Planned Giving
Tradition of Support
This information describes various methods of tax-favored giving to the Lenoir Community College Foundation. You are invited to explore the many ways you can leave your mark on the future of Lenoir Community College students.
Although we welcome and encourage outright gifts, you should realize there are other ways to support our programs through what is known as planned giving or charitable estate planning.
Federal and state tax laws favor charitable giving by providing real income tax, capital gains tax, gift tax, and estate tax benefits. The government rewards you today for making a current or future gift in support of Lenoir Community College programs.
A gift can be made during your lifetime or under your will or trust. It may include cash, securities, mutual funds, retirement plans, personal property, and real estate. You can even give something to us, such as real estate, and still keep the lifelong right to use it.
When reviewing or revising your overall estate plan or personal investment holdings, you might want to consider a significant charitable gift. Sound planning can provide financial security for your family and ensure a continuation of the College’s programs. By using charitable estate planning techniques, the tax advantages allow you to make a more significant gift than otherwise thought possible while also benefiting your family and heirs.
Ways to Give and Primary Benefit to Donor
- Cash Gift–Immediate Tax Deduction
- Gift of Appreciated Assets–Immediate Tax Deduction and Capital Gains Tax Avoidance
- Life Insurance–Immediate Tax Deduction
- Life Estate–Immediate Tax Deduction & Estate Tax Deduction
Designing Your Gift
Through careful planning, your gift might create a scholarship so that the success you now enjoy may be possible for others. Your interests might set up a specific program endowment within the Foundation. A gift can also be used for our current, most pressing needs.
If you have decided which area of the College will benefit from your generosity, we are ready to help you shape your gift. All amounts and intentions are always confidential unless you direct us otherwise. By working together, you, your advisors, and the Foundation can create a distinctive gift that meets your vision and Lenoir Community College’s goals.
Outright Gifts
An outright gift is a contribution transferred to the Foundation immediately, whether cash, securities, tangible or intangible personal property, or real estate.
Gift of Cash
Most gifts to the Lenoir Community College Foundation are in cash–the most convenient method of giving for many people. As with all gifts to the Foundation, cash gifts are deductible for federal income tax purposes. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization approved by the Internal Revenue Service. There may be additional state income tax benefits.
Gift of Securities
Giving stocks, bonds, or other securities is a superb way to show support for the College’s programs. If you have marketable securities that have increased substantially in value, the tax law allows you to make a meaningful gift at a very low after-tax cost. The deduction for long-term securities would be the fair market value on the gift date, limited to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income in that year, with any excess carried over to subsequent tax years.
Gifts of Personal Property
Individuals who have enjoyed art collections, rare books, stamps, antiques, or manuscripts during their lifetime often hope others will learn from and appreciate them well into the future. You may, of course, give an item whether or not it has increased in value since you purchased it. A gift of personal property made during your lifetime entitles you to the benefits of an income tax deduction and a tax reduction on your estate.
Gifts of Real Estate
Almost any type of real property, such as a personal residence, a farm, a vacation home, a commercial building, or an undeveloped parcel of land, can be the subject of an essential gift to Lenoir Community College. Because of the special considerations involved with gifts of real estate, we invite you to contact the Office of Institutional Advancement to explore your options.
Naming Opportunities
The Foundation has many opportunities for individuals, families, and businesses interested in naming opportunities at the College. The comprehensive naming policy is designed to help secure the College’s ongoing commitment to affordable, high-quality education for years to come. The policy stipulates guidelines for the designation of college buildings, facilities, and specific areas on the College’s three campuses in honor of individuals or entities who have donated financially to the institution. The financial requirements for each opportunity vary.
The following guidelines have been established for existing campus facilities:
- Existing unnamed buildings: Minimum contribution of $1,000,000
- High visibility areas such as a lecture hall, auditorium, culinary arts center, conference room, library, gym, street, or athletic field: Contribution of $50,000 – $100,000 or greater depending on the area
- Classrooms and laboratories: Contribution of $15,000 – $30,000 or greater depending on the room
Bequests
Deciding how to divide your assets among your heirs and charity is usually a matter of the heart. It involves decisions about your financial independence, your family legacy, and the investment of your social capital.
The easiest and most common way to make a gift to the Lenoir Community College Foundation is through a bequest in your will or trust. Tax laws encourage charitable bequests, which are an excellent way to support our programs while reducing your estate taxes.
A will is a statement about what matters most in your life. By making a will, you can clearly express your intentions regarding how you wish your life’s work would be distributed. Your executor will follow your wishes when administering your estate. The state will divide your assets in North Carolina if you die without a will.
After providing for family and friends, consider a meaningful gift to the Lenoir Community College Foundation. Bequest gifts can take many forms, such as a specific gift amount, a specific gift type, a percentage of the estate, a percentage of the residue of an estate, or the entire residue, considering all other provisions of your will.
Sample Bequests
The following is sample language for consideration by your legal counsel for including the Foundation in your will.
- Unrestricted bequest for general purposes:
I give, devise, and bequeath to the Lenoir Community College Foundation, Kinston, North Carolina, the sum of $ ___ (or ___% of my residuary estate or an accurate description of securities or other property given) to be used for the general purposes of Lenoir Community College. - Restricted bequest to support a Scholarship Endowment at Lenoir Community College:
I give, devise, and bequeath to the Lenoir Community College Foundation, Kinston, North Carolina, the sum of $ ___ (or ___ % of my residuary estate or an accurate description of securities or other property given) to be used to support the ___ endowment. This gift shall be used as principal and income (include a description of the endowment criteria here). - Restricted bequest (general):
I give, devise, and bequeath to the Lenoir Community College Foundation, Kinston, North Carolina, the sum of $ ___ (or ___ % of my residuary estate or an accurate description of securities or other property given). This gift shall be used as principal and income for (describe in broad general terms the desired purpose here).
Life Insurance
Sometimes, donors may reach the point where life insurance is no longer needed because it has no financial significance for you, your family, or others. In that case, you may wish to give the policy to the Foundation as a gift.
A gift of life insurance results in an immediate income tax deduction. There are also estate tax advantages since the policy proceeds are not included in your estate. Gifts of life insurance are made in one of four ways:
- You can assign ownership of a fully paid policy to the Lenoir Community College Foundation. In return, you may take a tax deduction approximately equal to the policy replacement value but not more than your cost basis.
- You can assign ownership of a policy that is not fully paid. In return, you receive a charitable contribution deduction for the current cash value of a policy. You can then make annual fully-deductible cash gifts to enable the Foundation to pay the premiums and continue the policy.
- The third way to make a gift of life insurance is to take out a new policy, naming Lenoir Community College Foundation as both the owner and beneficiary. The premium payments on the policy you make to the Foundation and the insurance company are fully deductible as a charitable contribution.
- You can turn in a policy for its current cash value and use the cash to make a gift to the Lenoir Community College Foundation. Such a gift could be made outright or used to set up a life income gift for you or another beneficiary.
Gifts of Farms and Homes
If you own your home, farm, or vacation home, you can give the property as a gift, get an immediate income tax deduction, and continue to use the property for as long as you wish. You accomplish this by simply giving the property to the College but retaining the right to use it for your lifetime. You can continue to live in the home, work on the farm, have a tenant work the farm, or enjoy your vacation cottage. As you continue to enjoy the benefits of the property, you are responsible for its maintenance and taxes. Only after your death will the Foundation assume the usual property ownership rights.
By setting up your gift now rather than in your will, you will receive an immediate income tax deduction for the present value of the Foundation’s future right to receive the property. You can also give an “undivided interest” in your property and receive an immediate income tax deduction. For example, you could make the Foundation the owner of a 50 percent interest in our vacation home. To qualify for a tax deduction, you would have to give a 50 percent interest in every ownership right, including the right to use the property theoretically.
The Foundation’s benefit is that when the property is sold, the Foundation will receive 50 percent of the proceeds. The sale can be during your lifetime or even after your death. The real benefit to you is a deduction of about 50 percent of the value of the gift property. The deduction will reduce your current income taxes, thus increasing your spendable income.
By working together, you, your advisors, and the Foundation can create a distinctive gift that meets your vision and Lenoir Community College’s goals.
The Lenoir Community College Foundation Tax Identification Number is 56-1055936.