1. Instruct your attorney to prepare a codicil to your will creating a bequest to your local community foundation. The bequest can be a set amount or a percentage of the residual of your estate.

2. Amend your existing life insurance policy to add your local area community foundation as an additional beneficiary, or as a contingent beneficiary, and receive an estate charitable deduction upon your death.

3. Purchase a new life insurance policy for the benefit of your community foundation. If you make the foundation the owner of the policy, your premium payments are tax deductible.

4. Visit your personnel office at work and ask to amend your group life insurance policy to include your community foundation as one of your beneficiaries. Or, add the foundation as a contingent beneficiary in the event that your primary beneficiary dies before you.		 5. Make your local area community foundation the beneficiary of all, or part of your qualified retirement plan assets. Retirement plan assets are ideal for testamentary charitable gifts because they are otherwise exposed to multiple levels of taxation. You can avoid tax on your retirement plan assets when you give the to a charitable organization.

6. If you are over the age of 65 and disappointed with the income that you are receiving from your long-term stocks, bonds, or certificates of deposit, consider entering into a charitable gift annuity agreement. With a contribution of as little as $5,000, you can enter into an agreement with Minnesota Foundation to pay one or two annuitants, whom you designate, a fixed sum each year for life

.7. Deed your house to a local community foundation, reserving the right to live in it for your lifetime, and you will receive a significant charitable deduction for income and gift tax purposes.		 8. Leave written or oral instructions for your surviving spouse to include the foundation when redrafting his or her will

9. Consider establishing a Charitable Remainder Trust, which can provide a lifetime of income stream, an immediate charitable income tax deduction, avoidance of capital gains if the trust is funded with appreciated property, and no federal estate tax. The payments from the trust can be made in the form of an annuity or a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust assets.

10. If you have a sizable estate, you may want to consider creating a trust that will pay annual income to your local area foundation for a period of years, then distribute the principal of your gift to your children or grandchildren. This type of trust can significantly reduce estate taxes.


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