Donate to Royal Oaks UMC

Make a Planned Gift

We hope that you will also consider including Royal Oaks United Methodist Church in your estate or financial plans and help sustain our mission for generations to come. There are many options for including Royal Oaks UMC in your long-range planning.

Ways to Make a Planned Gift

• Bequests and Wills
• Charitable Gift Annuities
• Retirement Plans
• Charitable Trusts
• Pooled Income Fund
• Bank Accounts, Securities, and Certificates of Deposit
• Life Insurance Policies

Bequests and Wills
The simplest way to make a planned gift is by naming the Royal Oaks United UMC 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 asset you wish to leave to Royal Oaks UMC. 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 Royal Oaks UMC the recipient of a contingency bequest, which takes into account the possibility of a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.

Specific Bequest
You can make a bequest to Royal Oaks UMC for a specific dollar amount or percentage of your estate:

I give, devise and bequeath to Royal Oaks UMC the sum of $________ as an unrestricted gift, to be used at the sole discretion of Royal Oaks UMC.

Or, you can make a bequest for specific assets, such as securities, real estate, or personal property. Please be as specific as possible in identifying the property:

I give, devise, and bequeath to Royal Oaks UMC my [insert description of the asset], to be used and/or disposed of, as Royal Oaks UMC determines for its general purposes.

Residuary Bequest
You can make a residuary bequest, which gives all or a portion of the residue of your estate to Royal Oaks UMC after payment of expenses and any amounts designated to other beneficiaries.

I give, devise, and bequeath to Royal Oaks UMC ____ percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate as an unrestricted gift, to be used at its sole discretion.

Contingency Bequest
You can make a contingency bequest to Royal Oaks UMC, which allows you to account for a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.

I give, devise, and bequeath [insert name] ____ percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate if s/he survives me. If [insert name] does not survive me, I give, devise, and bequeath to Royal Oaks UMC, ____ percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate as an unrestricted gift, to be used at its sole discretion.

Unrestricted and Restricted Gifts
Gifts that do not restrict the use (unrestricted gifts) allow Royal Oaks UMC to use these resources where they are most needed. Royal Oaks UMC is also grateful for gifts that are designated for a specific purpose that advances its mission (restricted gifts), such as support to a specific initiative or for a specific program.

If you are interested in making a restricted gift, it is important that you include language to ensure that Royal Oaks UMC may re-direct the use of your gift if the specified initiative, program, or purpose ceases to need funds in the future:

I give, devise, and bequeath to Royal Oaks UMC the sum of $_____ to be used for the [insert name of program] for so long as Royal Oaks UMC determines that the need exists. Should the need no longer exist, Royal Oaks UMC may, in its sole discretion, direct the use of my bequest for a purpose related as closely as possible to that stated above.

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Charitable Gift Annuities
A charitable gift annuity is a simple contract between you and Royal Oaks UMC. In exchange for your irrevocable gift of cash or securities, Royal Oaks UMC agrees to pay one or two annuitants whom you designate a fixed annuity for life, and you will be entitled to an income tax deduction in the year you make the gift.

At Royal Oaks UMC, the minimum age to start receiving annuity payments is 55. However, you can establish a charitable gift annuity at a younger age and defer the start of annuity payments to age 55. The minimum amount to establish a charitable gift annuity at Royal Oaks UMC is $5,000.

You will receive an immediate income-tax deduction for a portion of your gift, and your annuity is backed by all of Royal Oaks UMC’s assets.

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Retirement Plans
You can contribute to Royal Oaks UMC through your retirement plan. 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 Royal Oaks UMC while leaving other assets to your heirs. Simply name Royal Oaks UMC a beneficiary of your retirement plan. You will retain control of the plan during your lifetime, and you can change your beneficiary at any time if your circumstances change.

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Charitable Trusts
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 Royal Oaks UMC.

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, Royal Oaks UMC 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 Royal Oaks UMC 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 Royal Oaks UMC 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.

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Pooled Income Fund
In a pooled income fund your gift of $2,500 or more, will be “pooled” with other gifts in a professionally managed investment portfolio. You, or your designated beneficiary, will be guaranteed an income for life, although the amount of income will depend on the rate of return on the fund’s investments. You will receive an immediate federal income tax deduction and a possible reduction on your estate taxes. Upon your death, or that of the final beneficiary, the remaining property will come to Royal Oaks UMC.

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Bank Accounts, Securities and Certificates of Deposit
A no-cost way to make a planned gift to Royal Oaks UMC 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 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 Royal Oaks UMC.

This allows you to retain complete control of the asset during your lifetime and to give the remaining asset to Royal Oaks UMC 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.

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Life Insurance Policies
Royal Oaks UMC welcomes philanthropic support through gifts of life insurance policies when the policies are paid in full and Royal Oaks UMC is named as the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy.

You can name Royal Oaks UMC 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 that allow a current income tax deduction.

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