Planned Giving

What is Planned Giving?
Planned giving is a form of major gifts, made during a lifetime or at death as part of a donor’s overall financial and/or estate planning. Many people think of a will as the easiest way to transfer assets after their lifetime, but it doesn’t cover everything. Retirement plans, IRAs, life insurance and insurance annuities are not controlled by the terms of your will, but instead use separate beneficiary forms to determine who receives them. These beneficiary designations override your will when it comes to passing along these assets at your death, making them effective and easy ways to leave a legacy.

The three easiest ways to leave your legacy

Retirement plans, Keoghs, SEP, 401ks, 403bs and Simple IRAs and Roth accounts
A retirement plan or IRA will be the largest source of assets that generate taxable income when paid to the beneficiary. Therefore, if you are considering a gift to a charity after a lifetime, it is usually better to leave nontaxable assets (such as stocks and real estate) to your loved ones and the taxable assets from a retirement account or IRA to a tax-exempt charitable organization such as Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity.‘

Life Insurance Policies
You can designate Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity as the beneficiary on your life insurance policy for a percentage of your life insurance policy’s death benefit. You help us advance our mission by simply choosing the percentage you would like to gift by completing a beneficiary designation form provided by your insurance company.

Insurance Annuities
Insurance annuities are tax-heavy assets to own. Gifting insurance annuities works very similar to gifting a life insurance policy. Simply decide what percentage of the annuity‘s value you would like us to receive and name us along with the stated percentage on the beneficiary form provided by your insurance company.

Other ways to leave a legacy

Real Estate Donations
We rely 100% on monetary and in kind donations to build safe, decent, and affordable homes with families in our communities. Real Estate donations help us eliminate the need to purchase real estate to build homes which saves us from spending valuable resources. The more real estate we receive, the more homes we can build and the more families we can serve.

Donate investments
Mutual funds, stocks, CDs, bonds...any investment you have can be gifted to Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity. Simply talk to your investment executive to learn how.

List us in your will
Making a charitable bequest to Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity can be specific in what will be given. Gifts can include money, stocks, real estate, insurance policies, and more. You can also include a specific percentage of the entire estate. For more information, speak with your attorney when preparing your will.