Planned Giving

Including Native Plant Trust in your estate plan allows you to make a significant and meaningful gift today, while also preserving your assets during your lifetime. Some of the most significant gifts supporting our work in native plant conservation, horticulture, and education have been made through generous bequests.

A bequest may provide for donation of a dollar-value amount or a percentage of your estate. A bequest may also be in the form of a gift of the remainder of your estate. Bequests, like other gifts, can be given without restriction or designated for one or more purposes. Since projects and programs may change over time, please keep any restrictions as broad as possible within our core mission. And, to ensure that your wishes can be carried out as you desire, please consult us about focus areas before making a restricted provision in your will or estate plans.

To make the process simple for you, we’ve partnered with FreeWill: a free online tool that helps you make your will and include a bequest in about 20 minutes.

Informing us about your bequest or other estate plan to benefit Native Plant Trust enables us to thank you and to recognize your generosity and forethought in our annual donor report. Please take a few minutes to fill out this form if you’ve already included us in your plans. Of course, if you prefer to remain anonymous, you have the option to forgo publicizing your planned gift.

Please note: This is general information and is not presented as specific legal or tax advice.

These are called non-probate assets and you must plan your beneficiaries for them separately. This online tool guides you through the process of designating Native Plant Trust as a beneficiary of these assets to build a legacy that stops the destruction of native plants.

There are sound financial reasons to designate Native Plant Trust as your IRA beneficiary. Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), also known as IRA Charitable Rollovers, are the savviest way for individuals age 70½ or older to use their IRAs to maximize their charitable impact. Under current law, your spouse, child, or other designated individual beneficiary of a traditional IRA usually has to pay federal income tax on any distribution received from the IRA after your passing. A nonprofit organization does not. So, a direct contribution of your retirement assets could be highly tax efficient because, in some situations, it could mean making more funds passed to both your heirs and Native Plant Trust. Use our FreeWill IRA giving tool.

While there are there are currently no comparable tax advantages in making Native Plant Trust a beneficiary of your life insurance policy, doing so is a simple way to leave a substantial gift to your favorite nonprofit. Since most policy benefits greatly exceed the cost of the premiums, your donation might be far larger than you could make during your lifetime. Plus, your overall estate would be reduced by the death benefit paid to a nonprofit, which may have a positive tax implication for your heirs.

Please note: This is general information and is not presented as specific legal or tax advice.

Charitable remainder trusts allow you to claim a charitable deduction in the year the gift is made, provide an income stream for yourself or someone you designate, remove assets from your taxable estate, and ultimately leave a significant gift to Native Plant Trust. Charitable trusts can be funded with gifts of securities, cash, or real estate. The asset becomes the property of the trust, and when the trust sells it, the asset is exempt from tax, offering options for portfolio diversification.

A charitable remainder trust allows you to name yourself, or someone else, to receive the potential income stream, either for a fixed term of years—currently no more than 20—or for the beneficiary's lifetime, and then Native Plant Trust to receive the remainder of the donated assets.

Please note: This is general information and is not presented as specific legal or tax advice.

Charitable gift annuities are among the most popular planned gifts and have been around for more than 100 years. This is a wonderful way to support Native Plant Trust’s mission while receiving tax benefits and annual tax-free income payments for yourself or a loved one.

For example: a $10,000 gift* to a 72-year-old person would provide a payout of $540 a year, $391 of which would be tax-free. That person can be you or someone you designate. For a person aged 76, that annual payout would be $600, $448 of which would be tax-free. And, if the person is 80 at the time the gift is made, s/he would receive $680 every year, $524 of which would be tax-free. (*These calculations assume the gift is made in cash.)

Currently, capital gains may be reduced dramatically and may be reported over a number of years so that those taxes are not due all at one time. In many cases, according to current tax law, a portion of each payment received is tax free. Our minimum annuity gift is $5,000. Contact us to see an example tailored to your circumstances.

You can choose from two versions of charitable gift annuities:

Charitable Gift Annuity:
Provides a guaranteed, fixed income for you and/or another beneficiary. You and/or they must be at least 60 years of age at the date of the agreement. Rates offered are based on your specific age(s) at the time of the gift. Payments are made quarterly. Charitable Gift Annuities, currently, generate an immediate charitable income tax deduction.

Deferred Charitable Gift Annuity:
Similar to the Charitable Gift Annuity, except that payments are deferred until you are aged 60 or older. Because income can be postponed, this is a popular vehicle for retirement planning or to save for an upcoming expense such as a child’s college education. Annuity payments are determined by your age at the time of the agreement and the date payments begin. The younger you are at the initiation of the agreement, and the longer the payments are postponed, the larger the fixed rate of return. Even though you do not start receiving payments until a pre-selected date in the future, a portion of your gift is, currently, immediately deductible for federal income tax purposes on an itemized return.

Please note: This is general information and is not presented as specific legal or tax advice.