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Planned Giving
The Caroline Earle White Society
Providing for AAVS in your estate is a powerful way to perpetuate your legacy of caring for animals while helping us achieve our mission to end the use of animals in science. When AAVS is made aware of your planned-giving arrangements, you will be welcomed into the Caroline Earle White Society in recognition of your generosity and vital long-term support. The Society, named for our founder, recognizes those who have made provisions for AAVS in their estate plans in order to continue our mission into the future. AAVS could not sustain our activities for the animals without the legacies we receive, and we are deeply grateful for each and every one.Benefits of Planned Giving
There are many benefits to planned giving for both AAVS and the donor, including:- Reducing income tax
- Providing additional income, for life, to you or a loved one
- Ensuring that your specific wishes are carried out
- Passing assets to your family at a reduced tax cost
- Avoiding capital gains tax
- Making a significant gift to a cause that is very important to you
Planned Giving Options
To incorporate AAVS into your will, consult your attorney who may advise that you execute a new will or amend an existing one by adding a codicil, with wording such as:
“I give/bequeath/devise* to The American Anti-Vivisection Society, a not-for-profit corporation located at 801 Old York Road, Suite 204, Jenkintown, PA 19046-1611, the sum of $____, (and/or describe the securities or real estate) for the general purposes of the Society.”
* A bequest is a gift of cash or securities, while a devise is a gift of interest in real estate.
As an alternative to specifying a dollar amount, you may elect to name AAVS to receive a percentage of your estate or the residue, the amount left over after other bequests are made.
Subjected to multiple layers of taxation, retirement funds are the most heavily taxed assets that can be passed to family. However, leaving a retirement fund to AAVS will result in a charitable deduction that offsets estate tax and eliminates income tax on the distribution. Alternately, you may wish to designate AAVS as a beneficiary to receive a portion of the income from your retirement fund, beyond what is needed to support you and your family comfortably.
- You seek fixed income unaffected by fluctuating interest rates and stock prices
- You want assured payments to a surviving spouse or other family member without the delay of probate proceedings
- You are seeking to increase cash flow because of declining interest rates on fixed-income investments
- You hesitate to sell stock or mutual fund shares for reinvestment because of capital gain taxes
Life insurance proceeds are not subject to probate, creditors’ claims, contests by heirs, or public access through probate court records. Life insurance guarantees the size of your gift in advance, since AAVS will receive the face amount of the policy promptly, upon death of the policyholder. All of these factors make life insurance a simple and attractive way of contributing.
Providing AAVS with a gift of assets that have appreciated in value, such as stocks, bonds, and mutual fund shares, allows you to avoid applicable capital gains taxes.
You may also make an immediate or future gift of your residence, vacation home, commercial realty, farm, acreage, or undeveloped lot. This creates an income tax deduction for you and also eliminates the capital gains tax on the property’s increase in value.
Charitable remainder trusts combine the benefits of a gift and an investment, allowing you to maintain an income stream for yourself and/or another beneficiary, and then provide the remaining assets to AAVS upon the beneficiary’s passing. Income allocation is dependent on the type of remainder trust which best suits your need:
- Annuity Trust: pays a fixed amount of the annual income from the trust assets.
- Unitrust: pays a set percentage of the value of the trust assets. Unlike annuity trusts, you may add additional funds to a unitrust over time, corresponding to changes in your financial situation.
Remainder trusts allow for immediate charitable income tax deductions and may help avoid or delay capital gains taxes.
The opposite of a remainder trust, a charitable lead trust pays a percentage of the value of its assets to AAVS for a specified number of years. At the end of the trust term, remaining assets and any realized growth are passed to you or your family. A lead trust greatly reduces estate tax, and any subsequent growth is passed to your family free of both gift and estate taxes.
AAVS’s EIN: 23-0341990
Guide to Planned Giving
Click here to download a PDF brochure. Please email Chris Derer, director of development and member services if you have any questions.