What Is Planned Giving?

Planned giving is a term used for charitable gift planning, often for future gifts. What makes planned giving donations different from other types of donations is:

• It usually involves a significant or sizable gift
• The gift is a part of a donor’s estate or financial plan
• The gift is made during or at the end of the donor’s life
• Involves financial and tax planning to maximize the gift value while minimizing impact on the estate.

This is also commonly referred to as legacy giving because the donor is giving something generous as a way of carrying on their legacy and supporting the causes they care about even after they are gone. Now that we know more about what planned giving is, let’s focus on the different types that exist.

Types of Planned Giving

Planned giving offers a creative way to contribute to qualified charities and nonprofit organizations that you care about, even if you aren’t able to offer cash donations during your lifetime. This is because planned gifts allow you to make use of a wide variety of assets. Here are some of the different types of planned or legacy gifts:

Outright Gifts - Outright gifts are the simplest options for planned giving, and nearly anyone can choose to make them. Outright gifts include:

• Bequests - A charitable bequest is generally a gift given to a nonprofit after a donor’s death through a will or estate plan, and is a set monetary amount or percentage of their estate.
• Stock and Appreciated Assets - Stocks and other assets that have appreciated for over one year can be given to a charity, which then sells them and uses the funds. This provides tax benefits for the donor and more money for the charitable organization because the capital gains tax can potentially be forgiven.
• Life Insurance - Donors can designate a registered charity as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy. The charity then receives the proceeds when the benefits are paid out.
• Real Estate - A donor can leave any piece of real estate they own to a charity. This helps their estate by providing a charitable tax credit and allows the charity to either sell the real estate for its full value or use it for its own purposes.
• Personal Property - Donors can also plan to gift any other type of property or items they own, like artwork, books, equipment, furniture, collectibles, and more. The nonprofit organization can then use the items or sell them.
• Retirement Plans - Similar to life insurance, a donor can designate a registered charitable organization as the beneficiary of a portion or all of their registered retirement plans such RSP, RIF and pensions.

There is another type of planned giving—lifetime giving. This type of giving focuses on the opportunity of planning charitable gifts during your lifetime in a variety of ways, with a warm hand. These gifts are often made as tax effectively as possible to help maximize charitable impact in harmony with a good financial plan. 

Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are a popular giving tool used with this kind of major gift planning. You can donate many different types of assets during your lifetime—many of which are listed above. DAFs can help you support the causes that mean the most to you while you’re still around to see the good your gift is doing. 

The Canadian National Christian Foundation is proud to partner with ADVISORS with Purpose who can help donors through a strategic planned giving process. If you are interested in learning more about planned giving or setting up your own estate plan, reach out today!

The Canadian National Christian Foundation provides philanthropic advice and wants to connect God’s money with God’s work. Our staff, our leadership, and our board are all believers who want to help you manage your assets and guide you through creative giving solutions that maximize impact as efficiently as possible. We can handle non-cash gifts quickly and effectively, getting the money into the field as soon as possible with 100% of your funds always available to grant out.

About Canadian National Christian Foundation

CNCF is a community of givers who are seeking to advance the Kingdom of God by connecting the resources God has entrusted to them with His work on earth.

Similar to other public foundations, CNCF’s difference is the commitment of its staff and directors to the Word of God, its non-denominational history and status as a Christian foundation, and its ability to allow donors to donate anonymously, at a time and gift value of their choosing.  Learn more by visiting our website.