Gift Planning

You create your own charitable legacy when you establish an endowment fund with the community foundation. We can help you identify the best way to establish a fund to benefit the very things that make the community special to you – your church, the local library or museum, positive programs for youth or seniors, the arts. All you need is a desire to make your community a better place and financial assets to contribute now or in the future. Please contact us with your questions: (260) 925-0311.

We make giving simple and effective. Create an endowment fund in these three easy steps:

• Leave a Legacy. Provide permanent support to the charities or charitable causes that you cared about and supported all your life.
• Celebrate. Commemorate a friend’s special birthday or milestone anniversary by making a gift in her/his honor.
• Memorialize. Establish a fund and name it in memory of your loved one. Or honor someone’s memory by making a gift to a fund that reflects her/his values or interests.

• Cash. Cash is the simplest way to give and because of the charitable deduction you will receive the cost of giving a gift can be much less than the actual amount of the gift.
• Bequest. Leaving a gift to the community foundation in your will lets you make a significant contribution to your favorite charity that might not be possible during your life. A gift in your will can establish a new fund or be added to an existing fund.
• Appreciated securities or real estate. Gifts of appreciated stock or real estate have the potential to generate a double tax benefit: You receive an income-tax deduction and you may escape potential capital gain tax.
• Life Insurance.  You can name the DeKalb County Community Foundation as the beneficiary of all, or a portion, of your life insurance policy.
• IRAs or other qualified retirement plans. Your retirement fund is the most heavily taxed asset at death. Directing a portion of your plan to charity may help your heirs realize substantial tax savings.