Non-cash Gifts:
Types of Assets

Appreciated Securities | Life Insurance | Real Estate
Business Interests | Bequests | Retirement Plans

A $5,000 cash gift and a gift of $5,000 in appreciated securities both generate the same charitable deduction. But if you use publicly-traded stocks or bonds to make your gift, you will receive an additional tax benefit: As with appreciated Real Estate, the IRS allows you to make your transfer to NFI without recognizing capital gains on the appreciation. You can thus leverage a larger donation that you could make with cash -- and receive a larger tax deduction -- by "buying low and giving high."

Your gift of securities is valued as of the day it reaches our account if your broker transfers them electronically, or the postmark date if you mail the shares. Your gift value is the average of the high and the low prices for the securities on that date. Contact us to initiate your gift to NFI today!

Donors often overlook the benefits of giving a life insurance policy to NFI. If you are still carrying more insurance coverage than your family obligations now require, you can find a hidden gift asset in a surplus, paid-up policy. Alternately, you can create a gift for the future by taking out a new policy on your life and naming NFI as the owner and beneficiary, thus creating an endowment gift from income rather than capital.

You must name us as irrevocable owner and beneficiary of an insurance policy to secure tax benefits from your gift. A gift of a paid-up policy produces a charitable deduction in the amount of the cash surrender value of the policy. If you create a new policy, your premiums will be tax-deductible. Contact us to initiate your gift to NFI today!

NFI is happy to consider gifts of both residential and commercial real estate. We gratefully review each offer in conjunction with our financial officers, who evaluate the condition and marketability of the property.

Real estate may be given to us outright, or be used to fund a life-income gift such as a unitrust. It may also be transferred through a part-sale/part-gift arrangement (a charitable bargain sale), or a donor may give a home to us and reserve the right to continue to live there (a retained life estate).

With the charitable bargain sale, you sell your residence or other property to NFI at less than its fair market value. The transaction gives you cash that you can use to purchase your next home or as the entry fee for a retirement facility, plus a charitable income tax deduction for the discount you took from the market value.

We mutually agree on the purchase price for your property, and on whether we will pay you in a lump sum or through an installment note.

The bargain sale is the only gift plan that can give you both a lump sum of cash and a charitable deduction.

Another attractive gift plan for real estate is the retained life estate: you give NFI your home, then continue to live there for the rest of your life. We will own the house, but you will continue to be responsible for its ongoing taxes, structural maintenance, and upkeep. And, we mutually agree upfront about what we will do if you no longer wish to live in the house, or become physically unable to continue living there.

You will receive a charitable deduction based on the fair market value of your home minus the present value of the life tenancy you have retained.

With a retained life estate, you make a significant gift to NFI with the most valuable asset you hold, without disturbing your cash flow or your living arrangements. Contact us regarding a gift of real estate to NFI today!

You can give NFI investment partnership shares or closely-held stock, as an outright transfer or to fund a life-income gift. Such a gift should be carefully reviewed by your legal and tax counsel first, and we will also assess it before we proceed. Contact us regarding your potential gift to NFI today!

A gift to NFI in your will or revocable trust proclaims your confidence that we will continue to pursue its mission and make a difference. A bequest is easy to arrange, does not affect your assets or cash flow during your lifetime, and is revocable.

You may have planned your estate through a revocable trust instead of a will. A transfer to NFI from your trust will bring you the same tax and planning benefits as a bequest from a will.

A bequest can deliver a specific dollar amount, or a percentage of the balance remaining in your estate after taxes and specific bequests have been paid. Your bequest or trust distribution to us will reduce the taxable value of your estate for federal estate tax purposes, and is exempt from state inheritance taxes.

Suggested Text for a Bequest:
"I give, devise and bequeath to National Fatherhood Initiative, 101 Lakeforest Blvd., Suite 360, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 (insert dollar amount, percentage, or describe property) to be used for its purposes."

If the largest asset in your estate is your retirement plan -- your 401(k), IRA, Keough, or other such accounts -- you may be surprised to learn that the IRS will impose income tax on any balance that you direct to a non-spouse beneficiary. This tax is in addition to the estate tax that will be imposed on the account. For estates fully subject to the estate tax, the result can be that 75 percent of the value of your retirement plan will be consumed in taxes before your child, relative or friend receives it.

There is a sensible charitable alternative: name NFI as the beneficiary of your retirement plan, then use other assets not subject to income tax to make gifts to your heirs. We won't pay income tax on our distribution and your heirs will receive their share of your estate without the burden of extra taxes.