Skip to content

Planned Giving

Planned Giving

Planned giving is a gift to charity that is coordinated with financial and estate planning to serve both your philanthropic and personal needs. Planned giving incorporates a number of financial and tax benefits, and may take the form of bequests (described below), charitable gift annuities, charitable trusts, and other instruments that can guarantee you an income for as long as you live.

Wills and Bequests

Your will is your assurance that the disposition of your estate will be carried out according to your wishes. And while you’re at it, won’t you please consider a gift to support the continuing work of the Japanese American Museum of Oregon?

A gift by will is known as a bequest, or a legacy. A bequest is, in every sense of the word, the ultimate gift. When donors name the Japanese American Museum of Oregon as the beneficiary of these gifts, it renews our determination to work harder for our cause in the knowledge that someone felt strongly enough about what we do to include us in their family.

Bequests can be simple or complex. You should, of course, discuss your estate plans with your family and your financial and legal advisors. Bequests may include cash, securities, real estate, other property, life insurance, retirement assets, or a percentage of your estate.

Federal Estate Tax Savings
An outright gift to the Japanese American Museum of Oregon from your estate (whatever the amount and whether it is expendable or for endowment) is entirely free from federal estate taxes. JAMO can make use of the full amount of your gift. Bequests to individuals, on the other hand, are taxed significantly and may reduce your bequest by as much as 55 percent.

Other Advantages of Bequests
Giving by bequest costs nothing now, yet it may give you a great deal of satisfaction to know that your future gift will live on. Bequests are very private. You may make a bequest anonymously and change it at any time.

How To Do It
To make a gift to JAMO from your estate, simply include a statement to that fact in a properly signed will or trust instrument. If you already have a will, you can add a codicil with the details of your bequest or amend your present trust instrument. To ensure that your exact intentions are carried out, your estate planning documents should be prepared in consultation with your attorney and financial advisor.

Naming the Japanese American Museum of Oregon in your will or trust can be as simple as including the following sentence:

I devise to (or Upon the Dissolution of this Trust) (or make as Beneficiary) the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, an Oregon Non-Profit Corporation, the sum of $____ (or the __% of the Estate) (or all the rest, residue and remainder of my Estate or Trust) to be used for carrying out its mission.

Our legal title is: Japanese American Museum of Oregon. Please call for our tax ID and further instructions.

For more information on how to include the Japanese American Museum of Oregon in your estate plan, have your financial advisor contact Aaron Sanstrum at:

Sanstrum Associates, Inc.
11104 SE Stark St.
Portland, OR 97216

(503) 241-7430 or
(800) 366-5178
Fax: (503) 241-2746

Charitable Gift Annuities

A Gift Annuity is an agreement between you and the Japanese American Museum of Oregon. In return for your gift of cash or securities, you receive fixed payments for the rest of your life. You may, if you choose, name a beneficiary other than yourself.

Because the amount of fixed payments you receive is based on your life expectancy, the older you are when your gift annuity begins, the higher your rate of return. You may choose to receive payments monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or once annually. You can even defer receipt of payment for a number of years.

The Japanese American Museum of Oregon is obligated by law to make payments to you or your designated beneficiary for as long as you live. Please call us at 503-224-1458 for details.

Tax Benefits
Not only do you receive a federal income tax deduction in the year you make the gift, a portion of your guaranteed annual payments are also tax-free. The older you are, the greater the tax-free percentage of each payment you receive.

Trusts

Trusts are formal legal arrangements with a designated trustee, who receives and holds legal title to property and administrates the property according to your instructions. Trusts can be established to conform to almost any financial or administrative function you choose.

For example:

  • A trust can provide income for your children, grandchildren, or other relatives, with the remainder divided among any number of charities.
  • A trust can provide funds for charities of your choice for a number of years or a lifetime. Proceeds are then divided, according to your wishes, among any number of heirs or beneficiaries.

When a Trust Makes Sense
Trusts can be very simple, or they can be as complex as necessary to meet your financial, charitable, and personal goals.

For example, they can be used if you:

  • are a parent who wants to establish a secure source of lifetime funding for a disabled or financially dependent child
  • own a closely held or family business with heirs likely to sell after inheriting
  • own low-dividend stocks that are worth significantly more today than when you bought them, or the majority of your portfolio is in the form of your employer’s company stock
  • are a retiring farmer with last year’s crop to sell and no expenses to offset income
  • own non-income producing real estate or personal property, free of liens or mortgages

For gifts of publicly traded securities, you also are partially shielded from capital gains taxes.