Legacy Giving

We hope that you will consider including Saint Barnabas in your estate or financial plans and help sustain our mission for generations to come.
There are many options for including the church in your long-range planning.

Have you included Saint Barnabas in your will or estate planning?
Would you like to learn more about how to do so?

Fill out the form at www.saintbarnabas.org/legacy-society to learn more. 

Thank you for your generosity for the future of Saint Barnabas!

Ways to Make a Planned Gift

• Bequests and Wills
• Charitable Gift Annuities
• Retirement Plans
• Charitable Trusts
• Pooled Income Fund
• Bank Accounts, Securities and Certificates of Deposit
• Life Insurance Policies

Bequests and Wills

The simplest way to make a planned gift is by naming Saint Barnabas in your will. A bequest is a meaningful way to support our work without affecting your cash flow during your lifetime.  Your attorney can include it when you prepare or revise your will or you can add a codicil at any time.

There are several types of bequests:

• A specific bequest indicates the amount of cash, securities or other asset you wish to leave to either Saint Barnabas or the Saint Barnabas Foundation.
• A residuary bequest leaves the remaining portion of your estate (or a percentage of the total) after all other bequests have been satisfied.
• You can make the church the recipient of a contingency bequest, which takes into account the possibility of a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.

Specific Bequest

You can make a bequest to Saint Barnabas for a specific dollar amount or percentage of your estate:  I give, devise and bequeath to Saint Barnabas on the Desert (or the Saint Barnabas Foundation) the sum of $ ____ as an unrestricted gift, to be used at the sole discretion of the Church.

Or, you can make a bequest for specific assets, such as securities, real estate or personal property. Please be as specific as possible in identifying the property:  I give, devise and bequeath to Saint Barnabas on the Desert (or the Saint Barnabas Foundation) my (insert description of the asset), to be used and/or disposed of, as Saint Barnabas determines for its general purposes.

Residuary Bequest

You can make a residuary bequest, which gives all or a portion of the residue of your estate to Saint Barnabas after payment of expenses and any amounts designated to other beneficiaries.

I give, devise, and bequeath to Saint Barnabas on the Desert (or the Saint Barnabas Foundation) X percent of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate as an unrestricted gift, to be used at its sole discretion.

Contingency Bequest

You can make a contingency bequest to Saint Barnabas, which allows you to account for a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.

I give, devise, and bequeath (insert name) X percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate if s/he survives me.  If (insert name) does not survive me, I give, devise and bequeath to Saint Barnabas on the Desert (or the Saint Barnabas Foundation), X percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate as an unrestricted gift, to be used at its sole discretion.

Unrestricted and Restricted Gifts

Gifts that do not restrict the use (unrestricted gifts) allow Saint Barnabas to use these resources where they are most needed. Saint Barnabas is also grateful for gifts that are designated for a specific purpose that advances its mission (restricted gifts), such as support to a specific initiative or for a specific program.

If you are interested in making a restricted gift, it is important the you include language to ensure that Saint Barnabas may re-direct the use of your gift if the specified initiative, program or purpose ceases to need funds in the future: I give devise and bequeath to Saint Barnabas on the Desert the sum of $ ____ to be used for the [insert name of program] for so long as Saint Barnabas determines that the need exists. Should the need no longer exist, Saint Barnabas may, in its sole discretion, direct the use of my bequest for a purpose related as closely as possible to that stated above.

Charitable Gift Annuities

A charitable gift annuity is a simple contract between you and Saint Barnabas. Saint Barnabas will, in turn, contract with the Episcopal Church Foundation (or another qualified financial institution) for the investment of funds and the making of annuity payments. In exchange for your irrevocable gift of cash or securities, the Church agrees to pay one or two annuitants whom you designate a fixed annuity for life, and you will be entitled to an income-tax deduction in the year you make the gift.

At Saint Barnabas the minimum age to start receiving annuity payments is 55. However, you can establish a charitable gift annuity at a younger age and defer the start of annuity payments to age 55. The minimum amount to establish a charitable gift annuity is $5,000.

You will receive an immediate income-tax deduction for a portion of your gift, and your annuity is backed by all of the national Episcopal Church Foundation’s assets.

Retirement Plans

You can contribute to Saint Barnabas through your retirement plan. Certain retirement plans, including IRAs, Keoghs, 401K and 403b plans, allow you to defer paying taxes until you withdraw income during retirement. However, after your death these accounts are often exposed to significant taxes.

Therefore, you might find it beneficial to contribute all or part of these funds to Saint Barnabas (or Saint Barnabas Foundation) while leaving other assets to your heirs. Simply name Saint Barnabas (or Saint Barnabas Foundation) a beneficiary of your retirement plan. You will retain control of the plan during your lifetime, and you can change your beneficiary at any time of your circumstances change.

Charitable Trusts

A charitable trust is a way to achieve your current and long-term financial, estate and philanthropic goals. A donor makes an irrevocable transfer of cash, stock, real estate or other assets to a trust which produces income for the donor or other beneficiary, for a fixed period of time of up to twenty years or until the donor or other beneficiary dies. At the conclusion of the trust period, the remaining principal assets will be distributed to the Church.

Charitable trusts take two forms – charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts.

A charitable remainder trust allows you to designate the beneficiary of regular payouts from trust proceeds (for either a fixed dollar amount or a fixed percentage) during your lifetime or for a period of time, not to exceed twenty years. At the same time, the Church is designated a remainder beneficiary. This allows you to claim a tax deduction for the estimated portion of the assets that will ultimately go to Saint Barnabas upon death or the expiration of the fixed period.

Charitable lead trusts appeal to individuals who wish to make a gift but retain the property.  These irrevocable trusts are, essentially, the reverse of charitable remainder trusts in that the payments from a charitable lead trust will first go to Saint Barnabas for a specific period of time, usually between 10 and 20 years, after which time the principal of the trust will revert to you or to those you have designated.

Pooled Income Fund

In a pooled income fund your gift of $2,500 or more will be “pooled” with other gifts in a professionally managed investment portfolio. You, or your designated beneficiary, will be guaranteed an income for life, although the amount of income will depend on the rate of return on the fund’s investments. You will receive an immediate federal income tax deduction and a possible reduction on your estate taxes. Upon your death, or that of the final beneficiary, the remaining property will come to Saint Barnabas.

Bank Accounts, Securities and Certificates of Deposit

A no-cost way to make a planned gift to Saint Barnabas is by designating it the recipient of a bank account or security. You can instruct any financial institution in which you have an account or the holder of a security to place your asset in a trust (often called a Totten Trust or a Transfer upon Death Account) which will be transferred, upon your death, directly to Saint Barnabas.

This allows you to retain complete control of the asset during your lifetime and to give the remaining asset to Saint Barnabas (or the Saint Barnabas Foundation) upon your death. Most Totten Trusts can be created easily, using a form obtained from your bank, financial institution or the holder of the security.

Life Insurance Policies

Saint Barnabas welcomes philanthropic support through gifts of life insurance policies when the church is named as the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy.

You can name Saint Barnabas (or the Saint Barnabas Foundation) as the primary or contingent beneficiary of an existing or new life insurance policy. Although a current income tax deduction is not available, it will result in a federal estate tax deduction for the full amount of the proceeds payable to the charity, regardless of policy size. Or you can make an assignment or gift of a life insurance policy that you currently own or donate a new life insurance policy, approaches which allow a current income tax deduction.