Start  The Conversation

You can start the legacy planning conversation by asking questions – first of yourself, then of your family and others who are important in your life.

Most of us would rather avoid seriously discussing the issues facing society, our financial circumstances or our own mortality. Yet many who venture down that conversational path find the process quite uplifting and enlightening. Why? Because they discover the excitement and fulfillment of focusing on their vision for the future and finding ways to support their personal passions.

What matters most to you? What do you value? What causes or organizations do you want to survive and prosper into the future? How will our community have changed by then? What will the needs be?

What happens to organizations you currently support (your alma mater, your synagogue, the arts, etc.) when you are gone?

How can you plan a legacy when you don’t know what your assets or needs will be years from now? What funding options are available? Can you allocate a percentage instead?

How can I involve my children and continue my philanthropic views for generations to come?

Focus on your values. Imagine the possibilities. Pick your passions.

If you want to start this conversation with people who are passionate about legacy planning, we are ready to talk in confidence about your vision and help you turn it into a reality.

Formalize. Formalizing your plan makes your legacy a reality and ensures that your vision and promise will be fulfilled. This is when you decide how you will fund your legacy and sign the fund agreement. Options for funding your legacy include bequest, an insurance policy, a beneficiary designation of your IRA or other pension asset or by establishing a life income plan (a charitable gift annuity that enables you to received guaranteed revenue). This officially establishes your legacy and fulfills your promise.

Then you can identify your preferred organizations and causes, allocate unrestricted funds and specify how you would like to involve your family in carrying out your legacy. This also involves detailing percentages, making contingency plans and covering the “what ifs” of your legacy plan. This completes the work of your heart and ensures that your promise to the future is fulfilled.

Fund. Your vision becomes a reality because you have planned your legacy well. Your funds come to the community, in the form of a permanent endowment fund in your family’s name, for the causes and beneficiaries you have designated. You have kept your promise to the community you love, providing a legacy for generations to come.

Legacy planning tools

A bequest is a gift that becomes effective at your death. The vast majority of testamentary distributions organizations receive flow by bequest. Remembering American Friends of Natal with a bequest from your estate will help sustain our organization for years to come.

You can fund a bequest with any asset by placing a few sentences in your will or trust. Since bequests are revocable, while you are alive your assets are entirely available for your use. In addition, you can incorporate new ideas or adjust to changes in your circumstances at any time.

Other tools important to consider are gifts of life insurance, partnerships, real property, and business interests.

Other Types of Planned Gifts

Charitable Gift Annuities
In exchange for an outright gift, Stanford agrees by contract to pay a fixed amount each year to you and/or another beneficiary for life.

Charitable Remainder Unitrusts
You establish a trust from which you and/or other beneficiaries receive variable annual payments for life and/or a term of years. At the end of the term, the remainder of the trust assets go to Stanford for the purposes you designate.

Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts
You establish a trust from which you and/or other beneficiaries receive annual payments of a fixed dollar amount for life and/or a term of years, after which the remainder of the trust assets pass to Stanford for the purposes you designate.

Start the Conversation

You can start the legacy planning conversation by asking questions – first of yourself, then of your family and others who are important in your life.

Most of us would rather avoid seriously discussing the issues facing society, our financial circumstances or our own mortality. Yet many who venture down that conversational path find the process quite uplifting and enlightening. Why? Because they discover the excitement and fulfillment of focusing on their vision for the future and finding ways to support their personal passions.

What matters most to you? What do you value? What causes or organizations do you want to survive and prosper into the future? How will our community have changed by then? What will the needs be?

What happens to organizations you currently support (your alma mater, your synagogue, the arts, etc.) when you are gone?

How can you plan a legacy when you don’t know what your assets or needs will be years from now? What funding options are available? Can you allocate a percentage instead?

How can I involve my children and continue my philanthropic views for generations to come?

Focus on your values. Imagine the possibilities. Pick your passions. If you want to start this conversation with people who are passionate about legacy planning, we are ready to talk in confidence about your vision and help you turn it into a reality.