Planned Giving

Whether you’re 18 or 80, a will is the best way to make sure the people and causes you love are protected. Without one, the government or courts decide what happens to your belongings. To make it easy for you, Brucemore has partnered with LifeLegacy to bring you a FREE, innovative resource that helps you create a will online in under 20 minutes and establish a lasting legacy with the causes you care about.

Simply use this free tool to create your legal will online, document your wishes, and then finalize them with an attorney. In your will, you can specify the amount or percentage of your estate you’d like to leave to Brucemore and other nonprofits you care about. Many people choose to give between 1-10% of their final assets to charitable organizations.

One of the easiest ways to include charitable giving in your financial planning is through beneficiary gifts. A beneficiary donation is a gift made to an organization that will receive a percentage of the assets after your death. You can specify individuals or organizations as beneficiaries for all or a percentage of the total amount.

There are multiple ways to include Brucemore as a beneficiary and it is often as easy as filling out a form with your bank or retirement specialist. This includes:

• Retirement plans
• Life Insurance policies
• Bank accounts

Beneficiary designations do not require you to update your will or contact your lawyer, making them easily added or changed as circumstances allow. Once you’ve chosen your method and updated your beneficiary list, simply let us know!

Donors 70.5 and older with a traditional IRA are eligible to benefit from making a gift from their IRA! In many cases, these gifts, also known as QCDs, are 100% tax-free and can potentially impact your annual taxes.

For donors 72 and older, the impact can go even further! QCDs also count towards your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) without the taxes associated with regular IRA withdrawals. Also, QCDs make an immediate impact: first and foremost, our IRA gift will support Brucemore’s mission and the key initiatives you care about. You can choose to focus your QCD gift toward the Supporter Fund, Preservation Fund, or a specific project discussed with Brucemore staff.

To help make the process simple, we have a free and secure online tool: a simple platform that brings you to the necessary form to complete from several of the major IRA custodians including Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and more.

Endowed gifts provide a dedicated source of long-term financial support for Brucemore. They enable the organization to plan for the future with security. One gift from you will have decades of impact across the estate.

Brucemore is proud to have a strong partner in the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation for creating endowed gifts. With the help of dedicated staff, you can establish a fund in your name, plan your legacy through planned giving, explore family-focused philanthropy, or give to an existing fund.

The Peggy Boyle Whitworth Friends Fund for Brucemore was established in memory of Brucemore’s first Executive Director. Her work to grow the organization through partnerships, programs, and preservation is always remembered by the many gifts donated to this fund.

Charitable Gift Annuities (CGA) are an agreement between you and a nonprofit organization that provides you with fixed income for life in exchange for a donation. The benefits include an income stream for the rest of your life, partial tax deduction, the ability to donate different types of assets, and supporting your charitable interests. However, there are often minimum amounts and age requirements and these gifts tend to be complex to set up.

There are many ways to set up a CGA including contacting your financial or tax specialist or utilizing a service such as the National Gift Annuity Foundation.