A unique way to make a charitable gift is to name a Sutter Health affiliate as a beneficiary of all or a portion of your retirement plan, such as an IRA, 401(k), 403(b), etc.

Under current tax law, retirement assets that are bequeathed to heirs or individuals other than your spouse are often severely taxed. The charitable status of Sutter Health affiliates helps avoid the heavy taxes your heirs could experience if they inherit your retirement assets.

Gifts of Retirement Assets - How it Works

Step 1 – You name a Sutter Health affiliate as a beneficiary of your IRA, 401(k) or other qualified retirement plan.
Step 2 – After your lifetime, the remaining assets, or a designated portion of the assets in your plan pass to your designated Sutter Health affiliate.

By designating a Sutter Health affiliate organization as your beneficiary (it can be a contingent beneficiary after the death of a spouse - see sample bequest language) funds pass to the Sutter Health affiliate free of taxes. It is possible to set up the beneficiary as the recipient of the entire remaining funds in the account or establish a percentage to fund the bequest.

Please note - the designation of any charity as a beneficiary of retirement fund assets cannot be simply written in your will or trust. The charity must be designated as a beneficiary of the retirement plan.

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Norman and Ruth had often put some of their savings into the stock market. They were also employed by companies that had 401k plans. They kept investing and the value of their plans kept growing. They had long been active in charitable giving; one of their first charitable was a gift of appreciated stock.

Norman: "Our first experience was giving several hundred shares of a stock that had more than doubled in value. We needed some help that year with our tax situation and that gift was a great idea. Also, our tax-sheltered retirement plans kept growing and just recently we rolled them into our IRA. It's grown beyond our wildest dreams."
Ruth: "But taxes will eat up so much of it. Not that we need it all, but we were hoping to get more value out of it."
Norman: "We recently sat down with our attorney to look at our overall financial plans to make sure we had set up our affairs to best suit our needs. Knowing how much we would like to help others, our attorney suggested we consider making a charity a partial contingent beneficiary."
Ruth: "Tax benefits for our estate, protecting our future, and knowing we're making a difference in other peoples' lives - it feels good!"

Everyone's personal circumstances are unique, so please consult your tax advisor concerning the use of qualified retirement funds. We are glad to make suggestions that could be effective in accomplishing your and your family's needs and benefit your Sutter Health affiliate organization as well.

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Please note, individual financial circumstances will vary. The information on this site does not constitute legal or tax advice. As with all tax and estate planning, please consult your attorney or estate specialist. All material is copyrighted and is for viewing purposes only. Use of this site signifies your agreement with the terms of use. The content in this Planned Giving section has been developed for Sutter Health by Future Focus. Please report any problems to the Webmaster Revised: June 23, 2006 11:53