Thank you for considering a planned gift—it’s one of the most impactful ways you can support and sustain the work of Healing Circles Global. You may be able to save on taxes, receive income for life, or enjoy other financial benefits—all while helping to support access to healing circles for all who benefit. Explore your giving options here or contact Oren Slozberg, Healing Circles Global co-director and Commonweal executive director by using the form to the right.

There are many ways you can leave a legacy gift to Healing Circles Global, and at the same time provide yourself and your loved ones with significant tax benefits. With careful planning it may be possible to reduce income taxes and transfer taxes. Working with an estate planning professional will help you maximize your personal benefits and allow you to make gifts you might not have thought possible. You can enjoy tax savings while turning appreciated assets into an income for yourself or others. Planned giving is a tool that helps you achieve your goals for Healing Circles Global while enhancing your personal financial plans and security.

The information provided here is not intended as tax or legal advice, but as accurate and authoritative general information about planned giving. For legal advice, please consult with your attorney and/or tax advisor.

“Every single time I share within the circles, I feel like the load on my shoulders gets a little bit lighter. Just saying certain things, both good and bad, does a lot for your soul….If it wasn’t the best, it was certainly among the best things that I have done for myself.”

Circle Participant

For more information

Contact Oren Slozberg, executive director of Commonweal and co-director of Healing Circles Global, by filling out this form.

Wills or living trusts

Quill and ink

One of the simplest ways to provide an enduring gift of support to Healing Circles Global is through your will or revocable living trust. By including Healing Circles Global in your estate plans, you can specify that some or all of your assets come to us after your lifetime. At that time, the asset(s) you specify will pass to us, and your estate can take a charitable deduction for the amount of your bequest, reducing the estate taxes payable.

Donor benefits

  • Revocable
  • May lower your estate taxes

Securities

Bull and bear made of paper

A gift of appreciated securities is a popular alternative to a cash gift because it actually saves taxes twice. You receive an income tax deduction for the full fair market value of your securities (if you’ve held them for more than one year) and you also save the capital-gain tax on the appreciation.

Appreciated securities can be given at any time of the year; but work with your tax advisor to ensure the maximum benefit to you. Stock shares can be transferred electronically directly from your account to Healing Circles Global at Commonweal.

Donor benefits

  • Current income-tax deduction
  • No capital-gain taxes

Real estate

Hands giving/receiving house

The tax benefits of appreciated real estate are virtually identical to those for gifts of appreciated securities. First, you avoid capital-gain tax on the property’s increased value. Second, you receive an income tax charitable deduction for the full fair market value of the property contributed.

Gifts of appreciated real property such as undeveloped land, commercial property, farms, or personal residences may be transferred to Healing Circles Global at Commonweal, with approval of the Commonweal board of directors. This may be accomplished by deed during a donor’s lifetime, or through his or her will.

As with gifts of cash and appreciated securities, real estate gifts can be made outright, or through an income-producing gift arrangement. It is even possible to make a tax-deductible current gift of your home, continue to live in and enjoy it for your lifetime, and receive income from your gift through a process called “retained life estate agreement.”

Donor benefits

  • Current income tax deduction
  • No capital-gain taxes

Life insurance

Umbrella in street

You can make a charitable gift to Healing Circles Global via your life insurance, permitting you to make a substantial legacy gift for a relatively modest cash outlay.

There are two ways to use life insurance in your charitable planning. You can purchase a new policy and name Healing Circles Global as the beneficiary. Then, at the end of your life, the benefits would be paid to Healing Circles Global at Commonweal.

You can transfer an existing policy and name Healing Circles Global as the policy’s beneficiary. This way, Healing Circles Global is assured a guaranteed sum, in cash, at the end of your life.

Donor benefits

  • You receive an income-tax deduction for the cash value of the policy.
  • You may be able to structure this to receive tax deductions for annual premium payments.
  • You will have the ability to make a more significant gift than you thought possible.

IRAs & pensions

Three eggs in a nest

Today, many people find that retirement plan investments are among their more significant assets. Yet they’re an asset that’s costly to pass on to heirs.

Retirement plans, under certain circumstances, can be subject to taxes of nearly 80 percent when the owner dies and final distribution is made. This is due to the imposition of some or all of the following: income tax that would have been due had the owner received the distribution, estate and inheritance taxes, excise tax on excess accumulations, and generation-skipping transfer tax.

Your estate can save significantly on income, estate, and transfer taxes if you make Healing Circles Global a beneficiary of your individual retirement account, pension, 401K, or other retirement savings plan. You can also arrange for lifetime income to be paid from retirement funds to a family member after your death, with the benefit for Healing Circles Global coming later, or you can make Healing Circles Global an alternative or contingent beneficiary.

Through careful planning, there is a way to minimize estate and income taxes on IRAs and other retirement plan assets. You can retain control of where your funds will go.

Donor benefits

  • Revocable
  • May lower your estate taxes
  • You will receive an income tax deduction
  • You may be able to avoid income taxes on distribution
  • You may also be able to avoid estate taxes, excise taxes, and transfer taxes

Charitable gift
annuities

Seedlings growing

A charitable gift annuity is a way to make a gift to Healing Circles Global and still receive an income for yourself or others. It’s a contract under which a charity, in return for a transfer of cash or other property, agrees to pay a fixed sum of money for a period measured by one or two lives. The person who contributes an asset for the annuity is called the “donor,” and the person who receives payments is called the “annuitant” or “beneficiary.” Usually, the annuitant is also the donor, but this is not always true. The maximum number of annuitants is two, and payments can be made to them jointly or successively.

Payments from a charitable gift annuity are fixed from the outset. They will neither increase nor decrease, regardless of interest rates or the stock market. A charity is contractually obligated to make the payments, even if it has to dip into its general funds to do so. This may lower your estate taxes.

The size of the payments from a charitable gift annuity depends on the following factors:

  • The gift annuity rate offered by the charity (most charities follow rates recommended by the American Council on Gift Annuities)
  • The value of the contribution
  • The number of annuitants
  • The age(s) of the annuitant(s).

Donor benefits

  • Eligible to take partial tax deduction for your donation
  • Receive a fixed income for the rest of your life

Charitable remainder trusts

Arrows pointing to each other

A charitable remainder trust is a singular opportunity for a donor, as it will have two beneficiaries: Healing Circles Global, and you and your family. For many years, people have been using charitable remainder trusts to assist them in their personal, financial, tax, and philanthropic planning. Your tax-exempt trust will work for you and provide for the future of Healing Circles Global while satisfying personal, philanthropic, and family financial needs.

A charitable remainder trust is an arrangement in which you irrevocably place money or property with a trustee, such as Healing Circles Global at Commonweal, with instructions to pay income to you or other chosen beneficiaries, generally for life. The income is a fixed amount or a fixed percentage of the trust’s value. When all persons receiving the income die, the property remaining, the “remainder,” passes to Healing Circles Global.

Charitable remainder trusts may be accepted by Commonweal, with the approval of Commonweal’s Board of Directors.

Donor benefits

  • Irrevocable
  • An income stream for life for you, a spouse or someone you designate
  • An immediate tax deduction at the time the trust is created
  • Removal of assets from your estate, which may reduce estate taxes