Planned Giving
Ways to Make a Planned Gift
Use our Planned Giving Calculator!
Careful tax advice continues to be an essential tool to an estate plan, and Lyric Opera encourages you to consult your legal or financial advisor to keep abreast of changing tax laws. A list of the more traditional planned-giving vehicles, and the tax savings and other benefits associated with each, follows.
Bequests
A bequest to Lyric Opera is a basic charitable planned gift completely free of estate and other taxes. A bequest is a statement of intent that can be inserted in your will, codicil to a will, or living trust. A charitable bequest can be established for a specific dollar amount or for a percentage of an estate or residuary estate.
Life Insurance
Naming Lyric Opera as a beneficiary or owner of a life insurance policy prevents the insurance proceeds from being included in your gross estate. In addition, the cash surrender value and all future premiums paid on the policy may in certain instances be taken as a charitable deduction on your income tax return.
IRA or Retirement Plans
Avoid multiple estate and income taxes by naming Lyric Opera as a beneficiary of your IRAs or retirement plans. These assets are normally subject both to estate taxes and income taxes upon death. However, if Lyric Opera is named as beneficiary, those taxes are avoided.
Charitable Remainder Trusts, Charitable Gift Annuities, and Pooled Income Funds
Provide income for yourself, your spouse, or others for one or more lives by making one of these planned gifts. You may receive income now, defer the income for retirement, or use it to fund your children's or grandchildren's future college expenses. These types of planned gifts can also be created in your will or living trust to pay income for life to others upon your death.
Charitable Remainder Trusts, Charitable Gift Annuities, and Pooled Income Funds provide numerous income and estate tax benefits for you during your lifetime and for your estate at death. These include:
- Avoidance or reduction of capital gains tax, if funded with appreciated stock or real estate held for more than a year.
- A charitable income or estate tax deduction.
- Conversion of low-yielding securities to higher payouts.
- Removal of these assets from your taxable estate.
The details of these kinds of planned gifts are as follows:
Gift Annuity: In exchange for your gift to Lyric Opera, you, your spouse, or other annuitants receive a fixed sum each year for one or more lives, after which the principal passes to Lyric Opera. Click here to calculate your personalized Gift Annuity.
Deferred Gift Annuity: In exchange for your gift to Lyric Opera, you, your spouse, or other annuitants receive a fixed sum each year for one or more lives, starting at the date of the first payout, deferred one or more years from the date of your gift. Upon the last annuitant's death, the principal passes to Lyric Opera. Click here to calculate your personalized Deferred Gift Annuity.
Charitable Remainder Unitrust: Each year, your unitrust pays a fixed percentage of its value to you, your spouse, or other persons you name for one or more lives or for a term of years. The remaining assets then go to Lyric Opera and any other named charities. Click here to calculate your personalized Charitable Remainder Unitrust.
Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust: Each year, your trust pays a fixed dollar amount to you, your spouse, or other persons you name for one or more lives or for a term of years. The remaining assets then go to Lyric Opera and any other named charities. Click here to calculate your personalized Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust.
Pooled Income Fund: Your gift is pooled in a mutual fund with gifts from other donors. You, your spouse, or other persons you name receive your gift's share of the income the fund earns each year for one or more lives. Your gift's share of the fund then goes to Lyric Opera and any other named charities. Click here to calculate your personalized Pooled Income Fund.
Charitable Lead Trusts
Avoid significant gift and estate taxes for your descendants by funding a Charitable Lead Trust. Once the Trust is established, Lyric Opera is paid income for a term of years, at the end of which the principal of the Trust passes directly to your family or other beneficiaries you name. There are two kinds of Charitable Lead Trusts. They are:
Charitable Lead Unitrust: Each year, your unitrust pays a fixed percentage of its value to Lyric Opera for a term of years or one or more lives. The accumulated assets then go back to you or others you name. Click here to calculate your personalized Charitable Lead Unitrust.
Charitable Lead Annuity Trust: Each year, your trust pays a fixed dollar amount to Lyric Opera for a term of years or one or more lives. The accumulated assets then go back to you or others you name. Click here to calculate your personalized Charitable Lead Annuity Trust.
Real Estate Gifts through a Retained Life Estate
You can also use real estate to make a planned gift through a Retained Life Estate in which you deed your home, condominium, co-op apartment, or farm to Lyric Opera, but retain the right to live in it for the rest of your life, a term of years, or a combination of the two. Click here to calculate your personalized Real Estate Gift.
Naming Opportunities
Lyric Opera is pleased to provide special recognition for planned gifts of $500,000 and above. Also, planned givers who are Bel Canto Benefactors with a planned gift of $100,000 or more can name a seat in the Opera House through Lyric’s Your Name Here! initiative at a significant savings.
For details about any of these planned gifts to Lyric Opera, contact Lyric Opera's Director of Planned Giving, Jonathan Siner, at (312) 827-5677, or by email to planned_giving@lyricopera.org.