Community as your beneficiary
Gift of Life Insurance
Life insurance provides a simple way for you to give a significant gift to charity, with tax benefits that you can enjoy during your lifetime.
How it works
- You make the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of your life insurance policy — you can either give a paid-up policy or continue to pay premiums.
- You receive a tax deduction for the approximate cost or fair market value, whichever is less. If the policy is paid up, you may receive an immediate tax deduction. If it is not, you can claim continuing tax deductions on premium payments you make directly or through gifts to the community foundation.
- Upon your death, we set up a special fund in your name, in the name of your family, or in honor of any person or organization you choose.
- Our professional program staff considers your charitable wishes and determines the community needs that would be most impacted by grants from your gift.
- Our board issues grants in the name of the fund you establish (if you prefer, your awards can be made anonymously).
- We handle all the administrative details.
- Your gift can be placed into an endowment that is invested over time. Earnings from your fund are used to make grants addressing community needs. Your gift — and all future earnings from your gift — is a permanent source of community capital, helping to do good work forever.
A gift that pays
When his two daughters were young, Zachary Ding bought a life insurance policy to provide for his family in the event of his death. Now, he’s 65, and things have changed. “My daughters are both grown and doing very well for themselves, and over the years, my wife and I have become fairly comfortable — she will no longer need the death benefit from my policy,” says Zachary. The Dings support and volunteer for a youth mentoring program as well as their local museum. “We’ve always planned to leave something for important community organizations when we pass,” says Zachary. After talking with their financial planner, Zachary decided to give his life insurance policy to his local community foundation. “After giving my policy, I received a significant tax deduction,” says Zachary. “We had owned the policy for so long that we could choose to stop paying the premiums and maintain a sizable death benefit.” The Ding Fund will be established with the proceeds from the insurance policy to benefit youth development and other community organizations.
