In 2008, some exceptionally large bequests were announced. These bequests are not included in the estimates, however, because it typically takes two years before an estate is settled and the tax return is filed. Thus, these gifts will be captured in the tax data in 2010 or later. The 2008 estates announcing bequests include the following:
$4.5 billion from inventor and Utah businessman James LeVoy Sorenson, to the Sorenson Legacy Foundation2;
$360 million from Harold Alfond (founder of Dexter Shoe Company) to the Harold Alfond Foundation in Maine3;
$272 million from Frank Doble, founder of an engineering company, to two universities in Massachusetts: Lesley University and Tufts University4;
$225 million from Dorothy Patterson, whose family included founders of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News, to the Patterson Foundation in Florida. 5
Other entities released information about bequests Other organizations study the amount received in bequests by members or specific types of organizations. These include the following:
The Council for Aid to Education (CAE) announced that bequests from responding institutions of higher education in fiscal year 2007–2008 totaled $2.64 billion. This is an increase of 7. 5 percent compared with 2006–2007, but a slower rate of growth than the 13.0 percent reported in 2005–2006 and in 2006–2007. Note, however, that the CAE receives information about bequests from a variety of higher education institutions, but does not receive consistent year-to-year responses from the same institutions.
United Way of America reported bequests, endowment gifts, and other realized planned gifts of $72.4 million in 2007–2008 and will release information about 2008–2009 in fall 2009.
United Jewish Communities (UJC) reported $2.6 billion in contributions to endowment funds held by the UJC/Jewish Federation system. Many of these contributions are from planned gifts (includes instruments other than bequests), according to the UJC annual report for 2007–2008.6 In the report for 2006–2007, the UJC reported that its member federations received $1.3 billion through their planned gift and endowment programs.
A will is a legal document that enables donors to make a significant legacy gift without reducing the assets available during their life. Before naming a charity in a will, most individuals will want to arrange to transfer assets to their family members.
GOOD TO KNO W
References:
Archives