WILLS AND REVOCABLE TRUSTS

The simplest way to make a planned gift to Adi Da Samraj is to name one or more of the beneficiaries listed on Step II of the Make a Planned Gift page in your will, trust, or other estate planning documents. A bequest is a meaningful way to support the Spiritual Legacy and World-Work of Adi Da Samraj without affecting your cash flow during your lifetime. Your attorney can include one or more of the beneficiaries listed on Step III of the Make a Planned Gift page when you prepare or revise your estate planning documents. Please review the Gift Acceptance Guidelines before bequeathing illiquid assets.

There are several types of bequests, including:

• A Specific Bequest which indicates the dollar amount (or percentage of the total) from your estate that you wish to bequeath.
• A Residuary Bequest which indicates the remaining portion (or a percentage of the remaining portion) from your estate that you wish to bequeath after all specific bequests have been satisfied.
• A Contingency Bequest which indicates the amount or remaining portion from your estate you wish to bequeath while taking into account the possibility of a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances. For example, you might wish to make your charitable bequest in the event that another heir predeceases you.

Please be as specific as possible in identifying the property. For example: “I give, devise, and bequeath to [the Adidam beneficiary] my [description or identifying information of the asset] as an unrestricted gift, to be used and/or disposed of at the sole discretion of [the Adidam beneficiary].”

CHARITABLE TRUSTS

A charitable trust is a way to serve your current and long-term financial and philanthropic interests. Through a charitable trust, a donor gives highly appreciated assets to an irrevocable trust, which is invested and managed by a professional financial institution of the donor’s choice. Once created, a charitable trust is irrevocable. Charitable trusts take two forms, charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts. A charitable remainder trust allows you to designate the beneficiary of regular “income” distributions or payouts from the trust (either a fixed dollar amount or a fixed percentage) during the grantor’s lifetime or for a specific period of time. At the same time, the Adidam entity or fund is designated a remainder beneficiary. This allows you to claim a tax deduction for the estimated portion of the assets that will ultimately go to Adidam upon death or the expiration of the fixed period.

A charitable lead trust appeals to individuals who wish to make a gift but retain the property. Through a charitable lead trust, you can designate the Adidam entity or fund as the beneficiary of annual payments from the trust, allowing the donor to avoid taxes on the income during the fixed period of time or until the end of the donor’s life. At the end of the period or at death, the remainder is distributed to your heirs.

These are highly sophisticated irrevocable entities. Please consult your estate planning attorney and CPA. 

TRANSFER ON DEATH ACCOUNTS (TOTTEN TRUSTS)

One of the easiest ways to make a gift to Adidam is by designating it the ultimate recipient of a bank account or brokerage account. You can instruct any financial institution in which you have an account to register the account as a “Transfer on Death” account (often called a Totten Trust) to be transferred, upon death, directly to an organization and/or individual. This will allow you to use the asset during your lifetime and to give the remaining asset to Adidam upon your death while also avoiding probate. Most Totten Trusts can be created easily using a form obtained from your financial institution.

RETIREMENT PLANS

Certain retirement plans, such as IRAs, 401(k), 403(b), and Keoghs allow individuals to defer paying taxes on a portion of their income until the assets are withdrawn during retirement years. However, after a person’s death, these accounts are often exposed to taxes. Therefore, you might find it beneficial to contribute all or part of these funds to Adidam while leaving other assets to your heirs. Simply name the Adidam entity or fund a beneficiary of your retirement plan. You will retain complete control during your lifetime, and you can change your beneficiary at any time if your circumstances change. Please note: You also may be eligible to make annual charitable gifts using funds withdrawn from retirement accounts, eliminating the income tax that would otherwise be due on such withdrawals.

DONOR ADVISED FUNDS

A donor-advised fund is like a charitable investment account, for the sole purpose of supporting the charitable organizations you care about. It allows donors to make charitable contributions to the fund, receive immediate tax deductions, and recommend grants from the fund to their favorite charitable organizations over time, whenever it makes sense for them.

While your donation resides in the donor-advised fund, it can be invested for tax-free growth, making available even more money for charities. Donor-advised funds offer a variety of investment options from which you can recommend an investment strategy for your charitable dollars. In addition to cash, most donor-advised funds also accept non-cash assets such as stocks, mutual funds, bonds, cryptocurrency, and complex assets such as private company stock. A donor-advised fund can hold your donation indefinitely, but a contribution is an irrevocable commitment to charity; it cannot be returned to the donor. You can support virtually any IRS-qualified public charity with grant recommendations from the donor-advised fund—from your local homeless shelter to your alma mater or religious institution.

Donor-advised funds are the fastest-growing charitable giving vehicle in the United States because they are one of the easiest and most tax-advantageous ways to give to the charities you care about.

LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES

An easy and straightforward method of philanthropic giving is through life insurance policies. Gifts of life insurance are welcome when the policy is paid in full and an Adidam entity or fund is named as the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy. Adidam also accepts gifts of life insurance policies that are not paid in full at the time of the gift, provided that the policy

• Can be surrendered by Adidam as of the date of the gift for its current value,
• Can be converted by Adidam as of the date of the gift to a reduced face amount, or
• Has sufficient value as of the date of the gift to keep it in effect without payment of any additional premiums.

Adidam also accepts benefits payable under a life insurance policy where an Adidam entity or fund is a named beneficiary or contingent beneficiary under the policy, whether the policy is owned by Adidam or not. 

NOTE: Adidam does not provide tax, legal, or financial advice. Before finalizing all charitable gifts and designating beneficiaries in your last will and testament or trust documents, please consult with the appropriate tax and legal specialist, as some gifts may have unforeseen tax and estate settlement consequences. No beneficiary entity named in your gift can be held liable or take responsibility for unforeseen negative tax or estate settlement consequences.

Please consult the Gift Acceptance Guidelines before gifting illiquid assets, as some gifts may require approval or additional consideration before they can be accepted.