Life Insurance Giving Ideas

By: Laurie Valentine

Using life insurance for charitable giving allows you to make a larger gift than you may have ever dreamed possible. That’s because the premiums you pay are generally significantly less than the life insurance death benefit that will pay out at your death.

There are two ways to make a life insurance charitable gift. You can name the charity the primary or contingent beneficiary of the policy or you can transfer ownership and all rights in the policy to the charity.

Naming one or more charities as the primary or contingent beneficiary of a life insurance policy is simple. Doing that provides no current tax benefits to you, but does set up a plan to fund a potentially significant gift to the named charitable beneficiaries at your death for which your estate would get an estate tax deduction.

Transferring ownership of a cash value policy to a charity is a charitable contribution for income tax deduction purposes. If the policy is paid-up, the charity holds it until you die and collects the death benefit. If premiums are still due on the policy, cash gifts you make in future years to the charity to provide the funds for premium payments are additional charitable gifts. If you get to the point you can no longer provide funds for future premiums, or don’t want to do that from the outset, the charity can cash in the policy or adjust the death benefit to take it to “paid up” status.

Leverage your charitable giving through a life insurance gift.

Laurie Valentine is COO and Trust Counsel for the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; (502) 489-3533 or 1-866-489-3533 (Toll-free, Kentucky Only); KYBaptistFoundation.org.

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Life Insurance: Ways to Give

By: Richard Carnes

People purchase life insurance for the following reasons:

· Income Replacement - which is especially important for younger couples with children who want to provide income for survivors in the event of premature death.

· Mortgage protection - to pay any mortgage balance due at death.

· Final Expenses - following a death when other sources of cash may not be available.

· Liquidity - particularly important in the case of a large estate with assets like a private business when money is needed for taxes and other expenses.

You Can Give Unneeded Life Insurance

With the passage of time, these needs for life insurance may no longer exist. The children have grown and left home, the mortgage has been paid, significant investments have accumulated, and either a business has been sold or a transition plan developed. In these cases, the insurance policy can make an excellent charitable gift.

If you are one of those with an insurance policy no longer needed for its original purpose, consider transferring ownership of it to a Baptist ministry or to the Foundation to create an endowment fund that will support the Baptist ministries of your choice. If the policy is paid up, you would receive a charitable deduction for the lesser of the replacement value and your cost basis (a value that can be provided by the insurance company). If you are still paying premiums, you would receive a charitable deduction for approximately the cash value of the policy and you would also receive deductions for premiums you subsequently pay.

You Can Name a Charitable Beneficiary

If you prefer to retain ownership in case your circumstances should change and you or your family might need the cash value or proceeds from the policy, you could name the charity as beneficiary but not policy owner. Although you would not receive a current income-tax deduction, your estate would be entitled to an estate-tax deduction for any proceeds paid to the charity.

A life insurance policy can be a great way to ensure a future gift to Baptist ministries. To learn more, you may contact the Foundation’s trust counsel, Laurie Valentine, or me at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is the president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866) 489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Life Insurance Legacy Gifts

By: Laurie Valentine- COO & Trust Counsel

Using life insurance to make a legacy gift to your church, the Cooperative Program or other charitable organization allows you to make a larger gift than you may have ever dreamed possible. That’s because the premiums you pay are generally significantly less than the life insurance death benefit that will pay out at your death.

There are two ways to make a legacy gift with life insurance. You can name the church or other charity the primary or contingent beneficiary of the policy or you can transfer ownership and all rights in the policy to the charity.

Naming one or more charities as the primary or contingent beneficiary of a life insurance policy is simple. Doing that provides no current tax benefits to you, but does set up a plan to fund a potentially significant gift to the named charitable beneficiaries of the policy at your death for which your estate would get an estate tax deduction.

Transferring ownership of a life insurance policy to a charity is a charitable contribution for income tax deduction purposes. If the policy is paid-up, the charity holds it until you die and collects the death benefit. If premiums are still due on the policy, cash gifts you make in future years to the charity to provide the funds for premium payments are additional charitable gifts. If you get to the point you can no longer provide funds for future premiums, or don’t want to do that from the outset, the charity can cash in the policy or adjust the death benefit to take it to “paid up” status.

Leverage your legacy giving through a life insurance gift.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact me at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

12 Creative Giving Ideas for 2015- #4

By: Laurie Valentine-Acting President, CFO & Trust Counsel

Using life insurance to make a legacy gift allows you to make a larger gift than you may have ever dreamed possible. That’s because the premiums you pay are generally significantly less than the life insurance death benefit.

There are two ways to make a legacy gift with life insurance. You can name the charity the primary or contingent beneficiary of the policy or you can transfer ownership and all rights in the policy to a charity.

Naming one or more charities as the primary or contingent beneficiary of a life insurance policy is simple. Doing that provides no current tax benefits to you, but does set up a plan to fund a potentially significant gift to the named charitable beneficiaries at your death for which your estate would get an estate tax deduction.

Transferring ownership of a life insurance policy to charity is a charitable contribution for income tax deduction purposes. If the policy is paid-up, the charity holds it until you die and collects the death benefit. If premiums are still due on the policy, cash gifts you make in future years to the charity to provide the funds for premium payments are additional charitable gifts. If you get to the point you can no longer provide funds for future premiums, or don’t want to do that from the outset, the charity can cash in the policy or adjust the death benefit to take it to “paid up” status.

Leverage your legacy giving through a life insurance gift.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1(866) 489-3533.

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Leverage Your Charitable Giving

By: Laurie Valentine-COO & Trust Counsel 


Leveraging in the context of charitable gift planning means using the financial resources you have in a way that provides the biggest ultimate gift.

Using life insurance to fund a charitable gift is a great way to leverage your charitable giving. While you may not be able to make a gift of thousands of dollars all at once, you may have the financial resources to make gifts of modest amounts on a regular basis to cover the cost of the premiums on a life insurance policy on your life. Or, you may be in a position to give up ownership of a policy you purchased years earlier for a particular financial need that no longer exists.

The simplest way to set up a gift to charity using life insurance is to designate one or more charities as either the primary or contingent beneficiary of a policy on your life. This option provides no current tax benefits to you, but sets up a plan to fund a potentially significant gift to the designated causes at your death for which your estate would get an estate tax deduction. You may designate the proceeds to be paid outright to the charitable beneficiaries or to an endowment fund benefiting one or more charitable causes.

Another option is to make an irrevocable transfer of the ownership of an existing policy to charity, or arrange for the charity to purchase a new policy on your life with funds you provide. Such a gift is a charitable contribution for income tax deduction purposes. And, if you give the charity-owner of the policy cash in future years to pay the premiums after you transfer ownership, you will be entitled to additional deductions.

At your death, the charity can collect the life insurance proceeds immediately; there is no waiting for the settlement of your estate and usually no expense. Best of all, the amount the charity receives is usually far larger than the total premiums paid during your lifetime.

A charitable gift of life insurance----a simple, but effective way to leave a legacy and make a lasting difference.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

E-Devotional- Week 28

Creative Giving Ideas-Week 2

Giving Out Of Assets Vs. Income 

The churches, associations, institutions and agencies of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and Southern Baptist Convention are making a difference for the Kingdom of God in our state, nation and around the world. They are worthy of significant and sacrificial support that will enhance and undergird their missions and ministries.

Perhaps you would like to make gifts above what you give out of income as tithes and offerings to provide on-going support to one or more of these causes, but you may be concerned that such gifts could affect your financial security and that of your family. This lesson will provide ideas about how you may give out of your assets.

Scripture References: Proverbs 3:9; Luke 16:10-12; 1 Timothy 6:7.

Please read these passages in your Bible now.

How Can I Honor God With My Wealth?

“Wealth” refers to your assets, your estate. Tithes and offering giving is, generally, giving out of your income. Honoring God with your wealth means giving out of your assets, whether it’s to a church building program, Baptist college’s capital campaign, or to establish an endowment fund to benefit state, national and/or international missions. This is giving out of your principal cash, stocks, bonds, mutual fund shares, real estate, life insurance and/or retirement assets.

When Should I Honor God With My Wealth?

Giving out of assets can be done during your lifetime through outright gifts, endowment gifts and life income gifts. Consideration should also be given to giving out of your estate at your death through a bequest in your Will or Trust or a life insurance or retirement account beneficiary designation that sets up a gift of a designated amount or share of your estate to pass to one or more charitable causes at your death.

Is There A Way to Make A Gift That Keeps On Giving?

Many people would like to make a gift that provides on-going support to the cause or causes they want to benefit. This can be accomplished through the creation of an endowment fund. An endowment fund is a permanent, perpetual fund created during your lifetime and/or at your death for the support of one or more charitable causes. Only the earnings of the endowment fund are paid to the causes you designate; the original value of what you place in the endowment fund is never distributed. Endowment fund giving provides the opportunity to make gifts that keep on giving.

Prayer Focus: Take some time now to ask for God’s guidance in how you can honor God with your wealth and extend your Christian witness.

Next Week: Appreciated Asset Gifts 

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Ways to Give to Baptist Causes

By: Laurie Valentine-COO & Trust Counsel 

Your church, association and the Kentucky Baptist Convention and its agencies and institutions have a wide variety of important ministries that need financial support to launch them into reality or to continue or expand their existing programming. The methods by which you may support these important causes through legacy giving (giving out of your assets, rather than your income) are also wide-ranging.

An outright gift of cash, appreciated securities or real estate is probably the most common, and simplest, way to make gifts during your lifetime.

Other methods of lifetime giving, such as charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts, allow you to provide a future benefit to one or more Baptist causes while retaining an annual income for your lifetime or a term of years.

There are also a variety of methods you can arrange now to benefit the causes of your choice at your death. The most common is a bequest in your Will or Living Trust. Another possibility is to name a Baptist cause as the beneficiary of some portion of your IRA or a life insurance policy no longer needed for family security.

You can designate your gift be used for a specific program or ministry of the benefiting organization, rather than giving the organization the choice of how to use your gift. You may also want to limit the organization to using only the earnings off what you give (this type of arrangement is called an “endowment fund”).

Gifts may be made directly to the benefiting organization or may be given to a third party, such as the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, to manage for the designated beneficiary cause or causes.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.