They give gladly when the cause is important. This philanthropic spirit sets the United States apart from every other country in the world. With a little planning, however, your personal philanthropy can be even more meaningful for you and your family. You may find that careful planning enables you to make more substantial contributions than you ever thought possible. This kind of giving is called planned giving .
Most people give to charity simply by writing a check.
That way, you may take both a capital loss deduction on your income tax and a charitable deduction for the full amount of the gift. You may name the Alzheimer's Association as beneficiary, co-beneficiary, or contingent beneficiary of an existing policy. Or, you may give a policy outright to the Association by naming us as owner and beneficiary of the policy. This will result in an income tax charitable deduction approximately equal to the cash surrender value of the policy. If the policy still has premiums to be paid, you may give ownership of the policy to the Association, and donate an amount equal to those premium payments to the Association.