Life insurance can be very helpful in providing protection for your family’s way of life should you die unexpectedly. Yet you may have reached a point in your life when your family’s needs have lessened and giving the proceeds from a life insurance policy to a charity makes sense. Giving life insurance proceeds offers you the opportunity to make a generous gift with a relatively modest financial outlay.

There are several ways you can use life insurance proceeds to make a gift to the Adopt An Annuitant ministry:

• Donate a paid-up policy, which does not require additional premium payments. Your charitable deduction will be the fair-market value of the policy (approximately the cash surrender value less any outstanding loans you have against it) as long as that value does not exceed your cost basis in the policy.
• Buy a new policy and make the Adopt An Annuitant ministry the beneficiary. This option can often achieve a gift many times larger than you initially thought possible. And all premiums on the policy are deductible as charitable contributions on the condition that you do not retain ownership or any control over the policy.
• Name the Adopt An Annuitant ministry as the contingent beneficiary on a current policy. Many people name primary beneficiaries for their life insurance policies, but neglect to name a contingent beneficiary. By naming the Adopt An Annuitant ministry as the contingent beneficiary, your designated beneficiary would receive the proceeds if they are still living and the Adopt An Annuitant ministry would receive the proceeds if they are not. Any life insurance proceeds donated to a charity may result in an estate tax charitable deduction.

For more information, contact the Adopt An Annuitant program by calling 1-888-98-GUIDE (1-888-984-8433) or email us.

The Adopt An Annuitant ministry relies on the support of churches and individuals to provide this vital assistance. You can participate in this ministry by sending a gift, funding a Charitable Gift Annuity, designating the ministry as the beneficiary of your will, estate plan or trust, or requesting materials to share with others. You can also read more about who we help.