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Living Unlimited, Inc. is a non-profit corporation with an IRS Section 501(c)(3) exemption. As a result, all donations in cash or in kind are tax deductible.

Tax ID: 47-5161917

Planned Giving to Living Unlimited

A planned gift is any major gift made in your lifetime or at death as part of your overall estate planning that benefits charities and heirs. It is an important philanthropic tool to support Living Unlimited and its mission in a meaningful and substantial way.

Planned giving can enable you to make larger donations than you could make from your normal income. Through estate and tax planning techniques, planned gifts can be set up to maximize the gift and/or minimize the impact of the gift on your estate.

Planned giving can be beneficial to you and to Living Unlimited by creating life-long supporting living communities for some of the most vulnerable in society – adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

To make the soundest decisions possible for you, your family and the charity, Living Unlimited strongly recommends that you speak with a certified financial planner or estate planning specialist. If you or your financial advisor would like to discuss planned giving with us, please contact Alex Krem, chairman of the Living Unlimited Board of Directors, at 510-610-3555 or via email at Alex@living-unlimited.org.

What can be donated through planned giving:

  • Bequest
  • Cash
  • Appreciated securities/stock
  • Real estate
  • Artwork
  • Partnership interests
  • Personal property
  • Life insurance
  • Retirement plan

The benefits of planned giving may include:

  • Tax advantages
  • The possibility of gifting from current (even illiquid) assets such as securities or real estate, as opposed to cash
  • The potential for making a significantly larger gift than might be normally possible
  • The potential to leave a lasting legacy to Living Unlimited’s mission to create and sustain nurturing living communities for adults unable to provide independent living arrangements for themselves
  • The ability to save significantly on estate taxes
  • There are several different options for providing a planned gift to Living Unlimited.

Bequest

One of the simplest ways to remember Living Unlimited in your estate plan is through your will. You may designate Living Unlimited to receive cash and/or other assets at the time of your death. Memorials can be established with bequests to honor a family member or someone else.

To make a bequest of cash or property to Living Unlimited, please ensure the following language is included in your will:

“I give and bequeath to Living Unlimited, a non-profit organized under the laws of the state of Delaware, and having its main office at 2625 Alcatraz Avenue #335 Berkeley, CA 94705 the sum of $ ________ or ________% of the residue, rest and remainder of my estate to be used for the general purpose and mission of the organization.”

Retirement Plan Assets

Assets remaining in retirement plans at your death funded with pre-tax dollars are considered “income in respect of a decedent.” Not only are your assets diminished by estate taxes, your heirs must also pay income taxes on them.

If your family is otherwise well provided for, retirement plan assets are an extremely tax-efficient gift and allow your family to avoid all income and estate taxes when you name Living Unlimited as the primary beneficiary.

You can continue to withdraw from the retirement plan during your lifetime, but upon your death the assets can be transferred to Living Unlimited.

Life Insurance

Life insurance is a good tool for planned giving to charity. Life insurance can be gifted by transferring the ownership of an existing policy to Living Unlimited, which usually results in a tax deduction for the policy’s fair market value or cost basis, if lower, on the date of the gift. If you name Living Unlimited as a beneficiary on a new policy or add the charity as a beneficiary on an existing policy, your estate will receive an estate tax deduction for the insurance proceeds.

Charitable Remainder Trusts

With a charitable lead trust you transfer assets to a trust to provide income to Living Unlimited for a period of predetermined years. At the end of the designated period, the trust assets revert either to the donor or to someone else the donor designates.