Planned and Estate Giving

Including a gift to Gerber/Hart Library and Archives in your estate plan is an effective way to ensure the continuation of Gerber/Hart’s work to collect, preserve, and make accessible materials about LGBTQ issues of the U.S. Midwest and beyond. Here are options for you to consider in adding Gerber/Hart to your estate plan.

Please speak with your attorney in selecting an option that will be most appropriate for your
intentions.

• Make a gift that costs you nothing now by leaving a gift to Gerber/Hart through your will or trust. You can take care of family and friends first and then donate a specific dollar amount or a percentage of your estate to Gerber/Hart. Our official name is Gerber/Hart Library and Archives.

• Donate retirement assets. An alternative to a bequest gift is to designate Gerber/Hart as the beneficiary of your retirement assets. This gift is simple because you can control the transfer of these assets at your death without
  changing your will or living trust. All you need to do is complete and file a new beneficiary designation form with your plan administrator. There is no need to modify your will or living trust.
• A gift of retirement assets has the added advantage of being among the most tax-wise ways to make an estate gift. This is because your retirement assets, if left to individuals, will be subject to income tax when those individuals receive distributions and, in the case of most non-spouses, those distributions must take place within 10 years, potentially pushing designated beneficiaries into higher tax brackets. With a gift to a non-profit such as Gerber/Hart, 100 percent of the funds are available for its purposes. If you want to remember Gerber/Hart in your estate plan, it is often better to leave other types of assets – cash, securities, real estate – to your heirs and give the more heavily taxed retirement asset to Gerber/Hart.

• Make Gerber/Hart the beneficiary of your life insurance policy. Life insurance policies can also be used to make a gift to Gerber/Hart. Complete and return to the insurance company a form designating that Gerber/Hart receives all or a portion of the death benefit associated with your life insurance policy. As an alternative to naming Gerber/Hart as the beneficiary, you can transfer ownership of the policy. Transferring ownership results in an immediate income tax charitable deduction and potential income tax savings in the year of the gift.

• Make Gerber/Hart the beneficiary of your donor-advised fund. You can name Gerber/Hart as the beneficiary of the amount remaining in your donor-advised fund at the time of your death. As with life insurance policies and retirement plans, this can be done by simply updating your beneficiary form for the fund.

Thank you for making a gift to Gerber/Hart Library and Archives a part of your estate plan.

Sample bequest language

These samples can help you and your attorney draft a bequest to Gerber/Hart that meets your individual intentions. Please be sure that Gerber/Hart’s correct legal name appears in all final documents.

Unrestricted Gift (a gift that can be used where need is greatest): “I give, devise, and bequeath to Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, Chicago, Illinois, (insert dollar amount)* to be used for its general purposes.”

Residuary Bequest (leaves any remainder after all other bequests have been paid): “I give, devise, and bequeath to Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, Chicago, Illinois, (insert percentage amount) percent of the residue of my estate to be used for its general purposes.”

Contingency Gift (takes effect only if a primary intention cannot be met): “In the event that (insert name) predeceases me, I give, devise, and bequeath his/her bequest or share to Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, Chicago, Illinois, to be used for its general purposes.”

*Rather than leaving a certain sum, you can use language that refers to a percentage of your estate or describes the property you wish to give.