What are they?
There are two good and easy ways your clients can use life insurance to fund their giving.  If they have a paid-up (or cash value) life insurance policy that they no longer need for its intended purpose (e.g., children are grown, their spouse is pre-deceased, or tax laws have changed), they can give the policy to a fund at MCF.  The policy will be cashed in, and they can use the proceeds to make grants to charities they recommend immediately.  Or,  they can make life insurance part of their estate planning by naming the Foundation as a partial and/or contingent beneficiary of any insurance policy’s death benefit. If one or more of their primary beneficiaries predecease them, their share can go directly into a fund they establish at MCF.

Highlights

• When your clients make an immediate gift of an insurance policy, they may claim an income tax deduction based on the policy’s current value. MCF can cash in the policy and have proceeds go directly into the fund they establish. Or, they can convert the assets of the policy into a charitable remainder trust.
  
  
• Your client reduces estate taxes, since the value of the policy is removed from their estate.
  
  
• Naming the Foundation as the beneficiary or contingent beneficiary of their life insurance enables them to protect their loved ones while providing for the causes their care about if the policy’s beneficiaries predecease them.
  
  
• They remove an unneeded asset from their estate—without affecting their income.
  
  

For more information about how MCF can partner with you to serve your clients, contact Elizabeth Marlowe, vice president for Philanthropic Services, at 415.464.2517 or by e-mail; or Aviva Shiff Boedecker, director of gift planning, at 415.464.2516 or by e-mail. Or request a copy of You Have a Partner: An Introduction to the Marin Community Foundation for Professional Advisors. This guide provides an overview of the many ways we work with advisors to help them meet their clients' charitable needs.