Aligning Goals & Strategies

There are many ways to make a legacy gift, each with its own financial benefits to you, The ALS Association, and your loved ones. Always consult an estate planning attorney and/or financial advisor for a clear understanding of how each strategy could benefit you, particularly. We are happy to work with your financial team to find the best solution to meet your goals. To help you get started, here’s a basic comparison of gift strategies by goal:

Your Goal	Strategy Considerations
Have a big mission impact without having a big impact on my bank accounts	Making The ALS Association a beneficiary of your financial and or retirement accounts is free, quick, often simple, and can be incredibly impactful. Creating a will often costs only a few hundred dollars and transferring real estate or land to the Association can also be relatively low cost.
Protect my assets, my loved ones, and advance my favorite charitable causes	A comprehensive estate plan most often includes a will and/or trust with up-to-date beneficiary designations on all financial accounts, ensuring you, your loved ones, and favorite charities are cared for.
Avoid the time and cost of probate	A trust, as compared with a will, can avoid probate, saving your trustee time and your estate money.
Have an estate plan that allows me to maintain control and have greater privacy over my assets	Trusts often provide great privacy from the public eye and often allow you to maintain control and investment options for your assets.
Minimize my estate taxes	Establishing a trust can greatly reduce estate taxes, especially a Charitable Lead Trust, and gifting your largest assets (such as real estate, collectibles, and mineral interests) to charity can greatly reduce your estate tax liabilities.
Donate and receive income for life	Through a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust you can donate to The ALS Association and in turn receive varied or fixed income for life!
Reduce income taxes	Funding a life-income gift today not only provides income for life to you and or another beneficiary, but also can provide an immediate income tax deduction, and possible income tax deductions for years to come.
Reduce capital gains taxes	By donating assets held and appreciated for over one year you can maximize the mission impact of your assets and avoid capital gain taxes. (Stocks, mutual funds, real estate, collectibles, mineral interests, etc.)
Begin my estate planning	Contact us for personal assistance with this process and request our free estate planning guides to get started today.