Legacy giving
Legacy giving.
- Program
- Legacy and planned giving
- Opens fully
- Year three
- Current acceptance
- Cash; stock in year two
- Contact
- give@elitesgen.org
What legacy giving includes
The common forms of planned gift.
Planned giving is the practice of naming a charitable organization in your long-term financial plans, either during your lifetime or in your estate. There is nothing mysterious about it. There is, however, a lot of paperwork, and most of the vehicles below have specific legal and tax implications that vary by country and by estate.
Bequests.
A charitable gift included in a will or living trust, either as a fixed amount, a percentage of the estate, or a residual share after other beneficiaries are taken care of. The most common form of planned gift.
Beneficiary designations.
Naming the Foundation as a beneficiary, or contingent beneficiary, of a retirement account, life insurance policy, or investment account. Often the simplest planned gift to set up, because it requires only a form with your financial institution.
Donor-advised-fund transfers.
Recommending a grant from a donor-advised fund (DAF) at a community foundation, Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, or similar. Supported by most major DAF sponsors.
Gifts of appreciated stock.
Transferring shares of publicly-traded stock directly to the Foundation. Often more tax-efficient than selling the shares and donating cash, depending on the giver’s situation.
Charitable remainder trusts.
A split-interest vehicle that pays an income stream to the donor or another beneficiary for a period of time, with the remainder going to the Foundation. Typically worth considering on larger gifts, with specialized counsel.
Qualified charitable distributions.
For US donors over 70 and a half, direct transfers from an IRA to a qualified charity, up to the annual QCD limit. Counts toward required minimum distributions without being treated as taxable income.
What we currently accept
A staged rollout, on purpose.
Planned giving requires operational infrastructure we are building on a deliberate schedule. Accepting a bequest in year one, before the Foundation has a published gift acceptance policy and an audited record, would be irresponsible to donors and to future boards. So we are rolling this out in stages.
Year one: cash gifts only.
The Foundation accepts cash contributions and recurring membership gifts at launch. Planned gift vehicles are not yet supported.
Year two: cash and publicly-traded securities.
Gifts of appreciated stock are added once brokerage infrastructure and the Foundation’s investment policy are in place.
Year three and after: full planned-giving suite.
Bequests, beneficiary designations, DAF grants, charitable remainder trusts, QCDs, and non-cash gifts of real property or cryptocurrency are accepted once the gift acceptance policy is board-approved and the Foundation is an established tax-exempt organization in good standing.
The gift acceptance policy
The rules, written down, before we need them.
The Foundation’s gift acceptance policy will be drafted and board-approved before the full planned-giving program opens. It specifies which gift types the Foundation accepts, how each type is evaluated, the thresholds at which outside counsel is required, how restricted gifts are handled, and the kinds of gifts the Foundation will decline.
When the policy is approved, it will be published in full on the governance page. Anyone considering a planned gift will be able to read the rules the Foundation operates under before they begin the conversation.
How to signal intent now
No formal registry. A gentle note is enough.
If you are thinking about naming the Foundation in your will, in a beneficiary designation, or in a future DAF grant, we would be honored to hear about it. Write to give@elitesgen.org with a short note. We will read it, keep it, and reply quietly. You are not committing to anything by writing.
There is no public legacy society yet, no pins, and no formal registry. Those come later, if they come at all, and only with the donor’s full consent. For now, we keep the names of people who have told us about their intent in a private, secure record, so that the Foundation’s future leadership can recognize them when the time comes.
If you have already named the Foundation in a legal document, the most useful thing you can send is the correct legal name and, eventually, the EIN, so that your instructions reach us cleanly. We will publish both here the day they exist.
Legal name and tax status
Elites Generation Foundation, Inc.. 501(c)(3) application pending. EIN to be issued at incorporation. Donors naming the Foundation in an estate document today should reference the legal name above and update the EIN once it is issued. Consult your estate planning attorney or tax advisor for implementation; nothing on this page is legal or tax advice.
Why we are patient about this
Boring and correct beats eager and messy.
Planned giving is a relationship between a person and an institution that may still be around in fifty years. That institution needs to be real before it can be trusted with a bequest. That is not pessimism. It is respect for the people who might one day name us in their will.
We would rather take the extra two years to build a Foundation that handles planned gifts competently, transparently, and forever, than open a program on the day we launch and learn the hard way what we did not know yet. The gifts people give at the end of a life are not a place for a learning curve.
When we are ready, we will say so on this page. Until then, thank you for thinking of the Foundation. It matters more than it probably sounds.
Write when you are ready. No rush.
A paragraph to give@elitesgen.org is enough to begin the conversation, and enough to keep a gentle record of intent until the full program opens.