Planned Giving Program

Gifts of Cash

Cash and checks of any amount are welcome. Please make checks payable to Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School.

Gifts of Publicly Traded Securities

All securities that are traded on the New York and American Stock Exchanges, the NASDAQ, and other major U.S. Exchanges shall be accepted. The value of a gift of regularly traded securities will be the mean of the high and low of the stock(s) or bond(s) on the day the transfer is affected by the donor to the organization. 

Gifts by Bequest

Cash bequests represent an important potential source of gifts. Direct, unencumbered bequests provide Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School the full value of the bequest and provide the testator’s estate with a charitable deduction for the same value. Attempts shall be made to discover bequest plans whenever possible in order to determine whether inappropriate non-cash items have inadvertently been left to the organization so the donor can be advised how to conform his or her plans to Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School. 

There are four ways that a bequest can be made to Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School: 

1. A fixed amount of cash or securities or a percentage of the estate can be given. 
2. In a residual bequest, after other beneficiaries receive a designated portion of the estate, the remainder of the estate is left to Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School. 
3. A contingent bequest can be made where Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School will receive a portion of the estate only if the named beneficiaries predecease the maker of the bequest. Those who must provide for younger family members often select this form. 
4. A testamentary trust bequest creates a trust and the income or stated amount is paid to the beneficiaries. On their death, Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School receives the use of the gift. This option may actually increase life income for beneficiaries, since it reduces the amount of the estate subject to estate taxes. 

Gifts by Life Insurance

Life insurance may be given to the organization. Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School encourages donors to name the organization to receive all or a portion of the benefits of life insurance policies that they have purchased on their lives. New or existing policies may be given outright or the organization can be named the owner and beneficiary of an existing policy. 

Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School will accept fully paid life insurance policies in which the donor has named the organization to receive all or a portion of the benefits of the insurance policy. The donor’s tax consequences hinge on whether the policy’s ownership has been endorsed over to the organization and whether the benefits have been irrevocably assigned to Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School. 

A donor who irrevocably transfers life insurance to Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School can claim income tax deductions for the policy’s cost basis or cash surrender value, whichever is less. The donor can never claim an income tax deduction on the policy’s face value. 

Naming Bishop Ludden Jr Sr High School as the beneficiary on the policy is not sufficient to generate an income tax deduction for the donor because the donor can change the beneficiary at a later date. To be entitled to a deduction, the donor must make the organization both beneficiary and owner of the policy. Upon receiving a paid-up policy, the organization, as owner, can surrender it and obtain the cash value or keep the policy until the death of the donor.