Planned Giving 

Wills and living trusts are used to distribute property and protect your loved ones after your passing. By including Sutter Health in your will, you can also support the critical healthcare needs of the community.

An easy way to make a legacy gift is to designate the foundation as a beneficiary of your retirement plan. This lets you donate your retirement funds without you or your estate having to pay income tax.  

Please contact your bank, broker or plan administrator to obtain the necessary form. If you have an employer sponsored retirement plan, please contact your Human Resources Department.

If you have an IRA and are 70 ½ years or older, you may also be eligible for a charitable IRA rollover. This lets you avoid taxes on your IRA withdrawal and donate up to $100K to charity per year. Talk with your financial adviser to see if a charitable IRA rollover makes sense for you. 

If you no longer need a life insurance policy to provide for a child’s education or to support a spouse, consider designating Sutter Health as a beneficiary of the proceeds You can also donate the policy itself and receive an income-tax deduction this year.

Insurance companies use a standard form to change a beneficiary or transfer ownership of a policy. Please contact your agent or broker to obtain the proper form.  

Help change lives, support excellence in community healthcare and receive a new income for life with a gift annuity.

A gift annuity is a simple one-page contract. You agree to make a gift and we agree to pay you a high-rate annuity income. This means you get reliable retirement income, high-fixed rates for life, income tax deduction and partially tax-free income. You can fund a gift annuity with cash, stock or real estate. 

A charitable remainder trust creates an income stream for you or a beneficiary, with the rest of the money supporting community healthcare. It lets you make a significant contribution while still receiving income. The trust also gives you tax benefits like income tax deduction and estate tax relief. You can create the trust with cash, stock and real estate, and you determine the recipient of the trust’s income, the amount given, and how long the payments are made. 

Create a permanent funding source for a department chair, clinical program or community benefit service through an endowment. An endowment lets you specify what service or program you’d like to support, and it can be named in honor of a loved one. You can create an endowment with current gifts, pledges, estate gifts or a combination of the three. There are minimum donation levels for endowments due to the costs of administering them. Please discuss with your local philanthropy office. 

Like an endowment, a named fund can be set up to support a program of service that is dear to your heart. Special purpose funds can also be named and funded similarly to an endowment. However, these funds are used as needed rather than being held indefinitely. The minimum amount to get started is $25,000. 

We would be pleased to name a building, wing, suite or another part of a clinic of your choice in your honor or as a tribute to a loved one. Current gifts, pledges and estate gifts can fund these tributes. 

Giving stock, appreciated securities or property often provides added tax advantages to the contributor. The advantage of a stock donation is that you — the donor — avoid paying capital gains tax on the market value appreciation of the shares. This tax benefit can reduce the cost of the gift when long or mid-term appreciated stock is donated. You can transfer stock electronically or mail stock certificates to Sutter foundations. Please talk to your financial advisor and the Sutter Foundation of your choosing to determine which option is best for you. 

Give a gift to honor someone else. Memorial gifts can be made in memory of your loved one. The individual’s family will be notified of your gift at your request. Tribute gifts celebrate a special person in your life and can commemorate a holiday, birth, marriage or life event. You can also recognize your caregiver or doctor with a tribute gift, or by giving in their name at any time or for Doctors’ Day and Nurses’ Week. 

Get referrals for certified estate planning lawyers, see Sutter tax IDs and view recommended language for wills and living trust documents.