The Future Is Unknown
We know that we can’t predict our community’s future needs, a reality painfully underscored by the devastating and sudden impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But we do know that EBCF will continue to partner with donors, social movements, and the community to eliminate structural barriers, advance racial equity, and transform political, social, and economic outcomes for all who call the East Bay home.
By making a bequest through your will or trust, you can help meet our community’s needs that we can’t even begin to imagine today. Legacy gifts, or gifts through estate plans, can support our community for generations to come.
Join the Circle for Change
Become part of the East Bay Community Foundation Circle For Change by including EBCF in your philanthropic legacy.
We appreciate the leadership of our legacy donors—philanthropists with long-term vision for community support and change. Whether your gift continues the philanthropic work you are most committed to or is a gift solely to East Bay Community Foundation, you can rest assured knowing the good work will continue.
Circle for Change members enjoy the company of others who care about leaving a legacy to protect and strengthen the community. Each year, EBCF holds a luncheon where members are in community with each other and learn how EBCF is helping build a community that is worthy of the people who call this amazing place home. Circle for Change members are invited to all events hosted by EBCF throughout the year.
Your legacy giving plan—whatever it is—will be among your lasting legacies, just as it is for all of us. Your legacy gifts, combined with those of thousands of others, can transform our community’s future. We hope you’ll join us.
Why Create Your Legacy with EBCF?
We can help you craft a personal legacy plan to reflect your values and support all the causes you care about most. From informal advice to formalized gift agreements, EBCF is here to support you as you make your plans.
By including East Bay Community Foundation in your legacy plans, you can make your legacy permanent, and enable EBCF to support A Just East Bay forever.
When you make a legacy gift, you join our Circle for Change, which includes all of the philanthropists who have also included EBCF in their legacy plans. We hope you will join this generous community of people who share your passion for making a difference.
Ways to Create Your Legacy
A gift in your will or trust is one of the easiest, most flexible, and most popular ways to support A Just East Bay. It takes just a few sentences in your will to set up a gift, and it can be changed easily at any time. This gift can include cash, securities, real estate, and other assets.
Here are some popular ways to leave a legacy gift for East Bay Community Foundation (Tax ID/EIN 94-6070996).
A general gift will leave a stated sum of money in your will or living trust, typically in the form of personal property or assets. General gifts in a will are the most valuable as they allow EBCF to apply your gift wherever the need is greatest.
A residual gift in your will leaves EBCF the remainder of your estate after other bequests, debts, and taxes have been fulfilled.
A specific gift in your will leaves EBCF a specific dollar amount or stated fraction of your estate or a specified item (collections, art, books, jewelry, and so on).
A contingent gift in your will leaves EBCF a stated share of your estate only if a spouse, family member, or other beneficiary does not survive you. In such a case, making a contingent bequest naming East Bay Community Foundation as a contingent beneficiary can provide a meaningful alternative.
Some donors desire their gift to support a specific project or program. Restricted bequests are welcome, although it is important they provide for some flexibility to adapt to changing needs and programs. If you are interested in supporting a specific project or program, it is best to discuss your plans with our planned giving professionals before completing your bequest language to confirm your wishes can be met by East Bay Community Foundation.
Please Note: The policies of the East Bay Community Foundation do not allow EBCF or its representatives to serve as personal representative, executor, trustee or witness for a will or trust
Other Legacy Gifts That Reduce Your Taxes
There are other ways you can support the future of the East Bay after your time. Here are some of the types of gifts that may reduce the tax burden of your estate while also creating your legacy at East Bay Community Foundation.
You can bequeath appreciated real estate, such as a home, vacation property, undeveloped land, farmland, or commercial property.
Gifts of real estate (i.e., real property and interests in real property), with or without improvements, must be reviewed and approved by EBCF Properties, a supporting organization to the Foundation. EBCF Properties has developed policies and procedures for acceptance of gifted real estate.
Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds that have appreciated in value are among the best ways to give. You may receive a charitable income tax deduction for the full market value of the stock (up to a maximum of 30% of your adjusted gross income) and avoid paying the capital gains tax on any increase in the value of the stock. You can make this type of gift here.
If you have a life insurance policy that you no longer need, you can use it to reduce your taxes and create a legacy gift for EBCF to secure our community’s future for generations to come. When you transfer ownership of the policy to EBCF during your lifetime, you may receive an immediate tax deduction. Or by naming us as a beneficiary, your estate will receive a charitable deduction, which may reduce your estate taxes.
A charitable lead trust, or CLT, is an irrevocable trust that would support East Bay Community Foundation for a period of time, with the remaining assets eventually going to family or other beneficiaries. It is a way of making a gift to EBCF that reduces your gift and estate taxes, benefits our community over a period of years, and also allows you or your loved ones to receive the assets at a time of your choosing.
There are two ways charitable lead trusts make payments:
- A charitable lead annuity trust pays a fixed amount each year to EBCF.
- A charitable lead unitrust pays a variable amount each year based on the value of the assets in the trust. With a unitrust, if the trust’s assets go up in value, the payments to EBCF go up as well.
A charitable remainder trust, or a CRT, is a trust that generates a potential income stream for you or other beneficiaries, with the remainder going to EBCF as part of your legacy plans. You can name yourself or someone else to receive a potential income stream for a term of years, no more than 20 years, or for the life of one or more non-charitable beneficiaries, and then name EBCF to receive the remainder. A CRT can be revocable or irrevocable. With a CRT, you have the potential to take a partial income tax charitable deduction when you fund the trust, which is based on a calculation on the remainder distribution to EBCF.
There are two main types of charitable remainder trusts:
- A charitable remainder annuity trust distributes a fixed annuity amount each year, and additional contributions are not allowed.
- A charitable lead unitrust distributes a fixed percentage based on the balance of the trust assets (revalued annually), and additional contributions can be made.
When you redeem savings bonds, you or the person you leave your bonds to will owe income tax on the appreciation. You can eliminate the income tax on bonds you own that have stopped earning interest and that you plan to redeem. Because EBCF is tax-exempt, 100 percent of your gift of savings bonds will support your philanthropic goals.
You can create an effective legacy gift with donations of business interests such as stock in a closely held corporation, S-corporation stock, and shares in a professional corporation. When you make this gift, you receive a charitable income tax deduction for the full fair market value of the shares without capital gains liability. You can even use the shares to fund a legacy gift that will pay you income for life.
A donation of cash is the most direct way to create your legacy at EBCF. You benefit from a charitable tax credit while you have an immediate impact on the present and future of A Just East Bay.
