Leave a Legacy

Ascension Cornerstone Stewardship is a way of life, rooted in our faith in God’s abundant love, grace, and provision. It is our expression of thankfulness and acknowledges God’s ultimate gift of His Son for our salvation.

We are called to use the gifts God has given us –our talents, resources, and lives—to feed His sheep and to further His kingdom.

While you have given of your income during your lifetime, The Incarnation Foundation serves to assist you in administering your financial gifts that outlast even life’s end. There are many ways to make a gift. Some have left bequests of their wills, leaving cash, securities, and real estate. Others have made their gifts from insurance policies, IRAs, or retirement plans. Whatever the vehicle, each has pathway creates a lasting legacy of thankfulness.

By combining your philanthropic giving with tax and other financial strategies, you can play a critical role in the transformational work of church of the Incarnation beyond your lifetime.

Like so many who have come before us, we hope that you will consider including The Incarnation Foundation in your estate or financial plans and help sustain our mission for generations to come. Whatever approach you choose, your gift will honor the vision of our founder, the Rt. Rev. Alexander Charles Garrett, for expanding God’s Kingdom.

Planning an Estate Gift Can Be Easy
— Leila and Holland Gary
“I figured we would leave the church in our estate plans,” says Holland. “When we thought more tangibly about it, it seemed like an expensive administrative headache to go back to our attorney and make a bequest. But then we learned there’s more than one way to do it. We simply updated our IRA online by naming Incarnation as a partial beneficiary,” says Holland. We were relieved once we’d made the decision to do it sooner rather than later—planning an estate gift is easy. It is not like you can do anything with earthly treasure after you are gone. This is also our final moment to communicate to our children: ‘Giving thanks for the gifts of our life is what is important to us and we hope you’ll agree for the sake of your kids and grandkids.’

Long-Term Giving Options

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  • Bequests and Wills

    “I Give, Devise and Bequeath…”

    With these simple words, every member of our church family has the opportunity to build on Incarnation’s exceptional history by making a planned gift today through your Last Will and Testament or other estate plan.  You can leave the Church of the Incarnation a specific dollar amount, a specific asset, a percentage of your residual estate or any other gift which complies with our gift acceptance policy

    Many of our parishioners have designated 10% or more of the residue of their estates to The Incarnation Foundation, giving a tithe of their estates as their spiritual legacies.  Stepping out in faith, without knowing the ultimate amount of one’s legacy, acknowledges God as our ultimate provider and ensures a percentage of all life’s material blessings will be used for his Kingdom’s work.

    Bequests are the most common way to contribute to the future mission of our parish.

    Types of bequests include:

    • Specific bequests indicate the amount of cash, securities or other asset you wish to leave to TIF. Or it can indicate a specific percentage of the total value of your estate.
    • Residuary bequests leave the remaining portion of your estate (or a percentage of the total) after all other bequests have been satisfied.
    • You can make TIF the recipient of a contingency bequest, which takes into account the possibility of a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.

    Specific Bequest

    You can make a bequest to TIF for a specific dollar amount or percentage of your estate:

    I give, devise and bequeath to The Incarnation Foundation the sum of $________ as an unrestricted gift, to be used at the sole discretion of TIF

    Or, you can make a bequest for specific assets, such as securities, real estate or personal property. Please be as specific as possible in identifying the property:

    I give, devise and bequeath to The Incarnation Foundation my [insert description of the asset], to be used and/or disposed of, as The Incarnation Foundation determines for its general purposes.

    Residuary Bequest

    You can make a residuary bequest, which gives all or a portion of the residue of your estate to TIF after payment of expenses and any amounts designated to other beneficiaries.

    I give, devise, and bequeath to The Incarnation Foundation X percent of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate as an unrestricted gift, to be used at its sole discretion.

    Contingency Bequest

    You can make a contingency bequest to TIF, which allows you to account for a change in your beneficiary’s circumstances.

    I give, devise, and bequeath [insert name] X percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate if s/he survives me. If [insert name] does not survive me, I give, devise and bequeath to The Incarnation Foundation, X percent of the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate as an unrestricted gift, to be used at its sole discretion.

    Unrestricted and Restricted Gifts

    Gifts that do not restrict the use (unrestricted gifts) allow TIF to use these resources where they are most needed. TIF is also grateful for gifts that are designated for a specific purpose that advances its mission (restricted gifts), such as support to a specific initiative or for a specific program.

    If you are interested in making a restricted gift, it is important that you include language to ensure that TIF may re-direct the use of your gift if the specified initiative, program or purpose ceases to need funds in the future:

    I give, devise and bequeath to The Incarnation Foundation the sum of $_____ to be used for the [insert name of program] for so long as TIF determines that the need exists. Should the need no longer exist, TIF may, in its sole discretion, direct the use of my bequest for a purpose related as closely as possible to that stated above.

  • Retirement Plans

    You can contribute to The Incarnation Foundation through your retirement plan. Certain retirement plans, including IRAs, 401k and 403b plans, allow you to defer paying taxes until you withdraw income during retirement. However, after your death these accounts are often exposed to significant taxes.

    Therefore, you might find it beneficial to contribute all or part of these funds to TIF while leaving other assets to your heirs. Simply name The Incarnation Foundation a beneficiary of your retirement plan. You will retain control of the plan during your lifetime, and you can change your beneficiary at any time if your circumstances change.

  • Charitable Trusts

    A charitable trust is a way to achieve your current and long-term financial, estate and philanthropic goals. A donor makes an irrevocable transfer of cash, stock, real estate or other assets to a trust which produces income for the donor or other beneficiary, for a fixed period of time of up to twenty years or until the donor or other beneficiary dies. At the conclusion of the trust period, the remaining principal assets will be distributed to TIF.

    Charitable trusts take two forms — charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts.

    Charitable Remainder Trusts

    A charitable remainder trust allows you to designate the beneficiary of regular payouts from trust proceeds (for either a fixed dollar amount or a fixed percentage) during your lifetime or for a period of time, not to exceed twenty years. At the same time, TIF is designated a remainder beneficiary. This allows you to claim a tax deduction for the estimated portion of the assets that will ultimately go to TIF upon death or the expiration of the fixed period.

    Charitable Lead Trusts

    Charitable lead trusts appeal to individuals who wish to make a gift but retain the property. These irrevocable trusts are, essentially, the reverse of charitable remainder trusts in that the payments from a charitable lead trust will first go to TIF for a specific period of time, usually between 10 and 20 years, after which time the principal of the trust will revert to you or to those you have designated.

  • Bank Accounts, Securities, and Certificates of Deposit

    A no-cost way to make a planned gift to TIF is by designating it the recipient of a bank account or security. You can instruct any financial institution in which you have an account or the holder of a security to place your asset in a trust (often called a Totten Trust or a Transfer upon Death Account) which will be transferred, upon your death, directly to The Incarnation Foundation.

    This allows you to retain complete control of the asset during your lifetime and to give the remaining asset to TIF upon your death. Most Totten Trusts can be created easily, using a form obtained from your bank, financial institution or the holder of the security.

  • Life Insurance Policies

    TIF welcomes philanthropic support through gifts of life insurance policies when the policies are paid in full and TIF is named as the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy.

    You can name TIF as the primary or contingent beneficiary of an existing or new life insurance policy. Although a current income tax deduction is not available, it will result in a federal estate tax deduction for the full amount of the proceeds payable to the charity, regardless of policy size. Or you can make an assignment or gift of a life insurance policy that you currently own or donate a new life insurance policy, approaches which allow a current income tax deduction.