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Other Ways to Make a Planned Gift

Gifts of Life Insurance and Retirement Plan Assets

 
Naming the National Building Museum as the beneficiary of your retirement and/or life insurance accounts after your death can both increase the financial well-being of our institution and provide you with significant tax benefits.

There are several ways you can make a charitable gift using retirement or life insurance assets:

  • You can specify that your retirement or life insurance funds pass directly to the Museum as the primary beneficiary. 
  • You can transfer your retirement or life insurance assets to a deferred giving arrangement (i.e. a trust) that will pay an income for life to family members or other people of your choosing, after which the remaining assets pass to the Museum.
  • You can set up a deferred gift deisgned to pay a life income to yourself or another beneficiary.

Benefits of gifts of retirement or insurance assets:

  • Retirement plans and insurance assets are subject to estate taxes, as well as income taxes on the beneficiaries; however, gifts of these assets to the Museum are distributed out of probate and are entirely free of estate and income tax.
  • You can designate a specific amount to be given to the Museum before giving the remainder to family or other beneficiaries.
  • Naming the Museum as the contingent beneficiary allows for greater flexibility in your estate plans.
  • Donating retirement plan or insurance assets could be the most cost-effective gift you can make.

Gifts of Real Estate

A gift of real estate can be an attractive way to support the National Building Museum.  The Museum can sell the donated property and use the proceeds to support its mission and you can receive valuable tax benefits.

You can make a gift of real estate:

  • Outright
  • To create a trust that would pay lifetime income
  • Through a bequest
  • With the stipulation that the donor retains the property for life

You may wish to make a gift of real estate to significantly reduce the amount of income, capital gain, and estate taxes you might otherwise have to pay.