Support Us

The simplest way to make a planned gift is by naming Friends Meeting School (FMS) in your will. A bequest is a meaningful way to support our work without affecting your cash flow during your lifetime. Your attorney can include it when you prepare or revise your will or you can add a codicil at any time.

There are several types of bequests:

• A specific bequest indicates the amount of cash, securities or other assets you wish to leave to FMS. Or it can indicate a specific percentage of the total value of your estate.
• A residuary bequest leaves the remaining portion of your estate (or a percentage of the total) after all other bequests have been satisfied.
• You can make FMS the recipient of a contingency bequest, which takes into account the possibility of a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.

Remembering FMS with a bequest from your estate will help and strengthen the school for years to come. Some of the advantages of creating a bequest include:

• A bequest costs nothing now, yet gives you the satisfaction of knowing you have provided for FMS in the future.
• You retain control of and use of your assets during your lifetime.
• You may modify your bequest if your circumstances change.
• Gifts to FMS from your estate are exempt from federal estate taxes.

• Name Friends Meeting School as a Beneficiary. You can donate to FMS through your retirement plan by naming the school as a beneficiary. Certain retirement plans, including IRAs, Keoghs, 401k and 403b plans allow you to defer paying taxes until you withdraw income during retirement. However, after your death, these accounts are often exposed to significant taxes. Therefore, you might find it beneficial to contribute all or part of these funds to FMS while leaving other assets to your heirs. You will retain control of the plan during your lifetime, and you can change your beneficiary at any time if your circumstances change.

IRA Charitable Rollover or Qualified Charitable Distribution. A special opportunity for those who are 70½ years old and older, you can give a gift of any value $100,000 or less per year from your IRA directly to a qualified charity such as FMS without having to pay income taxes on the money. This popular gift option is commonly called the IRA charitable rollover, but you may also see it referred to as a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD for short. Your gift will be put to use today, allowing you to see the difference your donation is making! Also, beginning in the year you turn 72, you can use your gift to satisfy all or part of your required minimum distribution (RMD). Since the gift doesn’t count as income, it can reduce your annual income level. This may help lower your Medicare premiums and decrease the amount of Social Security that is subject to tax. Please consult your tax advisor to determine how this strategy might affect your specific tax situation.

A charitable trust is a way to achieve your current and long-term financial, estate and philanthropic goals. A donor makes an irrevocable transfer of cash, stock, real estate or other assets to a trust which produces income for the donor or other beneficiary, for a fixed period of time of up to twenty years or until the donor or other beneficiary dies. At the conclusion of the trust period, the remaining principal assets will be distributed to Friends Meeting School.

Charitable trusts take two forms — charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts.
A charitable remainder trust allows you to designate the beneficiary of regular payouts from trust proceeds (for either a fixed dollar amount or a fixed percentage) during your lifetime or for a period of time, not to exceed twenty years. At the same time, FMS is designated a remainder beneficiary. This allows you to claim a tax deduction for the estimated portion of the assets that will ultimately go to FMS upon death or the expiration of the fixed period.

Charitable lead trusts appeal to individuals who wish to make a gift but retain the property. These irrevocable trusts are, essentially, the reverse of charitable remainder trusts in that the payments from a charitable lead trust will first go to FMS for a specific period of time, usually between 10 and 20 years, after which time the principal of the trust will revert to you or to those you have designated.

Please talk with your attorney about setting up these types of trusts.

A no-cost way to make a planned gift to FMS is by designating it the recipient of a bank account or security. You can instruct any financial institution in which you have an account or are the holder of a security to place your asset in a trust (often called a Totten Trust or a Transfer upon Death Account) which will be transferred, upon your death, directly to FMS.

This allows you to retain complete control of the asset during your lifetime and to give the remaining asset to FMS upon your death. Most Totten Trusts can be created easily, using a form obtained from your bank, financial institution or the holder of the security.

Friends Meeting School welcomes philanthropic support through gifts of life insurance policies when the policies are paid in full and FMS is named as the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy.

You can name FMS as the primary or contingent beneficiary of an existing or new life insurance policy. Although a current income tax deduction is not available, it will result in a federal estate tax deduction for the full amount of the proceeds payable to the charity, regardless of policy size. Or you can make an assignment or gift of a life insurance policy that you currently own or donate a new life insurance policy, approaches which allow a current income tax deduction.

Please note the information above about the various donation strategies represents general guidelines and suggestions. Please consult your attorney, accountant, and/or financial advisor to discuss how these strategies may impact your personal financial situation.