Legacy Giving & Endowment

A charitable bequest is one of the easiest ways you can create a legacy at the JCCSF. A bequest may be made in your will or trust directing a gift to the JCCSF, helping to secure our future for generations to come.

Benefits of A Bequest

• Receive estate tax charitable deduction.
• Lessen the burden of taxes on your family.
• Leave a lasting legacy

How Do You Make a Bequest?

A bequest is one of the easiest gifts to make. With the help of an advisor, you can include language in your will or trust specifying a gift to be made to family, friends or a charity as part of your estate plan.

Your Bequest Options

A bequest may be made in several ways:

• Gift of a percentage of your estate
• Gift of a specific dollar amount or asset
• Gift from the balance or residue of your estate

Making a Bequest of Your Retirement Assets

A retirement asset, such as an IRA account, makes an excellent bequest to us. If the IRA were given to your family, much of the value may be lost through estate and income taxes. By designating a charity as the beneficiary of all or part of your IRA (using a beneficiary designation form provided by your custodian), the full value of the gift is transferred tax-free at your death and your estate receives an estate tax charitable deduction.

Create a legacy at the JCCSF by allocating your retirement assets (IRA, 401(k), 403(b), pension or other tax deferred plan).

Retirement assets are typically taxed heavily upon your passing. Most people do not use all of their retirement assets during their lifetime and most retirement plans allow you to easily designate or change a beneficiary with a simple form.

Give Your Retirement Assets in Your Will

A gift of your retirement assets to the JCCSF may reduce the tax burden on your heirs. As a nonprofit, The JCCSF receives the full distribution from your retirement assets, making your savings go further. Preserve the full value of your retirement assets by using them to create a legacy at JCCSF, securing our future for generations to come.

How to Transfer Your Retirement Assets

Your retirement assets may be transferred to the JCCSF by completing a beneficiary designation form provided by your plan custodian. You can often do this very simply online or with a simple form available from your employer or financial advisor.

Trusts and annuities are great tools for estate planning, ensuring fixed income, passing on assets or reducing tax burden. The information below is provided solely for your information. It is always best to discuss with your financial advisor if an annuity is the most appropriate vehicle to meet your individualized financial goals. The JCCSF can also refer you to qualified financial advisors who can answer questions for you.

Charitable Gift Annuity

Establishing a Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA) allows you to make a gift of cash or property to the JCCSF in exchange for fixed annuity payments to yourself or a loved one. CGAs simultaneously provide a charitable donation, an income tax deduction and a guaranteed lifetime income stream.

A charitable gift annuity (CGA) is an excellent way to increase your income, reduce your taxes and make a generous future gift to the JCCSF at the same time.

This is how it works:

You make an irrevocable transfer of cash or marketable securities to the JCCSF. In exchange, the JCCSF agrees to make fixed payments to you or others for life. A portion of this income will be tax-free over your life expectancy and you will receive a partial income tax deduction for your gift. In addition, the assets transferred in exchange for your CGA will be considered outside your estate for federal and state estate tax purposes.

It is also possible to establish a gift annuity now, but delay receiving payments until a later date that you determine. Called a Deferred Gift Annuity (DGA), this life income gift provides a higher payment and can be an effective way of securing supplemental income during retirement.

CGAs can be structured to meet the needs of you or a loved one. They can be structured to provide supplement retirement income, care for an aging parent or provide for a grandchild’s education.

The tax deduction is limited to the amount contributed to the annuity in excess of its present value, as calculated using IRS parameters.

Charitable Remainder TrustCharitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) can reduce your individual taxable income by first dispersing income to the beneficiaries of the trust for a specified period of time. Once this time frame expires, the remainder of the assets is donated to the JCCSF. CRTs can be a way to earn income from a highly appreciated asset and reduce capital gains tax.

A Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) is a life income arrangement that enables you to convert an asset, usually appreciated stock or real estate, into an income stream by making an irrevocable gift of the property.

Once transferred into the CRT, these appreciated assets can be sold tax-free and are reinvested into a diversified portfolio. As a result, you have the full fair market value of the gifted property available to produce life income for you.

In addition, your gift will generate a charitable income tax deduction equal to the present value of your future gift. In the year of your gift, this deduction can be taken up to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income. Any unused portion of this deduction can be carried forward and deducted from your income in the same percentage for an additional five years.

Charitable Lead TrustCharitable Lead Trusts (CLTs) are the opposite of charitable remainder trusts. Income is paid annually to JCCSF for an established period of time and then the assets used to fund the gift revert to you or your heirs. CLTs are not for everyone, but for some they provide an excellent tool for estate planning. Consult your financial planner for advice and more information.

A Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) can be used to transfer assets to children or others at a significantly reduced tax liability.

The trust makes a fixed payment to the JCCSF for a specified term, measured either by someone’s life or a selected number of years. After the trust term ends, the assets of the trust are either returned to you or passed on to children or other loved ones. If the assets are to be returned to you, you receive an income tax deduction when the trust is created. If the assets are passed on to heirs, applicable estate or gift taxes on the value of the gift are reduced or completely eliminated. The tax savings from a charitable lead trust may allow you to provide significant support for the JCCSF at little or no cost to heirs in terms of ultimate inheritance.

A CLT can be a powerful tool in gift and estate tax planning, but the technical complexities require careful consideration. The JCCSF is glad to work with you and your financial advisors to see if a charitable lead trust is right for you.

Through a gift to the endowment fund, you can honor or memorialize a loved one or a special occasion in a personally meaningful way. As your contribution continues to grow through prudent reinvestment, you choose the programs you care most about to receive your Fund’s annual distributions.

Benefits to You:

• You can carry on your family name or remember a loved one or special occasion in a way that will serve others long into the future.
• You may opt to have JCCSF create a special Web page for you, called a Legacy of Loving Kindness page, that details your reasons for creating your fund. This is particularly heartwarming in situations in which the fund has been created in honor or memory of a loved one.
• You may use your fund to promote philanthropy within your family and to teach tzedakah to children.
• You receive a personalized annual report each year describing the fund’s investment performance and the use of the fund’s proceeds during that year.
• You receive an immediate income-tax deduction for the full value of the charitable gift.
• You bypass capital-gains taxes on long-term appreciated securities.

Upon request, announcements of the fund will be sent to family and friends.

We thank the following donors for making the future success of the JCCSF a priority by creating a lasting endowment fund.

Please feel free to change the numbers or percentages as you desire.

1. Bequest of cash

“I bequeath the sum of $10,000 to The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco of San Francisco, CA.”

2. Bequest of a percent of the estate

“I devise and bequeath 20% of the remainder and residue of property owned at my death, whether real or personal, and wherever located to The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.”

3. Contingent Bequest

“If my brother John Doe survives me, I devise and bequeath 20% of the remainder and residue of property owned at my death, whether real or personal, and wherever located to John Doe. If John Doe does not survive me, then I devise and bequeath 20% of my residuary estate, whether real or personal property and wherever located to The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.”

Sample Language for IRA or 401(K) Beneficiary Designation

I designate that upon my death (or the death of my spouse), $______ [or _____ percent] of my IRA [or 401(k)] account be distributed to the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, a non-profit. Funds distributed from my IRA [or 401(k)] shall be used to provide [purpose].

Sample Language for Life Insurance Beneficiary Designation

I hereby name the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF) as the beneficiary of my (Name of Insurance Company) Policy # ______ with a face value of $_______.) I designate that upon my death, the proceeds will be distributed to the JCCSF. Funds distributed from this life insurance policy shall be used to provide [purpose].

Additional information for Designation Form

Tax ID Number for Jewish Community Center of San Francisco:

94-3227260

Mailing Address:

Jewish Community Center of San Francisco
Attn: Planned Giving Officer
3200 California Ave
San Francisco, CA 94118

Phone: (415) 292-1220

Your Will

Your will is a testimony to your values and commitments. It expresses your core beliefs, and is shaped by how you choose to invest your time, energies and resources. Wills can be gratifying; they show how you’ve touched the world in constructive, caring ways.

It can be a joyful experience to give gifts to those we love. When writing your will, you may think first of your family or perhaps a lifelong friend. Yet institutions, too, play a large part in our lives; a bequest to the JCCSF will enable it to serve others as it has served you.

How Much to Give

Think first of those persons who need or deserve your support. Your spouse or partner may be included here, but much of your property is already co-owned by your spouse and will pass to him or her at your death. First focus on what portion, if any, should also be designated for your spouse’s lifetime needs.

Even if you don’t know what the exact total of your assets and other possessions will be at the time of your death, you may know enough to place monetary value on the most important gifts; other gifts can be contingent upon the total available or designated as shares of the residue after monetary gifts and estate costs are covered.

Other individuals for whom you wish to provide some measure of lifetime support through your will may include relatives who require financial security, longtime friends, companions or housemates.

The institutions and causes you wish to support by bequest may be included either for specific dollar amounts or fractional shares of your estate or its residue. You may wish to limit the number of charitable beneficiaries, ensuring each gift will be of meaningful value relative to the size of your estate and the nature of the recipient organization.

Wills & Children

The most treasured gifts our children receive are often not expensive, but always reflect who we are. The same should be true of the legacy gifts we give to our children. (Our bequests to our children need not be identical, so long as they reflect our sense of fairness and the equality of our love.) The dollars we leave to the institutions and causes we believe in may also be gifts to our children, making better the world in which they live and reminding them, by our example, of what you cherish most.

Estate Management

It is important that you have confidence in your personal representative and that individual be able and willing to serve. You can choose your spouse, a relative or a trusted friend or advisor. You can also choose an institution, such as a bank, that may have more expertise and neutrality.

Your will is more than a legal document; it is a testimony to your life, to what you find meaningful, and to what you treasure. Include the JCCSF in your will, and help us continue to create meaningful experiences for our community, for generations to come.