Estate gifts and planned giving

Many donors plan for gifts to be made after their deaths by including the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in their wills and revocable trusts. Any property may be transferred by will or revocable trust, and a gift may be for a specific dollar amount, a percentage of the entire estate, or for the amount that remains after all other gifts to family and friends.

A gift can be designated for a particular purpose or directed for general cancer research. A gift can also honor a loved one or memorialize the donor(s) by naming a fund, a designated space, or even a building. In the case of endowed funds, professorships, or chairs, the fund preserves the principal of the gift in perpetuity and spends only the income.

The following language can be included in a will or trust to make a gift to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center:

I [or the Trustor] give(s) to the UC Davis Foundation the sum of $_____ (or percent) of my [the Trustor's] estate) (or all of the rest and residue of my [the Trustor's] estate) to be used at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center for such purposes as the director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center shall determine, with the concurrence of the UC Davis chancellor.

To ensure that your gift will produce the results you intend, please contact the cancer center development office before preparing the final documents. As with all aspects of estate and tax matters, you should seek qualified legal, tax, and financial advice in developing your plan.

A charitable remainder trust enables a donor to make a significant gift to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center while receiving income from the donated assets.

By transferring cash, securities, or other property to a charitable remainder trust, you will receive an income tax deduction and pay no capital gains tax. During the term specified in the trust, you or anyone you choose will receive a percentage of the trust value each year. When the trust term ends, the remaining principal goes to UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center to support the research area, project, or program you have designated.

To ensure that your gift will produce the results you intend, please contact the Cancer Center development office before preparing the final documents. As with all aspects of estate and tax matters, you should seek qualified legal, tax, and financial advice in developing your plan.

The charitable gift annuity is one of the simplest of life income gifts. In return for your irrevocable gift to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, you receive a fixed amount each year for the rest of your life.

With a charitable gift annuity you are entitled to an income tax deduction based on your age at the time of the gift. The rate of return on your annuity is also determined by your age. A portion of your annual annuity payment is tax-free, so the effective rate of return (including tax savings) is usually higher than prevailing market rates. If the annuity is purchased with appreciated securities, any capital gains tax that may be due is spread out over your life expectancy. Your annuity payments are contractually guaranteed by the University of California.

Upon request, we can give you sample calculations showing the annuity rate, annuity payments, charitable deduction, and projected cash flow. A charitable gift annuity can be established with a minimum gift of $10,000.

As with all aspects of estate and tax matters, you should seek qualified legal, tax, and financial advice in developing your plan.

A charitable lead trust offers considerable advantages if, in addition to your desire to make a gift to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, you are concerned about passing your assets to your heirs at the least tax cost possible. The charitable lead trust usually works best for donors who can forego some current income and are building a reasonably large estate that would otherwise be subject to high estate taxes.

To implement this plan, you transfer assets to a trust, directing the trustee to pay UC Davis a fixed dollar amount or a fixed percentage of the value of trust assets as determined annually. The trust's term must be for a specified number of years or for the life of one or more persons living when the trust is created. At the end of the trust period, the assets are distributed to the beneficiaries you have chosen (such as your children or grandchildren). When properly drawn, the trust allows you to pass wealth to your heirs at a greatly reduced cost. In some situations, a lead trust can actually increase the value of your eventual gift to heirs.

To ensure that your gift will produce the results you intend, please contact the Cancer Center Development Office before preparing the final documents.  As with all aspects of estate and tax matters, you should seek qualified legal, tax, and financial advice in developing your plan.

A pooled income fund combines your gift with the gifts of other donors to the University of California. A pooled income fund gift to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is very simple to execute, and you can direct the use of your gift to the project or program that you feel is most important.

You contribute cash or marketable securities to one of the University of California pooled income funds (contributions of tax-exempt securities are not permitted). These funds offer you the benefits of potential market gains while protecting your investment from severe fluctuations by spreading investment risk across a very large pooled fund.

The university's pooled income funds are similar to commercial mutual funds. Your gift purchases "units" of the pooled fund assets at the time of your gift. Your investment entitles you to a pro rata share of the fund's annual income, and your annual payments vary with the fund's performance. You get an income tax deduction at the time you make the gift and avoid capital gains taxes. You may even increase income for yourself or another beneficiary.

Two pooled income funds are available: one emphasizes income and the other growth. The minimum initial contribution to a pooled income fund is $10,000; you can make additional gifts of $1,000 or more at any time.

As with all aspects of estate and tax matters, you should seek qualified legal, tax, and financial advice in developing your plan.

Gifts of farms, personal residences, commercial properties, and unimproved land may provide exceptional benefits to you and to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. If you give long-held real estate that has appreciated in value since acquisition, you are entitled to a federal income tax deduction for the fair market value of the real estate at the time you transfer title. As with appreciated securities, you may only take a deduction up to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income with a five-year carry-over of any unused amount. You do not pay capital gains on such a transfer.

In addition to giving real estate outright or by will or revocable trust, you can also donate real estate through a charitable remainder trust or a life estate. A life estate enables you to donate your personal residence (including a second home or vacation home) while retaining the right for yourself (and your spouse or other beneficiary) to live there for the rest of your life.

When you make this gift, you are entitled to an income tax deduction for the present value of the charitable gift. You gain the income tax deduction without an expenditure of cash or a reduction of income and avoid capital gains tax on the property's appreciation. Your estate is also entitled to a charitable deduction.

As with all aspects of estate and tax matters, you should seek qualified legal, tax, and financial advice in developing your plan. Because gifts of real estate can become complicated, please contact the cancer center development office before you begin planning to ensure that the gift is feasible and that it can be used for the purposes you intend.