Ways to Leave a Legacy

There are many ways to leave a legacy with Cincinnati State which can be tailored to your circumstances. This page is meant to be an overview of your options, and how they might meet your tax and income needs. For a personal discussion about your options, contact our Foundation Executive director through the link below. Ultimately, you should consult with your attorney or appropriate financial professional to finalize your plans.

A bequest is one of the easiest ways to make a planned gift. Consult your attorney to simply include language in your will specifying a gift to be made to the Cincinnati State Foundation.

Not everyone wants to commit to making a gift in their will or estate plan. Some prefer the increased flexibility that a beneficiary designation provides by using:

• IRAs and retirement plans
• Life insurance policies
• Donor advised funds
• Commercial annuities
• Bank and brokerage accounts

Moreover, IRA’s, 401(k)s, and other retirement plan benefits may be vulnerable to both income and estate taxes. You can often reduce your tax burden dramatically by designating the Cincinnati State Foundation as a beneficiary of these accounts. Whether a retirement account, life insurance, or other account, it only takes three simple steps to make this type of gift.

Here’s how to name Cincinnati State Foundation as a beneficiary:

1. Contact the administrator of your retirement plan, insurance policy, bank or brokerage account or donor advised fund for a change-of-beneficiary form or simply download a form from your provider’s website.
2. Decide what percentage (from 1 to 100) you would like us to receive and name us, along with the percentage you chose, on the beneficiary form.
3. Return the completed form to your plan administrator, insurance company, bank or financial institution.

There’s a way for your to support Cincinnati State and feel confident that you have dependable income in your retirement years. You can do this with a charitable gift annuity.

With a charitable gift annuity, you agree to make a gift to the College and we, in return, agree to pay you (and someone else, if you choose) a fixed amount each year for the rest of your life. The balance is used to support our work.

This type of donation can provide you with regular payments for life and allow the college to further our mission. You can also qualify for a variety of tax benefits, including reduced capital gains taxes and a federal income tax charitable deduction if you itemize.

If you have built a sizable estate and also are looking for ways to receive reliable payments, consider a charitable remainder trust. At the end of the trust term, the balance in the trust goes to Cincinnati State.

These types of gifts may offer you income and capital gains tax benefits, as well as the option for income.

Securities and mutual funds that have increased in value and been held for more than one year are one of the most popular assets to use when making a planned gift. Making a gift of securities or mutual funds to us offers you the chance to support our mission while realizing important benefits for yourself.

When you give appreciated securities or mutual funds you have held for more than one year you can reduce or even eliminate federal capital gains taxes on the transfer. You may also be entitled to a federal income tax charitable deduction based on the fair market value of the securities at the time of transfer.

Securities are most often used to support our work in the form of:

An outright gift: When you donate securities, you receive the same income tax savings that you would if you wrote us a check, but with the added benefit of eliminating capital gains taxes on the transfer, which can be as high as 20 percent.

A transfer on death (TOD) account: By placing a TOD designation on your brokerage or investment account, that account will be paid over to one or more persons or charities after your lifetime.