Planned giving (also referred to as gift planning or legacy giving) enables philanthropic individuals to make larger gifts to charitable organizations than they could make from ordinary income (such as salaries, wages, bonuses, rents, tips, royalties, interest income from bonds, commissions, dividends).

Some planned gifts provide life-long income to donor in return for their gift. Other gift plans use estate and tax planning to provide for charity and heirs in ways that maximize the gift and/or minimize its impact on the donor’s estate.

Thus, by definition, a planned gift is any major gift, made in lifetime or at death as part of a donor’s overall financial and/or estate planning. These include gifts of equity, life insurance, real estate, personal property, or cash.

By contrast, gifts to the annual fund or for membership dues are made from a donor’s discretionary income, and while they may be budgeted for, they are not planned.

Whether a donor uses cash, appreciated securities/stock, real estate, artwork, partnership interests, personal property, life insurance, a retirement plan, etc., the benefits of funding a planned gift can make this type of charitable giving very attractive to both donor and charity.