Planned giving through your estate will help ensure that Gotham Chamber Opera will be here for future generations, and will also help to maintain, enrich and expand Gotham Chamber Opera’s education programs. Your gift will touch thousands in very meaningful ways.
A bequest is the simplest and most convenient way to make a planned gift. Your gift can be restricted or unrestricted and can be given through a specific dollar bequest, a percentage of your estate, or a contingent bequest. Sample language is provided for you below.
"I bequeath Twenty Thousand ($20,000) Dollars [or: all my General Motors stock] to Gotham Chamber Opera, a New York non-profit corporation located in New York, NY."
"I bequeath Ten Percent (10%) of the residue of my estate to Gotham Chamber Opera, a New York non-profit corporation located in New York, NY."
"If my nephew does not survive me or is unable to inherit this bequest, I direct that it be paid to Gotham Chamber Opera, a New York non-profit corporation located in New York, NY."
The most useful kind of bequest is unrestricted, allowing the funds to be allocated by Gotham Chamber Opera wherever the need is greatest at the time it is received.
You may also restrict your gift to a special Gotham Chamber Opera program or specific purpose that reflects your personal or professional interest. Please call Gotham Chamber Opera's office at 212.868.4460 to discuss restricting your bequest.
Congress has reauthorized Federal tax legislation that again allows donors 70 ½ and older to make charitable gifts from their IRA accounts during tax year 2011, without incurring income tax on the withdrawal. Although no itemized charitable deduction is allowed, such transfers count toward the "minimum annual distribution" required to be made if the IRA beneficiary is age 70 1/2 or older.
This special opportunity is available only for:
gifts to charity completed in calendar year 2011
gifts up to a maximum of $100,000 (no minimum) per year
individuals age 70 1/2 or older who must take minimum required distributions
taxpayers who prefer this transfer to taking some gifts as deductions
gifts made from traditional IRAs or Roth IRAs (not 401k's, 403b's, etc.)
spouses who may contribute up to $100,000 per year from their own IRA
individuals who do not itemize their tax returns
Here are easy steps you should follow to make a gift under this law:
First, contact your IRA trustee or administrator to notify them that you will be making a charitable gift through your IRA
Follow up by sending written authorization to your IRA trustee or administrator that instructs them to transfer a gift directly to Gotham Chamber Opera (Gotham Chamber Opera will provide a sample letter, if needed)
This letter instructs the trustee to list your name on the gift
To ensure that your gift is properly identified and acknowledged, please notify Gotham Chamber Opera
For more information or to notify us of a gift to be made, please contact the Gotham Chamber Opera office at 212-868-4460.
Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent provided by the law. The Gotham Chamber Opera is an IRS 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation.