Planned Gifts

Fund the Future of the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health Through Planned Gifts
Planned giving makes your every dollar go farther! To maximize your charitable giving, as well as fulfill your own financial needs, you can fund the future of the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health through your estate planning. Making a gift through your estate is one of the most effective ways to ensure that we can carry on our mission to heal lives far into the future.

Gifts Though Your Will or Living Trust

A gift to the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health through your will or living trust is a powerful statement of your support our mission: to alleviate suffering and facilitate spiritual, physical and emotional healing and growth for our community and God’s World. It may also provide a reduction in your taxable estate. The most common planned gift is a bequest through your will or living trust. You can arrange a gift of a specific amount, a percentage of your estate, or even all or part of the residuary of your estate. If you would like to make such a gift to the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health, your attorney may wish to include language similar to the following: "I give, devise, and bequeath to the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health, now or formerly in the City of San Antonio, 8310 Ewing Halsell, in the State of Texas, (dollar amount or __ percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate), to be used for its general purposes."

Gifts Through Life Insurance or Retirement Plan Beneficiary Designations

Naming the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy or retirement plan is a simple and smart way to provide for our organization. It may also benefit your heirs through avoidance of substantial income and estate taxes. To create a legacy for the Humane Society through a beneficiary designation, you may:
Name Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health as beneficiary of a retirement fund
Name Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health as beneficiary of an insurance policy

Retirement Plans

Retirement plan assets are among the best assets to use for charitable gifts. You can create a legacy by naming Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health as beneficiary or contingent beneficiary of an IRA, 401 (k), 403 (b), Keogh account, or other qualified retirement plan. Upon your death, all or a portion of the unused balance in your account is transferred to the Center as a charitable gift. When a retirement account is left to a charity, the organization does not pay the income tax otherwise due if left to a friend or non-spouse family member. To make such a gift requires merely completing a change of beneficiary form, which may be obtained from the plan administrator.

Insurance Policies

If you no longer need their life insurance that was purchased years ago to provide for children or other family members, please consider donating the policy to the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health. You may claim a charitable deduction for approximately the policy's cash surrender value, and the proceeds are completely removed from your estate. Life insurance may also be used to create a legacy by naming Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health as beneficiary or contingent beneficiary of the policy. This requires that you complete a change of beneficiary form with the insurance company. If you name the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health as beneficiary, you can change your mind at any time by updating the change of beneficiary form.

Life Income Plans: Gifts That Give You Income for Life

Life income plans allow you to support the Center and, in return, receive income for the rest of your life. Life income plans may also provide significant income tax savings and favorable capital gains tax treatment on gifts of appreciated property. Our staff works with donors and their advisors on many special ways of giving. A life income gift is particularly suitable if you want: payments for the rest of your life, an income tax deduction, and a reduction in capital gains tax.

Charitable Gift Annuities

A charitable gift annuity is a special giving arrangement in which, in return for a gift of at least $5,000 (or $10,000 for two annuitants), the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health provides guaranteed, fixed payments to you and/or another person for the rest of your lives. The rate of your payments is based on your age when the gift is made and will not change. A portion of your annuity payments may be tax-free, depending on the specifics of the gift. A charitable gift annuity also entitles you to partial income tax charitable deduction and may provide capital gains and estate tax benefits. After your lifetime, the remainder of your gift will support the work of Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health.

Charitable Remainder Trusts

To set up a trust that will ultimately benefit Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health, while providing you with continuing income, you would make an irrevocable gift of $100,000 or more to establish a distinct trust fund in your name. All donors qualify for an income tax charitable deduction. If you make your gift with appreciated securities, you avoid the capital gains tax on long-term appreciation. With a charitable remainder unitrust, your payment rate is fixed, but the amount fluctuates based on the value of the trust each year. With a charitable remainder annuity trust, your payment amount is fixed and does not fluctuate through time. In both trusts, the income is taxed as ordinary income to you. But most importantly, you have established a legacy for Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health.

Gifts of Real Estate

A residence, a vacation home, acreage (even a farm) or an unimproved parcel of land may have appreciated so significantly in value that its sale by you would generate a substantial income tax burden. By making a gift of a full or partial interest in real estate to the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health, you will avoid tax on the long-term capital gain and generate an income tax charitable deduction for the full fair market value of the property. It is also possible to make a gift of your primary residence or second home while retaining an exclusive life estate so that you (and your spouse) can continue to use it for the rest of your lives while obtaining significant tax and estate planning benefits.

Contact Us:

If you would like more information, or would like to let us know that you have already included the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health in your estate plans, please contact Bryan Chase at 210-616-0885. We look forward to speaking with you!

Legal Information:

The Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health is a 501-c-3, not-for-profit organization as determined by the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.