What is The CAC Legacy Society?
The CAC Legacy Society members share a spirit of generosity and a strong commitment to the future of The Circus Arts Conservatory. The CAC Legacy Society honors those individuals who have ensured that The CAC and its outreach programs continue for generations to come.
The Circus Arts Conservatory has established The CAC Legacy Society to celebrate and thank those individuals who share our vision. Should you choose to include The Circus Arts Conservatory in your will or other estate plans, we would be honored to know of your intentions and have you as a member of our Legacy Society.
Legacy Society Members are special.
Members of The CAC Legacy Society will be recognized in our publications; annually be invited to The CAC Legacy Society Luncheon and receive early invitations to attend CAC events throughout the year.
Joining the Legacy Society is simple.
Becoming a Legacy Society member is as simple as remembering The CAC in your will or estate plan. Charitable bequests are among the simplest and most flexible ways to donate. Then let us know!
Please contact us via zoltan@circusarts.org and we will send you our Legacy Intent Form. The intent form is non-binding and does not constitute a legal promise of any future donation to The Circus Arts Conservatory. It simply states your intention to support The CAC with a legacy gift.
Please send the completed forms to:
The Circus Arts Conservatory
Attn: Zoltan Karpathy
Vice President of Philanthropy
2075 Bahia Vista St.
Sarasota, FL 34239
These forms are also available at The Circus Arts Conservatory Development office.
Leaving a gift is easy.
Bequests from a will or trust are the most common way to leave a gift to The Circus Arts Conservatory. Some people set aside a certain dollar amount. Others leave a percentage of the estate or assets left over after providing for their family. Others have made The Circus Arts Conservatory the beneficiary of 401k/IRA plans or insurance policies, or have established a Charitable Gift Annuity or a Charitable Remainder Trust to benefit The Circus Arts Conservatory. All qualify a person or couple for membership in The Legacy Society.
Your gift will be completely confidential. We will not ask the amount being left to The Circus Arts Conservatory. You are, however, encouraged to discuss your gifts with us to make sure we know any designated program you especially wish to support with your gift. You can be assured that your plans will be followed exactly as you have outlined them to us.
Finally…Thank you.
Through The Legacy Society, we recognize the people who are planning gifts today that will provide significant benefits to The Circus Arts Conservatory in the future. Because of the generosity of people like you, The Circus Arts Conservatory will provide innovative, quality and caring programs for generations through education, training, performance and legacy.
Contact Zoltan Karpathy, VP of Philanthropy, 941-355-9335 x 325 or email Zoltan@CircusArts.org for more information about how your donations can benefit you and help sustain the mission of The Circus Arts Conservatory.
You can make a difference, and we hope you will join us.
BEQUESTS
This is the most common way to make a legacy gift to benefit The CAC. A bequest (via your Will) or a distribution (via your Trust) is a convenient way to make a legacy gift and create potential estate tax savings. The actual cost of a bequest is less than the gift’s face value because of the tax benefits realized through the charitable contribution. If you’ve already prepared your Will, a bequest to The Circus Arts Conservatory can be accomplished via a simple amendment, called a codicil.
A bequest can be created in several ways:
- A bequest of a specific dollar amount or a particular asset(s).
- A bequest of all or a portion or percentage of your estate, after the payment of all specific bequests to family and non-charitable beneficiaries.
- A testamentary trust, which takes the form of a Charitable Trust, the corpus of which will be paid to The CAC upon the death of the trust’s income beneficiary.
LIFE INSURANCE
If you own a life insurance policy that you no longer need, you might consider a revision to your beneficiary designation form to name The CAC as the sole owner and beneficiary of the policy. You would receive an income tax deduction for the cash surrender value of the policy. If the policy is not fully paid, you may consider continuing to pay the premiums – and, in doing so, you would receive a charitable contribution deduction for the annual premium amount.
CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY or REMAINDER TRUST
A gift annuity is a simple agreement between you and The Circus Arts Conservatory to provide you with a fixed dollar amount of income for your lifetime or the lifetime of one or two beneficiaries you name at the time you create this gift. The annual amount paid is determined by rates recommended by the American Council on Gift Annuities. As is the case with any annuity, the older the annuitant, the higher the level of income.
A gift remainder trust operates as above. The only difference is that the income to you can vary each year, based on a percentage of the trust assets valued annually, rather than receiving a fixed amount each year.
CHARITABLE LEAD TRUST
A charitable lead trust is a creative way to use some of your excess current high income to fund annual gifts to The Circus Arts Conservatory for a period of years and at the conclusion of this period, the assets in the trust are distributed either back to you or (more likely) to beneficiaries you name, often children or grandchildren. Besides the opportunity to make a substantial charitable gift, another advantage of this kind of trust is the opportunity it offers to pass substantial assets to the next generation with little or even no tax consequences. A charitable lead trust is a creative way to fulfill a gift or pledge over a number of years while reducing estate and gift taxes that might otherwise be due on the trust assets if given outright to children, grandchildren, or other loved ones.
DEFERRED GIFT ANNUITY or REMAINDER TRUST
For donors who don’t need income now but may later; or donors who may have a more favorable income tax rate down the road; a deferred gift annuity or remainder trust offers increased income tax benefits. All of the features and benefits of a gift annuity or remainder trust are provided with this gift annuity – but, the actual distribution of the income is delayed until a future date chosen at the time the gift is created. The longer the time between the creation of a deferred gift annuity and the start of the payments, the greater the rate of return and the larger the income tax charitable deduction.
WEALTH REPLACEMENT TRUST
A wealth replacement trust is a method of protecting the inheritance interests of your heirs while still providing a significant charitable gift to The CAC. With this gift plan, you would contribute assets to The Circus Arts Conservatory – either outright or via a particular gift planning strategy. Using the resulting tax savings, you would then purchase a life insurance policy with your heirs as beneficiaries, thereby replacing some or all of what was given away and passing it on tax free.
Contact Zoltan Karpathy at 941-355-9335 ext. 325 for more information about how your donations can benefit you and help sustain the mission of The Circus Arts Conservatory.
