You can include Meals On Wheels Erie in your will or estate plan to forever be a part of our mission of doing good in Erie, PA.

Even a small amount can have a big impact over time. You can, in fact, leave a legacy.

Of the many planned giving solutions, here are three of the simplest way to make a gift to your favorite charity. Leave money to both your family and to your favorite charity.

  • Prepare a will (a bequest) to ensure that your hard-earned dollars go to the people and institutions that you care about. Gifts can be a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of your total estate.
  • You can leave a life insurance policy, stocks and personal property. A life insurance death benefit, for instance, may be considerably greater than the premiums paid, enabling you to contribute a future sum much larger than a current gift of cash.
  • Consider making Metro-Erie Meals On Wheels, Inc. (dba Meals On Wheels Erie) a beneficiary of your IRA.

When making a planned gift, it is always recommended that you consult with a legal professional, licensed financial planer, accountant or CPA.

Bequest Intention

  • Donors include a provision in their will directing that a gift be paid to a nonprofit organization upon their death or the death of one of their survivors.
  • Donors can give an organization either a specific amount of money or item of property (“specific” bequest), or a percentage of the balance remaining in their estate after taxes, expenses, and specific bequests have been paid (“residual” bequest).
  • Donors can instruct a non-profit to use their bequest for a particular program or activity at the organization, or allow them to use it at their discretion (“restricted” and “unrestricted” bequests)

Life Insurance

The death benefit of a life insurance policy can be paid to a non-profit organization as a charitable gift.

  • Donors can contribute a fully paid-up policy or transfer ownership of a paid-up life insurance policy to a nonprofit
  • Donors can also contribute a policy on which some premiums remain to be paid.
  • Donors can claim a charitable deduction for the value of the donated policy, and the organization can “cash in” the policy in advance of the donor’s death.
  • Donors receive a gift credit and an immediate income tax deduction for the cash surrender value of the policy.
  • Donors can (revocably) name an organization as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy that they continue to own and maintain.
  • Donors can name the organization the owner and beneficiary of a new life insurance policy, and make ongoing gifts that offset the premiums the nonprofit will pay to maintain the policy. There is no charitable deduction available for taking out a new life insurance policy, even if the donor makes the nonprofit the irrevocable owner.

Retirement Plans

  • Donors can name a nonprofit organization the successor beneficiary of all or a portion of their IRA, 401(k), or other qualified retirement accounts. The designation is revocable and does not generate a charitable income tax deduction.
  • Distributions from retirement accounts to surviving family members can be subject to both income and estate tax. Directing the balance of a retirement plan to charity removes the most taxed asset from the donor’s estate, freeing up other, more favorably taxed assets to give to family and heirs.
  • Donors have the reassurance that they can continue to take withdrawals from the plan during their lifetime, as well as flexibility to change the designation of the charitable beneficiary if their or their family’s circumstances change.