Planned Giving - El Ranchito de los Niños

Types of Gifts

When it comes to helping El Ranchito de los Niños to continue their mission of providing a home for children and keeping siblings together, there are many giving options to choose from besides writing a check. Whether you want to support our mission today or leave a loving legacy, you can feel good knowing that you are giving at-risk children the chance to succeed in life.
There are almost as many variations on ways to make a donation as there are needs to be met. Explore this section to discover new ways to make a gift that also take into consideration your personal circumstances and the needs of your heirs.

Gifts You Make Today

Tax Deductions
Charitable IRA Rollover
Memorial and Honorary Gifts
Real Estate
Charitable Lead Trusts
Donor Advised Funds

Gifts That Pay You Income

Charitable Gift Annuities
Charitable Remainder Trusts
Charitable Lead Trust

Gifts That Make an Impact After Your Lifetime

Bequests
Beneficiary Designations
Endowed Gifts
Give My Home, But Live There for Life

Gifts You Make Today

Get a Tax Deduction This Year
All gifts to El Ranchito must be completed on or before Dec. 31 to qualify for an income tax deduction this year.

Cash contributions sent through the mail are usually deductible if they are mailed by midnight on Dec. 31.
Securities are generally deductible on the date they are fully transferred (if done electronically) to our books—not the date you ask your broker to make the transfer.
Real estate gifts, in most states, are considered complete on the date a properly executed deed is delivered to us.
Tangible personal property gifts are complete once the property is delivered to us.
Life insurance gifts are considered complete on the date you sign the paperwork transferring ownership to El Ranchito, assuming you properly forward the form on to the insurance company.

IRA Charitable Rollover
The IRA charitable rollover legislation allows you to transfer up to $100,000 per year using funds from your individual retirement account (IRA) without undesirable tax effects. You may contribute funds this way if:

You are age 70½ or older at the time of the gift.

You transfer up to $100,000 directly from your IRA. This opportunity applies only to IRAs and not other types of retirement plans.
You transfer the funds outright to one or more qualified charities. The legislation does not permit direct transfers to charitable trusts, donor advised funds, charitable gift annuities or supporting organizations.
You make your gift by Dec. 31, 2013.

Memorial or Honorary Gifts
If you have a family member or friend whose life has been touched by El Ranchito, we hope you'll consider making a gift to us in honor of that person. Providing a gift establishes a living tribute that allows you to:

Honor a loved one or yourself
Support our continuing efforts
Receive personal financial benefits from your contribution.

You may feel reluctant to condition your gift upon personal recognition. Yet allowing us to use your name or the name of a loved one can inspire philanthropy in others and further a cause that's important to you.

Giving Now or Later — Any charitable gift you arrange can be made in honor of someone. Consider these two basic methods of establishing an honorary gift.

A gift today — An outright gift can help fund our immediate needs or an upcoming project. The financial benefits include an income tax deduction and possible elimination of capital gains tax.

A gift through your will or living trust — You can include a bequest in your will or living trust stating that a specific asset, certain dollar amount or—more commonly—a percentage of your estate will pass to us at your death in honor of your loved one.

Charitable Lead Trust
This trust makes payments, either a fixed amount (annuity trust) or a percentage of trust principal (unitrust), to El Ranchito during its term. At the end of the trust term, the remaining assets can revert back to the donor (a grantor lead trust) or to heirs named by the donor (a non-grantor lead trust.) The donor may claim a charitable income tax deduction for funding a grantor lead trust or a charitable gift tax deduction for funding a non-grantor lead trust. Since lead trusts are typically used to pass assets to heirs, non-grantor lead trusts are far more common than grantor lead trusts. In this case, assets forego estate taxes at your passing, given that they have been removed from your taxable and probate estate.

Real Estate
Appreciated real estate may allow a donor to avoid sizeable capital gains taxes. Depending on the appreciation, the tax savings may exceed the original cost of the property. Conversely, if real estate values have decreased over time, donors will benefit more by:

selling their depreciated property
taking a capital loss
receiving a charitable deduction for their cash gift

Donor Advised Funds
A donor advised fund (DAF) is a type of giving program administered by a third party that allows you to combine the most favorable tax benefits with the flexibility to easily support your favorite charities. It is created for the purpose of managing charitable donations on behalf of an organization, family or individual. An increasingly popular charitable vehicle, DAFs are an excellent way to both simplify your charitable giving and facilitate your strategic philanthropic goals. DAFs allow donors to give cash, stock and other assets where the donor receives an immediate tax deduction when the contribution is made, but can grant specified amounts to the charities of their choice at a later time.

How It Works

Establish your DAF by making an irrevocable, tax-deductible donation to a public charity that sponsors a DAF program
Advise the investment allocation of the donated assets (any investment growth is tax-free)
Recommend grants to qualified public charities of your choice

Main Advantages of Donor-Advised Funds
Donor-advised funds provide a number of benefits that direct donations to a charity may not, including:

Simplicity — The DAF sponsor handles all record-keeping, disbursements, and tax receipts Flexibility – Timing of your tax deduction can be separate from your charitable decision maikng
Tax-efficiency — Contributions are tax-deductible and any investment growth in the DAF is tax-free. It is also easy to donate long term appreciated securities, eliminating capital gains taxes and allowing you to support multiple charities from one block of stock
Family legacy — A DAF is a powerful way to build or continue a tradition of family philanthropy
No start-up costs — There is no cost to establish a donor advised fund. However, there are often minimum initial charitable contributions to establish the DAF (typically $5,000 or more)**
No transaction fees — Once approved, 100% of your recommended grant goes to your qualified public charity of choice**
Privacy if desired — Donors may choose to remain anonymous to the grant recipient

** Sponsoring organizations generally assess an administrative fee on the assets in a DAF. These fees vary by sponsoring organization.

What Can Donor-Advised Funds Do for El Ranchito?
DAFs provide an easy, flexible, low-cost method of giving which supports our work for children. These gifts have been essential parts of the lasting changes we make in the lives of children in need through our various programs and campaigns. For example, you can also establish planned giving beneficiary designations for giving as part of your estate planning and legacy philanthropy.

Consult Your Financial Advisor
Your financial situation is unique. We strongly recommend that you consult your tax attorney, accountant, or financial advisor to help you include El Ranchito in your estate planning. Should you or your financial advisor seeks additional details, please have them contact Jessica Franco, Director of Finance at 505-565-4470 or jfranco@elranchitonm.org.

Gifts You Make Today

Charitable Gift Annuities: Getting Started
If you'd like to support our mission and receive steady payments during your retirement years, a charitable gift annuity may be right for you.

Through a simple contract, you agree to make a donation of cash, stocks or other assets to El Ranchito. In return, you (and someone else, if you choose) receive a fixed amount each year for the rest of your lifetime.

In addition to providing a gift to El Ranchito and receiving fixed payments for life, you also receive these benefits:

Your initial gift is partially income tax–deductible.
Your charitable gift annuity payments are partially income tax–free throughout your estimated life expectancy.
Your payments are not affected by ups and downs in the economy.
The gift annuity can be for one or two people, so your spouse or another loved one can also receive payments for life.
If you use appreciated stock to make a gift, you can usually eliminate capital gains tax on a portion of the gift and spread the rest of the gain over your life expectancy.

Charitable Remainder Trust
This trust makes payments, either a fixed amount (annuity trust) or a percentage of trust principal (unitrust), to El Ranchito to receive income. The donor may claim a charitable income tax deduction and may not have to pay any capital gains tax if the gift is of appreciated property. At the end of the trust term, El Ranchito receives the remaining funds in the trust. Charitable remainder unitrusts provide some flexibility in the distribution of income, and thus can be helpful with retirement planning. Provisions may be included in your trust that allows income to be redirected back to you as needed at a future date.

Gifts That Make An Impact After Your Lifetime

We hope you'll consider including a gift to El Ranchito in your will or living trust. Called a charitable bequest, this type of gift offers these main benefits:

Simplicity — Just a few sentences in your will or trust are all that is needed. Share the sample bequest language for El Ranchito with your estate planning attorney:
"I, [name], of [city, state ZIP], give, devise and bequeath to El Ranchito [written amount or percentage of the estate or description of property] for its unrestricted use and purpose."
Flexibility — Because you are not actually making a gift until after your lifetime, you can change your mind at any time.
Versatility — You can structure the bequest to leave a specific item or amount of money, make the gift contingent on certain
events, or leave a percentage of your estate to us.
Tax Relief — If your estate is subject to estate tax, your gift is entitled to an estate tax charitable deduction for the gift's full value.

To make a charitable bequest, you need a current will or revocable living trust. Your gift can be made as a percentage of your estate. Or you can make a specific bequest by giving a certain amount of cash, securities or property.

Putting Your Family First
When planning a future gift, it's sometimes difficult to determine what size donation will make sense. Emergencies happen, and you need to make sure your family is financially taken care of first. Including a bequest of a percentage of your estate ensures that your gift will remain proportionate no matter how your estate's value fluctuates over the years.

Naming El Ranchito in Your Will
There are many ways you may structure your gift to El Ranchito. Your bequest may be:

A stated dollar amount, or a percentage of the value of your estate.
A gift of securities (stocks, bonds, or mutual funds).
A gift of property such as real estate, jewelry or art.
A share of the amount that remains after paying all debts and costs and after providing for your heirs.
A share of the remainder of living trust or charitable remainder trust.

Beneficiary Designations
Naming the individuals and charities that will receive your assets once you are gone can be a simple process. Most assets can pass to your intended beneficiaries by the terms of your will. Other assets, such as retirement plans, life insurance and insurance annuities, however, are not controlled by the terms of your will. These assets instead require separate beneficiary forms.

The beneficiaries of these assets can be easily modified at any time to meet your changing needs:

IRAs and retirement plans
Life insurance policies
Insurance annuities

Endowed Gifts--How It Works
When you make an endowed gift, your contribution is invested with and becomes part of our endowment. An annual distribution is made for the purpose you designate. Because the principal remains intact the fund will generate support in perpetuity.

You can give cash, securities or other assets to an endowment you create. Or, you can contribute to our organization's already established endowment.

Give Your Home and Still Live In It

With a retained life estate, you deed a personal residence or farm to El Ranchito now. You retain the right to occupy the home for life and continue to pay real estate taxes, maintenance fees and insurance on the property. In addition, you can later decide to rent your home or make improvements to it. After your lifetime—and the lifetime of your spouse or another person you choose to retain rights to live in the home—we take possession of the property.

Gifts Outside Your Will
You do not have to make or change a Will to benefit El Ranchito at the time of your death. Virtually any financial arrangement that allows you to designate a death beneficiary may be adapted as a “bequest” to benefit the children in our care.

Life Insurance — You may name El Ranchito as the beneficiary, co-beneficiary, or a contingent beneficiary of your life insurance policies.
Financial Accounts — Most financial accounts can be made payable upon death to a named beneficiary including a nonprofit such as El Ranchito.
Retirement Savings— IRAs, pensions, 401K plans, and other retirement saving arrangements provide for death beneficiaries which may be a nonprofit organization.
Revocable Living Trusts — These trusts are created during the lifetime of the donor and may be changed or revoked at any time by the person who created the trust. Upon death, ownership of property transferred to the trust is determined immediately as set forth in the trust document. Trust property may forego the probate process—opposed to property distributed through a will—ensuring that your charitable wishes are carried out in a timely and cost-effective manner. A gift of this nature may also lower estate taxes owed at the time of your passing.
Retained Life Estate — A donor may make a gift of his or her personal residence, farm or vacation property to El ranchito and retain the right to live there for the remainder of his or her life. The donor receives an immediate income tax deduction for the gift. At the donor’s death, El Ranchito may use the property or sell the property in a manner that best serves the organization.