Planned Giving To Support the San Francisco Swedenborgian Church
Thank you for considering a gift from your estate to the San Francisco Swedenborgian Church (“the church”), whose legal name is the San Francisco Society of the New Jerusalem. Gifts from estates include bequests from wills and trusts, beneficiary designations, and life income gifts.
Gifts from estates go into the church’s long-term investments account, which provides the foundation of the church’s financial security. As this account grows, it provides an expanding source of stable funding for our church to serve its congregation and the surrounding community, as well as to preserve our National Historic Landmark buildings.
Below, you will find detailed information about:
Bequests (Wills and Living Trusts)
You can make a gift (bequest) to the church through your will or living trust in the following ways:
- A gift of a specific amount.
- A percentage of your estate. In using this approach, you do not need to set a specific amount, as it adjusts with the size of your total estate.
- A residual amount, in which the church receives a portion of the residue of the estate. The residue is the amount after all specific gifts, obligations, and set goals are covered.
- A contingent bequest, in which the church receives a gift only if other conditions are met. For example, you give $25,000, provided that your spouse does not survive you.
To make a bequest, please provide the following information to your attorney when you update your will. Sample bequest language:
“I give [describe dollar amount or percentage of the estate total or residue] to the San Francisco Society of the New Jerusalem, a California not-for-profit religious corporation, for its general purposes. The San Francisco Society of the New Jerusalem is located at 3200 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115.”
- San Francisco Swedenborgian Church’s Federal Tax I.D. number: 94-1225377
- San Francisco Swedenborgian Church’s legal name: “San Francisco Society of the New Jerusalem”
The language you use within the brackets above depends on the nature of your gift: cash, percentage, or residual bequest. Leaving a percentage or portion of your estate in total or residue allows the size of the gift to vary over time with changes to the size of your estate. The portion in bold font is the legal description that should be used in any bequest language.
Please note that you can change, remove, increase, or decrease the amount of any bequest in your will to reflect your intentions and goals.
Retirement Plans and Beneficiary Designations
You can list the San Francisco Society of the New Jerusalem as a beneficiary of your retirement plan (IRA, 401(k), etc.), donor-advised fund, brokerage account, or life insurance policy. Almost any financial arrangement that allows you to name a beneficiary can be repurposed to benefit the church with all or part of its remaining value. You will need:
- San Francisco Swedenborgian Church’s Federal Tax I.D. number: 94-1225377
- San Francisco Swedenborgian Church’s legal name: San Francisco Society of the New Jerusalem
- San Francisco Swedenborgian Church’s address: 3200 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115
With retirement plans, you can also donate directly from the retirement plan to the church, or any qualified charity or nonprofit organization, each year on a tax-free basis. For example, you could switch your required minimum distribution, or “RMD,” to a qualified charitable distribution, or “QCD.” Instead of getting the distribution sent to you and paying taxes on it, you could have it sent directly to the charity, in this case the church. The distribution would be excluded from your taxable income, and the church would get the full amount.
If you receive a $10,000 RMD and have a 40% effective tax rate, for example, you will receive $6,000 after taxes. But if you switch the RMD to a QCD, naming the church as the recipient, the church will receive the full $10,000, with no tax obligation for either party. Please note that there are age (70.5 years old) and amount ($108,000) limitations subject to change. As this change would entail a direct transfer of assets from the retirement plan, please contact your retirement plan manager to discuss and set up distributions (all, a percentage, or a specific amount).
Life Insurance Plans and Beneficiary Designations
A gift of life insurance that you no longer need can be one of the easiest ways to support the church. You can either designate the church as a beneficiary, or transfer ownership of the policy to the church. If you transfer to the church now, you may be entitled to an income tax deduction. Simply ask the insurance company for the forms necessary to change the beneficiary or to transfer ownership of the policy to the church.
Use the church’s legal name, San Francisco Society of the New Jerusalem, and Tax I.D., 94-1225377. Keep in mind that the church can be named the beneficiary of just part of a policy (50 percent, for example), and that gifts from group life or term policies are also possible.
Appreciated Stock, Securities, or other Liquid Assets
For annual and other planned giving, please consider a gift from appreciated stock, securities, or related liquid assets. If you have assets that have gone up in value with an embedded capital gain, you can give them directly to the church, or any qualified nonprofit organization, without creating a taxable obligation on that capital gain. The church gets the full amount of the gift, no taxes are due, and you can treat the full amount as a tax-deductible donation. Depending on the embedded capital gain, this tax deduction can be more valuable than the original amount invested.
To give securities, please direct your brokerage to transfer appreciated, transferable assets to the church’s brokerage account with the details below. Once received, the church’s brokerage will sell the assets to minimize any market risk and then transfer the cash proceeds to the church, with no tax obligations due. The church gets the full amount of the proceeds, including the benefit of the embedded capital gains, from the appreciated assets.
Transfer assets from your account to:
- Vanguard Fiduciary Trust VFTC
- Broker Code 0062
- P.O. Box 982901
- El Paso, Texas, 79998
- For benefit of:
- San Francisco Society of the New Jerusalem
- Account # [please contact the office at office@sfswedenborgian.org or 415-346-6466]
Named and Memorial Endowment Funds
For an endowment gift of $250,000 or more, the church will establish an endowment bearing the name(s) you designate. In this way, your family’s name will always be connected to this particular gift.
Other Types of Gifts
If you have any other ways or types of assets that you’d like to consider gifting to the church, please contact us.
Thank you again for your interest in supporting the future of the San Francisco Swedenborgian Church.