Gifts in Your Will or Trust
Including a gift to Bainbridge Community Fund (BCF) in your will or trust is a permanent statement of your values and enables you to create a meaningful legacy without impacting your current financial security. A charitable bequest is also your way of helping ensure that the causes your care about or volunteer for during your life will be supported and sustained even when you are gone. Your gift to BCF also entitles your estate to a charitable estate tax deduction. Read below to learn about the benefits of joining BCF's Legacy Giving program, or the Red Cedar Council.
Red Cedar Council
The Red Cedar Council is a special group of thoughtful and visionary donors who partner with BCF in helping ensure a healthy and sustainable future for the Bainbridge Island community. Their permanent funds, bequests, life income gifts, lead trusts, and other planned gifts provide a valuable pipeline of future support for generations.- A relationship with the foundation and other donors during your lifetime.
- Satisfaction in knowing your legacy will make a difference for your community.
- Special recognition in newsletters and annual reports, unless anonymity is desired.
- A seat at the Annual Red Cedar Council lunch, often enjoyed at Heyday Farm
- Invitation to the September Philanthropy Celebration and other special donor events.
- Some planned gifts can reduce your tax burden during your lifetime, such as gifts of securities donated in-kind.
How to Join Us
To include a gift to a BCF fund in your estate plan, please consult your attorney about how best to implement your intentions in your will, a codicil to your will, or in your revocable living trust. Depending on the type of bequest you decide upon, the following suggested language is designed to help you make a bequest to BCF. More extensive bequest language may be specifically tailored to your needs by your attorney in consultation with BCF.
1. Specific This involves specific gifts to BCF, such as a fixed amount of money, a certain piece of property, or shares of a publicly traded corporation.
I give, devise and bequeath [identify here a specific sum of money or a specific asset] to Bainbridge Community Foundation of Bainbridge Island, Washington (Tax ID # 91-2155208) to be used in such a manner as the Board of Trustees thereof shall direct.
2. Residuary Residuary gifts take effect after specific bequests to your loved ones are made and the costs and other obligations of your estate are paid. They are gifts from the remainder of your estate.
I give, devise and bequeath all [or a portion — for example, 25 percent (25%)] of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate to Bainbridge Community Foundation of Bainbridge Island, Washington (Tax ID # 91-2155208) to be used in such a manner as the Board of Trustees thereof shall direct.
3. Contingent This gift is typically made only the event that certain beneficiaries of your estate do not survive you or an organization you provided for is no longer in existence.
In the event that [insert name of primary beneficiary] shall not survive me, or shall die ninety (90) days from the date of my death, then I give, devise and bequeath [identify here a specific sum of money, a specific asset or the portion of the residual estate that would have been given to the primary beneficiary] to Bainbridge Community Foundation of Bainbridge Island, Washington (Tax ID # 91-2155208) to be used in such a manner as the Board of Trustees thereof shall direct.
Or:
In the event that [insert name of nonprofit organization primary beneficiary] is no longer in existence at my death, then I give, devise and bequeath [identify here a specific sum of money, a specific asset or the portion of the residual estate that would have been given to the nonprofit primary beneficiary] to Bainbridge Community Foundation of Bainbridge Island, Washington (Tax ID # 91-2155208) to be used in such a manner as the Board of Trustees of said Foundation thereof shall direct.
4. Restricted This refers to bequests to BCF that are restricted to specific funds.
I give, devise and bequeath [identify here the specific sum of money, the specific asset or the portion of the residual estate] to Bainbridge Community Foundation of Bainbridge Island, Washington (Tax ID # 91-2155208) specifically for [name of donor-advised, donor-designated, named community, area-of-interest, scholarship or endowment fund].
If it is determined by the Board of Trustees of Bainbridge Community Foundation that all or part of the gift is no longer needed, or for any reason cannot be used for the stated purpose, then such portion of the gift may be used for other related purposes, which the Board of Trustees deems to be in the best interests of Bainbridge Community Foundation giving consideration to the original purposes described above.
Please contact us to discuss the legacy gift that best suits your goals and circumstances.
“When Cameron and I revised our wills several years ago, we wanted to include something for the community in addition to the usual bequests for family members. Bainbridge Community Foundation provided the perfect solution to our need to choose among the many worthwhile nonprofits on the island. We established a testamentary donor designated fund, where our bequests will be prudently invested and carefully dispersed over time to the causes most important to us.”
—Chris Snow, Former Bainbridge Community Foundation Trustee
