Planned Giving

Providing simple and flexible planned giving options for donors is an important service we offer through the Charitable Organization Endowment Program. Our professional staff has the expertise and knowledge to assist donors and their professional advisors with developing a gift planning process that both meets the donor’s needs and benefits a charitable organization endowment.

In addition to working with donors and their professional advisors, we can also work with your charitable organization. We can provide training for both the staff and board to help both develop an understanding of what planned giving entails and how it can benefit an organization. We offer information on how to include planned giving in marketing efforts and make it part of your long-range plans. Please contact Joe Carter at 405/606-2914 or Gayle Farley at 405/606-2910 for more information.

Examples of Planned Gifts
By making a gift through their estate plans, donors can defer their giving and create a giving legacy that benefits a charitable organization endowment. These types of gifts are often referred to as planned gifts. Planned gifts can relieve the tax burden on a donor’s estate while also benefiting a charitable organization or program. Below are descriptions of planned gifts that the Oklahoma City Community Foundation can facilitate.

Charitable Gift Annuities
A charitable gift annuity (CGA) provides the donor not only with income for life but also creates a lasting gift to the community. Through a CGA, a donor makes a gift with cash or other assets, receives income for life and, at the end of the annuity, the remaining assets will go to the charitable funds of the donor’s choosing.

Bequests
With a bequest, a donor can designate a percentage, the residual or their entire estate to benefit an existing fund or to establish a new fund. This option may provide a donor’s family with substantial reductions in federal estate taxes. See our sample bequest language.

Retirement Plan Assets
Retirement plan assets are subject not only to estate taxes, but also income taxes. To reduce this burden on any heirs and to create a charitable legacy, donors can use their retirement plan assets to maximize their charitable contributions by establishing an advised fund at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. The donor’s heirs can make suggestions as to which charitable organizations or causes to support with the earnings from the fund.

Charitable Remainder Trusts
A charitable remainder trust allows a donor to place assets such as appreciated property in a trust that pays annual income to the donor or a beneficiary for life or a term of years. Upon the trust’s termination, the remaining assets will benefit a fund designated by the donor. This can be an existing fund at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation or an advised fund established by the donor.

Charitable Lead Trusts
A charitable lead trust (CLT) allows a donor to transfer assets to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation that then pays a percentage of the assets’ value to an endowment fund designated by the donor. At the end of the trust term, the remaining assets are passed on to designated heirs. A CLT offers several advantages including greatly discounted gift or estate taxes and any growth in the assets will be free of these taxes for the heirs. In certain cases, a charitable lead trust may also provide an income tax deduction at the time the trust is created.

Life Insurance
Life insurance can be an effective means for a donor to fund a charitable giving plan without significant outlays of cash. If the policy is gifted, the donor receives a tax donation.