Would you like to help Episcopal in its mission to prepare young people with the intellectual and moral courage to pursue lives of ethical leadership and service?

You can provide critical support without changing your will or parting with any assets now. Instead, you can designate Episcopal as beneficiary of certain assets or accounts that you would transfer to the School later. This “beneficiary designation” is one of the simplest ways to make a gift to Episcopal. It’s literally as easy as filling out a form.

You can name Episcopal as the sole beneficiary of your assets or as one of several beneficiaries. For example, you can use some of your assets to make a legacy gift and use the rest to provide for family members or other loved ones.

There are many benefits of making a gift by beneficiary designation:

• Flexibility: Assets remain in your control should you need them.
• Ease of Arrangement: It doesn’t require a change to your will. 
• Revocability: You can change your gift designation at any time.
• Tax Incentives: Funds passing by beneficiary designation to Episcopal are not subject to income or estate tax. This means 100% of your gift is available for use by Episcopal.
• Dual Beneficiaries: You can name family or other loved ones to benefit from some of the asset value, with Episcopal receiving the remaining portion.
• Meaningful Support: Your gift makes a lasting impact on future generations of Episcopal students, by providing endowed resources for excellence in teaching and learning.

Assets for you to consider designating for Episcopal include:

Retirement assets: These include IRAs (regardless of the type of IRA) and most qualified retirement plans, such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans. Request a Beneficiary Designation Form from your plan administrator and designate Episcopal as a beneficiary of either a percentage of your plan balance or of a specific dollar amount.

Retirement assets can be taxed at rates of 50% to 70% or even more if you leave them to someone other than a surviving spouse. This is because most distributions from an IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or other qualified retirement plan are subject to both income tax and estate tax.

In contrast, retirement funds that pass directly to Episcopal by beneficiary designation are not subject to either of these taxes. From a tax standpoint, a transfer of assets remaining in an IRA or other retirement account is the very best charitable gift.

Life insurance policies: Simply complete and return to your insurance company a form designating that Episcopal receive all or a portion of the death benefit associated with your life insurance policy.

Bank account: You can instruct your bank to pay to Episcopal all or a portion of what remains in your checking or savings account. Your bank can provide you with the appropriate Beneficiary Designation Form.

Investment account: You can instruct your investment company to transfer to Episcopal some or all of the investments held in your account at the time of your passing. Your broker or agent can let you know the process for doing this – it may be as simple as adding “T.O.D. to Episcopal” after your name on the account.