Planned Giving

Charitable donations can be an important part of your estate planning. Bequests, gift annuities, and charitable trusts are vehicles through which you can provide valuable financial support to The Steward School. They also can provide significant financial benefits for you and your loved ones. We encourage you to seek advice from a tax professional about including Steward in your estate planning.

Donors who make documented planned gifts to The Steward School are recognized as members of the Heritage Society.

Bequests
You may make a gift to Steward by designating Steward as a beneficiary in your will. Bequests permit donors to commit assets after their lifetimes while retaining the property during their lives. Bequests can allow for significantly larger gifts and can reduce estate taxes. A bequest can be made for a specified amount or as a percentage of the estate. Bequests can be unrestricted or used to establish operating or endowed funds to accomplish specific goals. Bequests of any size will help to secure the strength of the School for future generations.

Getting started is easier than ever: We’ve recently partnered with FreeWill to give all of our supporters the opportunity to write a legally valid will, 100% for free. You can create a powerful legacy for future generations of Spartans — without paying anything today. Write your will today.

Gift Annuities
Under a gift annuity agreement, you make a gift to Steward in return for the School's promise to make an annual payment to you of a specific dollar amount for as long as you live. The amount of the annual payment depends on your age and is based on a fixed percentage of the initial fair market value of your gifts. A portion of your gift is tax-deductible.

Charitable Remainder Trust
A charitable remainder trust may be designed to provide you with income throughout your lifetime as well as to support Steward upon your death. The trust may be established with a gift of cash or appreciated stock.

Charitable Lead Trusts
With a charitable lead trust, you essentially "lend" the school your assets for a set period of time. At the end of that period, the property is returned or passed on to named individuals.

Gifts of Real Estate
Your residence, condominium, vacation home, timeshare, or acreage may have appreciated in value through the years so that its sale would mean a sizable capital gains tax. By making a gift of property to Steward, you would avoid the capital gains tax and receive a charitable tax deduction for the full market value of the property.

Charitable IRA Rollover
Charitable IRA Rollover allows individuals age 70½ and older to make direct transfers of up to a set limit from individual retirement accounts to qualified charities without having to count the transfers as income for federal tax purposes. We’ve partnered with FreeWill so you can use a new tool to make a donation to The Steward School in less than 10 minutes. The tool is completely free, helps you estimate how much you’re required to withdraw, and, if you are so moved, complete your gift to Steward. Make your smartest gift now!


For more information on making a planned gift or joining the Heritage Society, please contact the Development Office via email or by phone at (804) 740-3394, ext. 2306.