Giving

Gifts Through Your Will or Trust

You name Madeira as a beneficiary through your will or living trust and make a charitable contribution to Madeira in the future.  You maintain full control of your assets and you can change the bequest at any time.

Gifts of Stock and Appreciated Securities

Madeira accepts gifts of stock and other securities.  To make a gift of this nature, please find instructions and information for our broker here.  A gift of appreciated publicly traded securities allows you to avoid paying capital gains tax while at the same time receiving an income tax charitable deduction for the fair market value of the securities at the time of the gift.

Gifts of Life Insurance

All life insurance policies allow a policy owner to identify one or more beneficiaries. Many Madeira alumnae choose to designate Madeira as one of their beneficiaries to their life insurance policy. Ownership of a life insurance policy can also be transferred to Madeira.

Gifts of Retirement Assets

Wills and trusts have historically been the vehicles for making bequests upon death.  Now, many people hold a significant portion of their assets in tax-deferred retirement accounts.  By naming Madeira as a beneficiary of all or a portion of your retirement account, your retirement plan assets are transferred to Madeira free of tax, the amount of your estate subject to estate tax is reduced, and your heirs avoid paying income tax on a distribution from your retirement account.

Your retirement asset management company can provide you with these beneficiary designation forms, on which you can list beneficiaries to your accounts.  When listing Madeira, or any non-profit, as a beneficiary, list the Tax ID # in the space where you would typically list an individual’s Social Security Number.

While you are living, especially for people over the age of 70.5, who are required to take minimum distributions from their IRA, there may be advantages to consider a gift through an IRA distribution.

Use our new tool to help calculate your required minimum distribution and make your smartest donation to the Madeira School yet.

Learn more here

Gifts of Tangible Personal Property

If you have valuable assets that you no longer wish to maintain, you may be eligible to receive a tax deduction for donating these items.   While not all gifts of tangible personal property are accepted, we encourage you to contact our office to explore this possibility.  Frequently donated items are: Madeira class rings, equestrian equipment, and gifts of art and antiquities.

Charitable Gift Annuity

A charitable gift annuity provides fixed payments to you (or others you name) for life in exchange for your gift of cash or securities to Madeira.  Charitable gift annuities are easy to establish, and payments are backed by the resources of The Madeira School.

How it works:

1. You make an irrevocable gift of cash or securities to Madeira.
2. In exchange, Madeira pays you a fixed amount each year for the remainder of your life.
3. When your gift annuity ends, the remaining principal passes to Madeira.

Deferred Gift Annuity

A deferred charitable gift annuity is similar to a charitable gift annuity, but you defer your income payments for a year or more, which increases your annuity rate.  Your annuity income is higher not only because your rate is higher but also because your gift increases in value during the deferral period.  A deferred gift annuity works well for a donor who seeks an income tax deduction now but prefers to defer the income until later in life.

Charitable Remainder Trust

A charitable remainder trust can be established during your lifetime or as a bequest under your will or living trust.  If the trust is established during your lifetime, the trust provides income to a named beneficiary (usually you or you and your spouse) during your lifetime (or joint lifetimes) and at death the property remaining in the trust goes to a charity.  If the charitable trust is established under the terms of your will or living trust, the named income beneficiary (usually a child) receives income for a specified period and at the end of that period, trust property is distributed to charity.  A charitable remainder annuity trust pays a fixed income amount based on the initial value of the trust’s assets.  A charitable remainder unitrust, on the other hand, pays a fixed income based on the annual value of the trust’s assets and may vary from year to year.

Donor-Advised Fund

A donor-advised fund is a giving vehicle established at a public charity. It allows donors to make a charitable contribution, receive an immediate tax deduction, and then recommend grants from the fund over time.  Donors can contribute to the fund as frequently as they like, and then recommend grants to their favorite charities whenever makes sense for them.  This is also a way to involve families in charitable decision making.

The charitable dollars in a donor-advised fund (DAF) can be invested before they are granted out. With market growth, your DAF balance can also grow. This makes even more money available for grantmaking. While you can take an immediate tax deduction for the gifts you make to your DAF, you are not taxed on any growth, since the assets belong to the DAF’s charitable sponsor.

Retained Real Estate

You may donate your home to Madeira and receive an immediate income tax charitable deduction, while retaining the right to live in the home for the remainder of your lifetime.  This allows you to make a powerful gift to Madeira and receive immediate tax benefits without changing your current living situation.

Charitable Lead Trust

A charitable lead trust is an irrevocable trust designed to provide financial support to one or more charities for a set period of time, with the remaining assets eventually going to family members or other designated beneficiaries.

A lead trust can run for a designated period of time or for a donor’s lifetime.  It can be created during a donor’s lifetime or posthumously executed in one’s will. A charitable lead trust can reduce estate taxes on trust assets that pass to family members.

Make a Smarter Donation

If you are 70.5 or older, your donations could be saving you more on your tax bill.

Madeira donors who are 70.5 or older are eligible to make tax-free donations from their IRAs, known as Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD), regardless of whether they itemize deductions on their tax returns.

How it works:

Use this free tool to calculate how much you are required by law to withdraw from your IRA this year. It will also provide an estimate of how much a withdrawal will increase your tax bill and how much of a tax penalty you'll incur if you don't withdraw those funds.

Choose how much of that sum you'd like to donate to the Madeira School as a tax-free QCD gift.

Follow the personalized instructions based on which financial institution manages your IRA, and then sit back and relax in the knowledge that your donation is helping Madeira support the personal and academic successes of young women!