your gift. Bequests of every size will enhance the ability of NCF to benefit the Newtown region for future generations.

How you include a gift in your will or revocable trust depends on what you want to accomplish, and what you want to give to the Newtown Community Foundation. Here are some options:

1. Give a percentage of the residue of your estate - the amount left after taxes and expenses are satisfied and specific bequests have been paid; e.g., “I give 25% of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate to the Newtown Community Foundation”

2. Give a specific dollar amount or item of property- for example,“I give the Newtown Community Foundation $25,000”; or “I give the Newtown Community Foundation 100 shares of IBM stock.”

3. Make your bequest contingent- for example,“I give the Newtown Community Foundation $25,000 if my niece and nephew predecease me.”

Besides choosing how your bequest will come to us, you also have a say in how it will be used and acknowledged here:

1. Make the gift unrestricted – it will go into our Endowment Fund to build up that permanent funding source for the Newtown Community Foundation
2. Make the gift restricted - for example, to support a specific area of interest such as your favored type of medical or scientific research, significant public programs, or education of the next generation
3. Set up a named endowment fund - for example, the Family Fund for Research
4. Memorialize or honor a loved one – “This gift is made in memory of my loving husband, a founder of the Newtown Community Foundation.”