Missouri Botanical Garden: Planned Giving

Planned Giving Programs

Contact Sharon Mertzlufft (314) 577-9495

Gifts from an IRA
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA2006), passed in August 2006, provides an attractive new way to donate using IRA funds while avoiding the income taxes typically paid on IRA withdrawals.

Under the new rules, if you are 70 1/2 or older, you can donate up to $100,000 per year to a charity, including the Missouri Botanical Garden, from your IRA without incurring either income tax or early withdrawal penalties. the provision applies to the 2006 and 2007 tax years only, so its important to leverage its benefits soon.

Contact your IRA custodian to make a gift from your IRA. If you need a sample letter to begin this process, please call sharon mertzlufft at 314.577.9495 or email at sharon.mertzlufft@mobot.org.

The Missouri Botanical Garden is grateful for all types of gifts and welcomes the opportunity to work with you and your personal advisors to determine if one or more planned giving arrangements are appropriate for you. Recognizing the highly private nature of such planning, all inquiries and communications are held in strictest confidence and are without obligation.

Click here to start planning your donation.

Gifts of Securities
Many of our friends find it attractive to support the Garden through a gift of stock. If you transfer stock that has been held for more than twelve months, and which has appreciated in value, you may take a charitable deduction for the full present fair market value, and you will pay no capital gains tax.

If you would like to contribute securities on which you have suffered a loss, you may like to consider selling them and donating the proceeds to the Garden. You will then realize a charitable deduction in addition to tax deduction for the loss.

If you use your appreciated securities to fund a planned gift, you may increase your income as well as gain an income tax charitable deduction and avoid capital gains taxes. After your lifetime, your gift will go to support the Garden.

Gifts by Will / Revocable Trust
The easiest form of charitable estate planning is naming the Garden in your will through a bequest provision. Bequests have been important to the Missouri Botanical Garden since its inception. These gifts provide a significant means of support for our programs of research and education, as well as our beautiful horticultural displays.

Few legal instruments are more important to the people and causes you care about than your will. Your will directs how your property will be used and distributed after your lifetime. A will provision works well for those unable to make an outright gift but would like to assist the Garden in the future. It can also be a means to perpetuate the giving level you have provided during your lifetime

If you already have a will, it is not necessary to rewrite your entire will to make a bequest to the Garden. You can simply instruct your attorney to modify your current will or living trust by a adding a codicil. You may specify an asset, an amount of money, a percentage of your estate, or a variety of other designations. Unrestricted bequests provide the Trustees of the Garden with the flexibility to use your gift where the need is the greatest. We welcome inquiries about specific uses for your bequest.

If you plan a bequest to the Garden, please advise your attorney of our legal name: "The Board of Trustees of the Missouri Botanical Garden."

An undesignated bequest allows flexibility to meet changing needs. When including the Garden in your will, we recommend that you consider using the following bequest language:

"I give and bequeath to The Board of Trustees of the Missouri Botanical Garden, a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization, having as its principal address the Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63110, (specific dollar amount or percentage) to be used for the Garden's general purposes as determined by the Board of Trustees."

It is recommended that you have your attorney draft or revise your will. If you wish to restrict your gift, we ask that you add the following paragraph to your will to ensure that we will be able to meet the challenges of future priorities:

"If at some future time, in the judgment of the Board of Trustees of the Missouri Botanical Garden, it is no longer practical to use the income or principal of this bequest for the purposes intended, the Board may use the income or principal for whatever it deems necessary and most closely in accord with the intent described herein."

We appreciate being informed if you have included the Garden in your estate plans.

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Charitable Gift Annuities
A charitable gift annuity is a simple contractual agreement between you and the Missouri Botanical Garden. In exchange for your irrevocable gift of cash or securities, the Garden agrees to pay one or two annuitants a fixed sum each year for life. The amount of the annuity payment is determined by your age at the time your contribution is made. We follow a table set by the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) for maximum rates.

Sample maximum rates on single life charitable gift annuities are as follows:

Age	Payout Rate	Age	Payout Rate
65	6.0%	80	8.0%
70	6.5%	85	9.5%
75	7.1%	90	11.3%

If you need less income, a smaller annuity percentage will generate a larger deduction.

Advantages of a charitable gift annuity:

You will receive a guaranteed income for life, at a fixed rate of return.

Part of your income may be tax-free.

If your gift is funded with low-yielding securities, you may increase your current income.

If your gift is made with appreciated securities, you avoid immediate capital gains taxes.

You will receive an immediate income tax charitable deduction for a portion of your gift.

You may reduce your estate tax.

You will enjoy the satisfaction of supporting the Garden's mission.

You will be invited to join our Heritage Society

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Charitable Remainder Trust
A charitable remainder trust is an ideal vehicle for making a lifetime charitable gift to the Missouri Botanical Garden without losing the income generated by the donated property. To create this plan, you transfer cash, securities, or real estate to a trust. The trust then pays you and/or other beneficiaries an income for life, or a period of years. Upon termination of the trust, the trust assets pass to the Garden.

There are two types of charitable remainder trusts: annuity trusts and unitrusts. The charitable remainder annuity trust offers a fixed-amount payout each year. The unitrust pays out a fixed percentage of the value of the trust assets, which are revalued annually.

Although the annuity trust provides no protection against inflation, it eliminates the expense of revaluing the trust assets each year. The unitrust requires more administration costs, but does offer some protection against inflation.

Benefits of a charitable remainder trust include:

You will receive income for life or for a specified term of years.

A gift made with low-yielding assets may increase your current income.

If you make your gift with appreciated assets you may avoid capital gains.

You will receive an immediate income tax charitable deduction.

Your estate tax may be reduced.

You will enjoy the satisfaction of supporting the Garden's mission.

You will be invited to join our Heritage Society

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Gifts by Life Insurance
A gift of a life insurance policy may be one of the easiest and most practical ways of making a gift to the Missouri Botanical Garden. You may designate the Garden as owner/beneficiary of either a new policy or an existing policy you and your family no longer need. You may also name the Garden as a contingent beneficiary, should your primary beneficiary not survive you. There are several benefits to you in considering this form of gift.

You may receive an income tax charitable deduction by assigning ownership of an insurance policy to the Garden.

If you continue to pay the premiums on the policy after it is donated to the Garden, you will also receive an income tax charitable deduction each year for the premiums paid during that year.

If you choose to retain ownership of the policy but designate the Garden as the beneficiary of either a new or paid-up policy, although no income tax deduction will be generated, there will be no gift or estate tax on the value of the gift.

Your personal insurance agent should be able to provide you with the appropriate forms to accomplish your goals.

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Retained Life Estate
A gift of a remainder interest in your personal residence, farm, or vacation home is another, simpler way to take advantage of the tax savings associated with lifetime charitable gifts and also to support the Garden.

In the retained life estate agreement, you can transfer your home, farm or vacation property to the Garden and continue to live in it or to receive the income it generates. You continue to be responsible for maintenance, insurance, and property taxes. After your life use and that of any named survivor, the Garden would receive the property outright.

You will receive an immediate income and gift tax deduction equal to the future value of the property the we will receive. The amount depends on the value of the property, your age, and the age of any person given life use, and other factors.

Due to many factors, including environmental concerns, please contact our office before any real estate transactions.

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Charitable Lead Trust
A charitable lead trust is an arrangement in which you can give the income from assets of your choice, which you have placed in trust, to the Missouri Botanical Garden for a term of years. When the trust terminates, the trust assets, including any appreciation in value, are distributed to you or to the beneficiaries you designate.

The charitable lead trust is a wonderful way for those who anticipate substantial federal gift and estate taxes to benefit the Garden today, and then to pass the assets to your heirs, either entirely free of, or at greatly decreased gift and estate taxes.

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Qualified Retirement Plans
The combination of federal income, estate and excise taxes can seriously erode the value of retirement savings. Designating the Garden as a beneficiary or contingent beneficiary of all or a specified percentage of your 401K or other retirement plan assets can save your estate both income and federal estate taxes.

Your retirement plan administrator should be able to provide you with the appropriate forms to accomplish your goals.

To request a brochure on the above Planned Giving methods, or for information on general estate planning, please contact sharon mertzlufft at the Missouri Botanical Garden at (314) 577-9495 or email: sharon.mertzlufft@mobot.org.

If you have already included the Missouri Botanical Garden in your estate plans, let us thank you and welcome you into our Heritage Society.

Click here to start planning your donation.

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Heritage Society
In 1986, the Board of Trustees established the Heritage Society. This group was formed to recognize the outstanding group of friends whose long-term support will help the Garden continue to fulfill its mission in the future.

In appreciation, each year the Garden honors members at the annual Heritage Society event, and extends special invitations to other events during the year at which you will meet Dr. Peter Raven, members of the Garden staff, guest speakers, and other Heritage Society members.

Some of our members name the Garden in their estate plans and never let us thank them for their invaluable support. If you have included the Garden in your estate plans, we hope you will share this with us. We would appreciate the opportunity to express our gratitude, and to welcome you into the Heritage Society. Of course, if you want to remain anonymous, we will respect your wishes.