The most important thing to remember is that planned giving demands high personal as well as business skills. You want someone visiting your potential donors who can listen, discern, care, and listen some more. A bequest is when a donor decides to leave some assets to charity in her will. The assets may include cash, stocks, life insurance, an I.R.A., or tangible personal property. The donor's estate will receive a charitable estate tax deduction at her death, when the gift is made to charity.
Trusts are also practical vehicles for the small institution.
The donor may claim a charitable income tax deduction and may avoid capital gains tax. At the end of the trust term, the charity receives whatever amount is left in the trust. At the end of the trust term, the principal can either go back to the donor or to heirs named by the donor. The donor may claim a charitable tax deduction in the year the trust is established for making a lead trust gift. Finally, there is the retained life estate, in which a donor may make a gift of his house to charity and retain the right to live in the house for the remainder of his life.