How to Give

Gifts from Your Will

Estate Gifts to Merrimack College

Include a gift to Merrimack College in your will. You can make your legacy unrestricted or direct it to a specific purpose. You may even indicate a specific amount or percentage of the balance remaining in your estate.

Benefits

• Your assets remain in your control during your lifetime.
• You can modify your gift to address changing circumstances.
• You can direct your gift to a particular purpose (check with us to make sure your gift can be used as intended).
• Under current tax law, there is no upper limit on the estate tax deduction for your charitable bequests.
• Please advise us so we can thank you and recognize your generous intentions in your lifetime by enrolling you as a member of The 1947 Society.

Planning Tip

If you express your gift as a percentage (e.g., “20 percent of the residue of my estate”), you can maintain the same relative gifts to charities and your heirs, regardless of changes in estate value. If you’re considering designating your gift for a specific purpose, such as a scholarship fund or support for a specific department, contact us to ensure that we understand your wishes.

Sample Estate Gift Language

You may wish to share the following sample language with your attorney:

Unrestricted gift

“I give (a specific dollar amount/a specific asset, or percentage of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate) to the Trustees of Merrimack College, an educational corporation established by law at North Andover, MA, for its general tax-exempt purposes.”

NOTE: If you wish to restrict your estate gift to a specific purpose or program at Merrimack College, please contact Kat Bassney in advance to assure that the language you include will accomplish your wishes and align with Merrimack College’s needs.

Beneficiary Designations from Retirement Accounts and Other Funds

Beneficiaries of your Retirement Plan or your IRA

Designate Merrimack College as a beneficiary of part or all of your qualified retirement plan or your IRA. Normally the assets held in an IRA or qualified retirement plan will be subject to both income and estate taxes, but if you name Merrimack College as a beneficiary of a percentage (or all) of your retirement plan, that portion will pass to Merrimack College free of income or estate taxes.

Payable on Death Bank Account Designation

Designate your bank account to be payable on death (POD) to Merrimack College. There is no change in ownership, control, or benefit from this account while you're living. The POD designation causes whatever funds that remain in the account to go to Merrimack College.

Transfer on Death Brokerage or Investment Account Designation

Designate your brokerage or investment account to be transferable on death (TOD) to Merrimack College. It's not necessary for the TOD designation to transfer all of the account solely to Merrimack College. You can designate percentages of the account to pass to additional beneficiaries. To set up the TOD endorsement, contact your investment advisor and provide the instructions regarding the change.

Make Gifts to Merrimack College

Gifts That Make Payments To You

Fixed Payments for Life

A charitable gift annuity allows you to gain the security of fixed payments for life, receive a tax deduction for a portion of your gift, and make a contribution to Merrimack College that you may not have thought possible.

Fixed Payments for Later

If you don’t need income right away, you can obtain both a higher payout rate and a larger charitable deduction by establishing a deferred charitable gift annuity. A deferred gift annuity provides you with fixed payments for life that begin when you need them and an immediate tax deduction for a portion of your gift.

Variable Payments that Can Grow

Charitable remainder unitrusts allow you to make a gift of cash, stock, or real estate, claim an income a tax deduction for a portion of your gift, and receive variable payments from your unitrust for life or a term of years.

Gifts of Appreciated Assets

Gifts of Publicly Traded Securities

Giving publicly traded shares of stock, bonds, or mutual funds to Merrimack College allows you to turn an appreciated asset into support for students and faculty.

Gifts of Closely Held Stock

Do you own your own business? It’s also possible to give closely held stock to Merrimack College.

Gifts of Real Property

Gifts of Real Estate

Using real estate to make a gift allows you to turn an illiquid, highly appreciated asset into support for students and faculty, claim a charitable income tax deduction, and save capital gains taxes. Donors have contributed to Merrimack College vacation homes, undeveloped land, commercial real estate, personal residences, and condominiums.

GIFTS OF PERSONAL RESIDENCES WITH A RETAINED LIFE ESTATE

By contributing your home, while retaining the right to live in it for life or a term of years, you claim an income tax deduction for a portion of your gift, and, through a retained life estate, continue to use your property during your life time.

Gifts of Life Insurance

Make Merrimack the owner and beneficiary of your life insurance

You may transfer ownership of a paid-up life insurance policy to Merrimack. Merrimack may elect to cash in the policy now or hold it.

How You Benefit from a Gift of Life Insurance

• Make a gift using an asset that you and your family may no longer need.
• Receive an income tax deduction equal to the cash surrender value of the policy.
• You may be able to use the cash value of your policy to fund a gift that makes payments to you, such as a charitable gift annuity.
• Please advise us so we can thank you and recognize your generous intentions in your lifetime by enrolling you as a member of The 1947 Society.

Gifts through your Donor-Advised Fund

Donor-Advised Fund

Designate Merrimack to receive all or a portion of the balance of your Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) through your fund administrator (you also can make a grant to us at any time from your donor-advised fund). The balance in your DAF passes to Merrimack when it terminates.

How You Benefit

• You can direct your gift to a particular purpose (be sure to check with us to make sure your gift can be used as intended).
• Maintain flexibility to change beneficiaries during your lifetime.
• Please advise us so we can thank you and recognize your generous intentions in your lifetime by enrolling you as a member of The 1947 Society.

Gifts Through Trusts

Grantor Charitable Lead Trusts

A grantor charitable lead trust allows you to claim an income tax deduction based on the present value of the future annual payments to Merrimack, and retain the principal when the trust’s term ends.

Charitable Remainder UniTrusts

A charitable remainder unitrust allows you to donate cash or appreciated assets and receive payments based upon a percentage of the trust’s annual value. When the value of the trust increases, so do your payments and your gift to Merrimack. Your donation qualifies for an immediate tax deduction, and you save capital gains taxes.

Flip UniTrusts

A flip unitrust allows you to donate illiquid assets, such as business interests or assets earning little or no income, like undeveloped real estate, and receive an immediate tax deduction. The value of those assets appreciates in the trust tax-free. When the assets are sold, saving capital gains taxes, the trust “flips” to a conventional charitable remainder unitrust and begins making payments to the beneficiary.

Family Trust

A family trust also is called a charitable lead trust because the charity takes the “lead” in receiving payments for a period of time with the remaining assets, plus appreciation, going to members of the next generation when the term of the trust expires. The donors pass the trust assets to heirs at reduced transfer tax cost.

Charitable IRA Rollover

Make a Tax-Free Gift from Your IRA

If you’re 70 ½ or older, each year you can instruct your IRA administrator to transfer all or part of your required minimum distribution (up to $100,000) directly to Merrimack and avoid paying the tax had you taken it as income.

How You Benefit

The charitable IRA rollover allows you to complete charitable gifts with IRA assets during your lifetime.

• Your gifts count toward your Required Minimum Distribution but do not count as income for federal income tax purposes.
• If you’ve already used up your charitable deductions or don’t itemize your deductions, you benefit from gifts through tax-free IRA transfers.
• You can use tax-free IRA rollovers to make any kind of outright gift, including:
  • Annual Fund gifts
  • 50th Reunion gifts
  • Pledge payments
  • Gifts to scholarships or other endowed funds
• Please advise us so we can thank you and recognize your generous intentions in your lifetime by enrolling you as a member of The 1947 Society.

Maximum Gift

An individual taxpayer’s total charitable IRA rollover gift cannot exceed $100,000 per tax year.