Planned Giving

A legacy gift demonstrates your commitment to the SLSO, to the next generation of music lovers, and to your community. With a gift through your estate or will, you can give more than you thought possible while generating a charitable estate tax deduction.

You can provide for the SLSO in your will or trust by naming the SLSO as a beneficiary of a specific amount, asset, or percentage of your estate.

Bequest language that you and your attorney might want to employ:

I give and devise to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (Tax ID #43-0666769) located at 718 North Grand Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63103,…

There are also several ways you can include the SLSO in your will. You can designate:

1. A specific gift amount
2. A percentage of your estate
3. The remainder, or a portion of the remainder, of your estate after you have taken care of your heirs and loved ones
4. Specific property (stock, real estate, etc.)

In addition to discussing your bequest, will or trust with your own advisors, we encourage you to contact our Planned Giving office to discuss language specific to your bequest, as well as other planned giving strategies that may fulfill your charitable giving objectives. Documenting and informing us of your bequest helps us count on your gift in our long-term financial planning.

In addition to naming the SLSO in your will or trust, you can also designate the SLSO as a beneficiary or one of the beneficiaries of your retirement plan, life insurance policy, or commercial annuity. Income and estate taxes are not imposed on retirement assets left to a charity. You always have the right to change or amend the beneficiary designation.

Some of the specific instruments in which beneficiary designation apply are:

• Qualified Retirement Plans, IRA, 401(k), 403(k), ESOP*
• Life Insurance
• Commercial annuities
• Payable on Death/Transfer on Death bank accounts or other financial investments

Documenting and letting us know of your beneficiary designations helps us account for your gift in the long-term strategies for the SLSO.

Another smart way to make a gift to the SLSO and receive tax benefits is to make an IRA Charitable Rollover gift. To qualify, you must be 70 ½ years old or older when the distribution is made. Further, the transfer must be outright and directly to the SLSO from your IRA account. Tax-free charitable IRA rollover gifts cannot be used to fund a gift annuity, a charitable remainder trust, a donor advised fund or a private foundation.

The tax benefits can be substantial, particularly if you are itemizing only because of the charitable deduction. If you use the IRA rollover, the payment to the charity will not be in your income and you can take the standard deduction. You may transfer up to $100,000 each calendar year. Those transfers are excluded from your gross income for federal income tax purposes and will count toward your minimum distribution requirement.

A life income gift, as its name implies, allows donors to receive payments and tax benefits during their lifetime – and to make a significant gift to the SLSO. This type of gift, like many smart planned gifts, provides a charitable income tax deduction and may reduce capital gains tax and estate tax. Life income gifts include the following vehicles:

Charitable Gift Annuities

• Deferred-payment gift annuities

Charitable remainder trusts

• Charitable remainder unitrusts
• Charitable remainder annuity trusts

There are many additional options for making a planned gift, including gifting real estate with a retained life estate, charitable lead trusts, variation on gifting life insurance and more. We suggest that we meet to discuss your goals and aspirations for making a gift. We also urge our donors to consult their own attorneys, legal advisors and/or financial planners to find the gift vehicle that works best for them and their families.