Plan To Give to the College of Fine Arts & Communication
Leave Your Legacy!
Private giving to the College of Fine Arts and Communication (COFAC) helps to ensure that the college and our departments can continue to meet the diverse educational needs of our students. Although much of the support for our college comes in the form of cash donations, many donors choose to leave their legacy, and realize tremendous tax savings, through a planned gift. A planned gift is simply defined as a donation that requires some form of planning. Whether you seek to avoid capital gains taxes on appreciated stocks or are looking to transfer assets into a life-long income stream, there are countless planned giving vehicles that can create a win-win situation for you and our students.
Several common planned giving vehicles include:
- Gifts of Stocks and Securities — This giving option involves gifting a number of shares of stock that you already own. In most cases, this option allows you to bypass capital gains taxes and can even be tax deductible. The procedure simply entails a broker transferring stocks to an account owned by the UWSP Foundation. You can typically deduct the entire value of the stocks donated.
- Gifts of Life Income — A gift of life income is one way for you to make a substantial gift to the benefit students while realizing an immediate tax deduction and a generous life-long revenue stream. Under this option, you can make a contribution to the UWSP Foundation, which is invested. The annual earnings on this investment are then paid to you or your beneficiary through over a lifetime.
- Gifts of Real Estate – The income tax benefits of gifts of real estate are similar to gifts of appreciated securities. You can avoid paying capital gains taxes on the appreciated value and receive a deduction for the full market value of the property. Gifts of property such as land, farms, or personal residences can be transferred by deed to the UWSP Foundation with no liability for income, estate or gift taxes on the appreciated amount.
- Gifts of Life Insurance – Gifts of life insurance may allow you to give much more than you may otherwise through a cash gift. To establish a gift of insurance you can simply name the UWSP Foundation as the primary or secondary (contingent) beneficiary of a life insurance policy. While this offers no immediate income tax deduction under current tax law, the death benefit passes on to the UWSP Foundation free of any estate tax liability for your heirs. You can also name the UWSP Foundation as the owner of a life insurance policy; either a policy owned now or a new policy purchased specifically for this purpose.
- Gifts of Bequest – The most common form of a planned gift, a bequest, gives you the opportunity to provide for others beyond your lifetime. For many naming the UWSP Foundation as the beneficiary on a will or trust document means making a much larger gift than otherwise possible while still drawing an income from their investments. Such bequests are exempt from federal and state estate taxes, and when properly planned can even increase the amount of an estate passed onto your heirs. You may make specific bequests of property, or allocate a percent or dollar amount from your estate in your will. Another method is to allocate “the residue” of an estate, or what is remaining after all other bequests or terms of a will have been met.
UWSP Foundation Information