Planned Giving

Your Will

One of the simplest planned giving strategies you can use is to write in your will that you wish to leave a portion of your estate to charity. You can name Prickly Pear Land Trust or any other non-profit. You can designate cash gifts, life insurance policies, stocks or bonds, or annuities.

Gift of Appreciated Securities

If you have stocks, bonds, mutual funds or index funds that have increased in value substantially, you can give yourself a tax break and support Prickly Pear Land Trust at the same time. By donating the securities to the Land Trust, you can claim the current market value of the gift and avoid paying capital gains taxes. The Land Trust receives the immediate financial benefit by selling the security, and will not pay any taxes on it.

Life Insurance

You can name Prickly Pear Land Trust as primary beneficiary of your life insurance policy, or as contingent beneficiary should your other beneficiaries not survive you. After your lifetime, the benefits from your policy pass to the Land Trust free of federal estate tax.

The advantages of this type of gift are that you continue to own your policy, you can change your beneficiaries at any time, you remove this asset from your potential gross taxable estate, and you know that you are helping the Land Trust in the future.

Deferred Gift Annuity

A deferred gift annuity is a contract in which a charity agrees to pay you fixed income for life. In the case of Prickly Pear Land Trust, we work in partnership with the Montana Community Foundation on deferred gift annuities, because the Foundation holds our endowment. The annuity contract specifies that you will receive an annual fixed amount of money starting at a specific age (often retirement). The contract names a beneficiary (or beneficiaries), and then names Prickly Pear Land Trust after your beneficiary is deceased. The longer there is between the time the annuity is established and the date of the first payment, the higher the amount the annuity payment will be.

Who Should Set Up a Deferred Gift Annuity?

This is a good choice of gift if you

• currently have sufficient income to meet your needs.
• need or want the current tax benefits available from both the federal and state levels.
• want to supplement your income after retirement.

How Does it Work?

You give the gift to the Montana Community Foundation and name Prickly Pear Land Trust as the final beneficiary. You choose the year you wish to start receiving income from the annuity. You can claim an immediate one-time federal income tax deduction. Montana residents can also claim a tax credit through the Montana Qualified Endowment Tax credit for 40% of your gift, up to a maximum of $10,000 per person per year.

Your gift is invested in the Land Trust's endowment. At the chosen date, you begin to receive your payments. After your death, Prickly Pear Land Trust is provided with income in perpetuity.

For More Information

Please call the Land Trust office at 406-442-0490 and ask to speak to the Development Director.

There are other planned giving options available to you. Please contact us at the office at 406-442-0490 to learn more.

Information provided on this site is not intended to be tax or legal advice. Please consult with your investment planner or accountant before you make a decision about a charitable gift.