Planned Giving

Everyone needs a will, and many people also include a trust as part of their estate plan because of the privacy and flexibility a trust affords. By planning now to make a gift to WCMS following your death, you are making an important investment in WCMS’s future. Your gift will qualify for the estate tax charitable deduction under federal and Massachusetts law.

To include a gift to WCMS in your will, we suggest the following language:

• If you wish to make a gift of a specific cash amount:

“I give the sum of $________ to the Worcester Chamber Music Society, a Massachusetts non-profit corporation, of Worcester, Massachusetts, for its general purposes.”

• If you wish to give all or a portion of the residue of your estate (the “residue” consists of all your property remaining after all your specific gifts are made):

“I give all (or ___%) of the residue of my estate to the Worcester Chamber Music Society, a Massachusetts non-profit corporation, of Worcester, Massachusetts, for its general purposes.”

• If you wish to make a gift of a specific cash amount from your trust following your death:

“Following my death, the trustee shall distribute the sum of $____________ to the Worcester Chamber Music Society, a Massachusetts non-profit corporation, of Worcester, Massachusetts, for its general purposes.”

• If you wish to give all or a portion of the residue of your trust following your death or the death of another trust beneficiary:

“Following my death (or following the death of such other beneficiary), the trustee shall distribute all (or ___% of) the remaining balance of the trust to the Worcester Chamber Music Society, a Massachusetts non-profit corporation, of Worcester, Massachusetts, for its general purposes.”

Naming WCMS as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy is a simple and easy way to remember WCMS in your estate plan. If you’d like to identify WCMS as a beneficiary to receive all or a portion of the death benefit payable under a life insurance policy you own, please contact the life insurance company for a new beneficiary designation form and instructions for completing it. Many companies make their forms available online to their policy holders.

If you own an IRA, a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, or another qualified retirement plan, the most tax-efficient way for you to make a gift to WCMS following your death is to name WCMS as a beneficiary of your retirement plan. Your gift will qualify for the federal and Massachusetts estate tax charitable deductions, and WCMS will pay no income tax on the funds it receives.

From a tax perspective, retirement plans are the least-favored assets to leave to individual beneficiaries because a plan’s value to individual beneficiaries must be reduced by any estate tax attributable to the plan and the income tax the beneficiaries will owe on future withdrawals.

We recommend you consult your financial advisors to determine the most advantageous gift plan for you.

Your gift to WCMS “for its general purposes” allows WCMS to tailor your gift to the organization’s needs. But you may prefer to restrict your gift to a particular purpose: to increase WCMS’s endowment, to sponsor a concert, or to support Neighborhood Strings. If you would like to make a restricted gift, please contact Tracy Kraus, Executive Director, at 978-621-0871 or [email protected].

Other charitable entities and charitable giving techniques, such as charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, and charitable lead trusts, come with complex technical requirements and are best suited to special situations. If you have questions about other gift arrangements or about donations to WCMS in general, please contact Tracy Kraus, Executive Director, at 978-621-0871 or [email protected].