Planned Giving: Leave a Legacy that Stands on Truth

You already have an estate plan—whether you’ve created it intentionally or not. Without a plan of your own, the government will make one for you. But the government’s plan does not reflect your heart—your faith, your values, your love for family, or your desire to advance God’s Kingdom.

Planned Giving is your opportunity to ensure that the resources God has entrusted to you continue to reflect your priorities, provide for those you love, and strengthen ministries like Truett McConnell University for generations to come.

By thoughtfully designing your legacy with the help of trusted financial and legal counsel, you can:

  • Protect your family and the causes you care about.
  • Reduce taxes that erode your lifetime income and your estate.
  • Transform non-cash assets into Kingdom-impacting resources.

Remarkably, most people give from cash, even though most of their wealth is held in non-cash assets.  Planned Giving allows you to provide long-lasting support for Truett McConnell University while enjoying financial benefits for yourself and your family by giving from what you already have in investments, real estate, business interests, and more—providing tax advantages and even lifetime income, if needed. LEARN MORE

There are many ways to plan your giving, either in life giving or as a part of your legacy, both of which can and will make an eternal difference at TMU:

What to Give:

Gifts of Stocks and Bonds:

There are a number of benefits of gifts of stocks and bonds such as:

  • Avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of appreciated stock
  • Receive a charitable income tax deduction

Gifts of Life Insurance:

A gift of a life insurance policy is an excellent way to make a gift.  If the insurance policy has outlasted its original purpose, leveraging that policy can make a significant Kingdom impact—often far greater than thought possible—without great personal expense, if any.

Gifts of Real Estate:

Donating appreciated real estate, such as a home, vacation property, undeveloped land, farm land, or a commercial property can provide a grand opportunity for a noncash gift that will benefit TMU while providing substantial savings to the individual or family making the gift by avoiding capital gains taxes and allowing them to receive a charitable income tax deduction based on the value of the gift.

Gifts of Retirement Assets:

Donating part or all of any unused retirement assets such as a gift from an IRA, 401(k), 401(b), pension or other tax-deferred plan is an excellent way to make a gift to TMU, offering such results as avoidance of potential estate tax on retirement assets. If the Giver is over 70.5 years of age, it is likely that the Giver is subject to Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), which necessarily means that the amounts that are required to be distributed from these IRAs are taxable income to the Giver.  By gifting these directly to TMU, it is possible to avoid the income tax altogether, resulting in greater benefit to TMU and less taxes for the Giver—a win-win for all.

Gifts of Business Interests:

As a business owner, building the business and accumulating income and wealth for the family and the individual Giver often provides an opportunity for a gift of a portion of the business interests to benefit TMU, while continuing to also benefit the family.  Gift a portion or all of the non-voting corporate stock or assets to TMU and turn the business into an engine of generosity.

Other Assets:

Assets such as grain, livestock, equipment, tangible property such as jewelry, artwork, coins (bitcoins included), allow the Giver to turn the fruit of their labor into Gospel impact as well and should be considered as gifting opportunities.

Ways to Give:

Gifts made from Your Estate by Will, Trust, or Beneficiary Designation:

Designating TMU as the beneficiary of an asset of an Estate via Will, Trust, or Beneficiary Designation form can be a true Legacy gift to TMU.  These gifts can be gifts of Real Estate, Cash, Retirement Assets, Business Interests and so much more, all working together to increase the impact of the TMU Legacy.

Gifts made from a Donor Advised Fund: 

Gifts that are given through a Giving Fund (Donor Advised Fund (DAF)) allows the Giver to donate a variety of assets to the DAF provider and the DAF then serves as a convenient tool to streamline the Giver’s giving and manage it all in one place—much line a charitable checking account.  To learn more about Donor Advised Funds, visit our partner institutions at the National Christian Foundation and the Georgia Baptist Foundation.

To learn more about planned giving and non-cash gifts, contact Danny Hendrix at dhendrix@truett.edu or at 706-865-2134 ext. 3804.