Remembering Bristol Community College Foundation in your will is a wonderful way for you to make a lasting gift. Large or small, your bequest will make an important contribution to our long-term strength and our ability to carry on with our activities.

A charitable gift from your estate is a favored method of giving that enables you to achieve your financial goals and benefit Bristol Community College Foundation. No other planned gift is as simple to make or as easy to change, should you ever need the assets during your lifetime.

A bequest may be right for you if:

  • You want to make a gift to Bristol Community College Foundation.
  • You want the flexibility to change your mind.
  • You want continued access to your wealth, should you need it.
  • You are concerned about outliving your resources.

The following is intended to help you and your attorney in drafting a bequest that satisfies your interests. As you consult your attorney on the selection of appropriate wording to reflect your own goals and intentions regarding Bristol Community College Foundation, be sure our organization’s correct legal name appears in all final documents as:

“Bristol Community College Foundation Inc., 777 Elsbree Street D109, Fall River, MA 02720, a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation, or its successor, Federal Tax Identification Number: 04-2707491.”

General Bequest of a stated sum of money may be worded:

“I give to Bristol Community College Foundation Inc., 777 Elsbree Street D109, Fall River, MA 02720, a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation, or its successor, Federal Tax Identification Number 04-2707491 [insert here the exact dollar amount].”

Specific Bequest of a certain asset from your estate may be worded:

“I give to Bristol Community College Foundation Inc., 777 Elsbree Street D109, Fall River, MA 02720, a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation, or its successor, Federal Tax Identification Number 04-2707491, [insert here a description of the particular property].”

Residuary Bequest, after other bequests and expenses have been paid, may be worded:

“I give to Bristol Community College Foundation Inc., 777 Elsbree Street D109, Fall River, MA 02720, a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation, or its successor, Federal Tax Identification Number 04-2707491, all [or a portion] of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate.”

Contingent Bequest if the person making the will is not survived by certain individuals:

“If [name/s of primary beneficiary/ies] do/es not survive me, or shall die within ninety (90) days from the date of my death, or as a result of a common disaster, then I give to Bristol Community College Foundation Inc., 777 Elsbree Street D109, Fall River, MA 02720, a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation, or its successor, Federal Tax Identification Number 04-2707491, [insert here the exact dollar amount, description of property, or percentage of residual estate].”

 

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If you don't have a will or living trust, you are not alone. Most Americans don't have a will.

Without a will, the laws of your state will decide how your estate is divided. Typically, the probate court will divide your estate among your closest surviving family members according to a formula, and none of your estate can go to Bristol Community College Foundation or any other charity. If you wish to have a say in how your estate is distributed, you must have a will or living trust. We encourage you to work with an experienced attorney to create a will or living trust that accomplishes your goals for your estate.

Ways You Can Define a Charitable Gift in Your Estate Plan

There are several ways that you can define the amount of your charitable gift to Bristol Community College Foundation. They are:

  • A gift of a particular amount of money. For example, you give $25,000.
  • A gift of a specific item or items. For example, you give 1,000 shares of ABC Corporation.
  • A gift that will be made only if one or more conditions are met. For example, you give $25,000 provided we still offer a particular program or service and your spouse does not survive you.
  • A gift that will be made from the remainder of your estate once all other bequests, debts, and taxes have been paid. For example, you give 25% of the remainder of your estate. Often called a "residuary bequest," this approach assures that your family will be taken care of before your estate makes a bequest to us.

Ways to Specify How We May Use Your Bequest

You have several options for telling Bristol Community College Foundation how we may use your bequest once we receive it. They are:

  • An Unrestricted Bequest: This is a gift for our general purposes. This can be the most useful kind of gift because it allows us to put your gift to the best possible use at the time we receive it.
  • A Restricted Bequest: This is a gift for a specific use, such as a special project or program that is important to you. It is best for you to consult with us before placing restrictions on your bequest to be sure we can carry out your wishes.
  • An Endowed Bequest: This is a gift where our organization invests your donation along with the rest of our endowment. We distribute these funds in accordance with our endowment spending policy. This approach assures that your gift will continue to benefit us long after you're gone. An endowed bequest can be restricted or unrestricted.
  • An Honorary Bequest: This is a gift made in honor of someone else. Any form of bequest can also be an honorary bequest. We would be pleased to recognize the people you wish to honor with your gift.

Make Sure We Can Carry Out Your Wishes

It is very important that your bequest be accurately and clearly described in your estate plan so that we can carry out your wishes as you intended. We are pleased to consult with you regarding the terms of your bequest to make sure that we will be able to carry out your intentions. In order to avoid any possible question that your bequest is to our organization, be sure to include our full legal name and our federal tax identification number in your bequest.

Legal name: Bristol Community College Foundation Inc.

Current address: 777 Elsbree Street D109, Fall River, MA 02720

Tax identification number: 04-2707491

We are happy to provide you with sample bequest language to assist you and your attorney. You have complete flexibility to change your bequest at any time. If circumstances change in a way that makes you want to revise your gift to us, you can.

Tax Benefits

Because your bequest is revocable, you do not receive an income tax charitable deduction when you create it. Rather, your estate will receive an estate tax deduction for the full value of your bequest in the year it is made. Depending on a variety of factors, including the size of your estate and estate tax law at the time your estate is settled, this deduction may or may not save estate taxes.

Bequest Alternatives

In addition to adding bequest language to your will, here are a few other simple ways for you to make a bequest to us:

  • Make Bristol Community College Foundation a designated beneficiary of a life insurance policy.
  • Make Bristol Community College Foundation a designated beneficiary of an IRA or other retirement plan.
  • Make Bristol Community College Foundation a designated beneficiary of savings bonds.
  • Instruct your bank to "pay on death" to Bristol Community College Foundation some or all of a specific bank account.
  • Instruct your brokerage firm to "transfer on death" to Bristol Community College Foundation some or all of a specific brokerage or other financial account.

Please let us know if you have included Bristol Community College Foundation in your estate plans. We would welcome the opportunity to thank you for your thoughtful gift and to confirm that we can carry out your wishes.

Example

Olivia Dyer*, a widow, has been a supporter of Bristol Community College Foundation for many years. Olivia is in good health now, but does not want to be a financial burden to her children should she require expensive health care in the future.

Bristol Community College Foundation is one of two charities to which she has been most dedicated. She would like to make a lasting gift to each of them in memory of her husband. After discussing her options with her estate planning advisor, she decides to create a residuary bequest in her will for each of her two favorite charities. Each charity will receive 50% of the remainder of her estate after all other obligations, such as taxes and bequests to her children and grandchildren, have been taken care of.

Benefits

  • Olivia’s assets will remain available to her should she need them.
  • The revocable nature of her gift will minimize the possibility that she will ever need financial help from her children.
  • If her estate is worth what she expects when it is settled, she will be able to provide generous legacy gifts to the two charities that have meant the most to her and her late husband.

Example

Peter Davis*, 75, is a retired business executive who has accumulated $500,000 in the retirement plan that he set up through his company years ago. He takes minimum distributions from his plan in order to preserve as much tax-free growth inside the plan as he can. At this rate, he expects that his account may still be worth $500,000 when he dies.

Peter has reached the time in his life when he has begun thinking about the legacies he wants to leave behind after he is gone. He decides to leave a bequest to Bristol Community College Foundation to create an endowed fund that will perpetuate generous support in his name. To accomplish his goals, he designates 40% of the final balance in his retirement account for Bristol Community College Foundation.

Benefits

  • There will be no income tax or estate tax on the 40% of Peter's retirement plan assets that are transferred to Bristol.
  • Assume the balance in Peter's IRA when it ends is $500,000 and he donates 40% of that balance ($200,000) to Bristol. If Peter were to pass the same amount to his family, that distribution would be subject to ordinary income tax. His family would owe income tax of $74,000 (37% bracket) on the IRA assets, leaving only about $126,000 for their own use. If Peter’s estate is subject to estate tax the tax savings would be even greater since his estate would be entitled to an estate tax charitable deduction of $200,000.
  • Peter has the immediate satisfaction of knowing that he has put a gift plan in place that will keep his name alive and support Bristol Community College Foundation long after he is gone.

*Fictionalized person

Designate your remaining Qualified Retirement Plan assets as a contribution to Bristol Community College Foundation.

Another attractive option is to designate Bristol as the recipient of some or all of what’s left in your IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or other Qualified Retirement Plan at the end of your lifetime.

In addition to having the satisfaction of making a significant future gift to Bristol, your benefits include:

  • Your estate is entitled to an unlimited estate tax charitable deduction for the value of your Qualified Retirement Plan donated to Bristol.
  • Since Bristol is tax-exempt, there will be no income taxes paid on the distribution to Bristol.
  • A tax-smart estate planning strategy is to contribute taxable Qualified Retirement Plan assets to Bristol and preserve non-retirement plan assets for your heirs.

Note: Directing your Qualified Retirement Plan to charitable and noncharitable beneficiaries can accelerate the income tax. Always consult with your advisors before naming the beneficiaries of your Qualified Retirement Plan.

How do I Pass Retirement Plan Assets to Bristol?

You have several good options for passing your retirement plan assets to us.

Beneficiary Designation

The simplest and most common way to give retirement plan assets is to make our organization a beneficiary of your retirement plan. All you need to do is to file a revised beneficiary designation form with your retirement plan administrator to designate our organization as a beneficiary of your plan and name the percentage of your remaining assets that you want us to receive. The retirement plan assets that you designate for us will avoid all income tax and estate tax. In order for your estate to enjoy both of these tax benefits, it is especially important that you make our organization the designated beneficiary of these retirement plan assets, not your estate. Please identify us on the form with our legal name: Bristol Community College Foundation Inc.