LEAVE A LEGACY
Bequest
Making a bequest through your will is a simple and direct way to arrange a planned gift to the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent. Your bequest can be for either a specific sum of money or a percentage of your estate. Or you may make a residual bequest which, once all other beneficiaries have been taken care of, would leave the balance of your estate to the Foundation. Your estate will be entitled to the full value for tax credit purposes. If the gift is significant, a named fund within our permanent endowment can be established.
We recommend that you consult a professional when preparing your will to ensure that it is properly written and that your wishes are accommodated.
Memorial Gift
While making funeral arrangements, you can designate the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent as a recipient for memorial gifts. Donations can be made in lieu of flowers. Special memorial cards are available in funeral homes for this purpose.
Appreciated Securities
The Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent will accept donations of capital property in the form of marketable securities such as stocks and bonds. The value of the official receipt will be determined by the fair market value at the market close on the day the security is transferred into the Foundation’s name or cashed out. Gifts of this type are quite appealing because 75% of the taxable gain in a qualifying gift of securities is now exempt from taxation. Consequently you will pay less tax on the gain when you donate, rather than sell, these securities.
Life Insurance
The donation of a life insurance policy is a practical way to make a contribution. By naming the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent as a beneficiary in a new, existing or paid up policy, you can give a substantial gift with minimal cost to you.
The simplest way is to donate a paid up policy by making the Foundation the owner and beneficiary. Often this is done when the original beneficiary of a policy is no longer in need of insurance. In a case such as this, a tax receipt can be written for the full cash surrender value of the policy.
Another option is to take out a new policy that names the Foundation as the owner and beneficiary. In this case, all premiums become tax deductible as donations. A combination of these would be the gift of an existing policy that is still requiring premium payments. A tax receipt is received for the cash surrender value of the policy at the time of the gift. And, from that time forward, premiums become tax deductible as donations.
May is “Leave A Legacy” Month
The Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation’s executive director Art Stirling is a member of the Chatham-Kent Roundtable of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP). The CAGP focuses on raising awareness among Canadians of planned giving strategies such as leaving gifts to charities in your will or naming a charity as beneficiary of a life insurance policy. These methods of charitable giving are growing in popularity as ways to ensure that the causes you care about carry on even after you’re gone. The CAGP has named May as “Leave A Legacy” month and a special supplement has been inserted in The Chatham Daily News and the Chatham-Kent Citizen. The advertisement below promotes the idea of leaving a legacy to the Children’s Treatment Centre.
