Planning Your Gift
Illinois Public Media connects people with information, ideas and adventures that open doors to new worlds. When you contribute through a current gift or a deferred gift in your will or estate plan, you are helping to ensure that public broadcasting will be available for generations to come. You can view our planned giving brochure by clicking here.
Many of our donors want to provide support for programs they have enjoyed through the years including particular types of programs: science, the arts or children's education. Others want to help Illinois Public Media with current needs such as new technology and equipment.
You may want to make a gift in memory of or in honor of a special person who also enjoyed WILL's programs.
We can work with you to create the kind of impact you want to make at Illinois Public Media and the many services it provides including WILL.
Questions? Please contact Erin Lippitz at 217-333-7300.
Creating your legacy
This is an informational presentation on the importance of estate planning and how charitable giving may help you meet your personal and financial goals. Learn about the most popular ways to support your favorite non-profit organizations and how to design a gift that will provide for you, your loved ones, and organizations you care about for generations to come. Tinisha Spain, host of WILL-TV's Mid-American Gardener, facilitates this discussion with Judy Schneider and Justin Seno, Directors of Gift Planning at the University of Illinois Foundation.
Ways to give through your estate
Bequests
You can make a gift to the University of Illinois Foundation (UIF) to support Illinois Public Media as a bequest in your will or living trust in the following ways:
- A percentage of your total estate. In using this approach, your gift adjusts as the size of your estate changes.
- You can specify a specific dollar amount to be given to UIF to support Illinois Public Media.
- The residue or a percentage of the residue of your estate. After your specific gifts to loved ones have been made, you may designate that the entire residue or a percentage of the remainder shall go to UIF to support Illinois Public Media.
Bequest language and tax ID number for estate gift
To make a gift through your will or living trust use the following bequest language:
"I leave [% of estate/$ amount/% of shares/residue] to the University of Illinois Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation (Tax ID 37-6006007) located in the State of Illinois, to support Illinois Public Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign."
The University of Illinois Foundation is the official fundraising and private gift-receiving agency for the University of Illinois and Illinois Public Media.
Beneficiary Designations
Most types of financial accounts provide for a beneficiary designation or a payable on death (“POD”)/transfer on death (“TOD”) designation. Like a bequest, this option allows you to maintain control of your account and its assets during your life, with the remaining funds moving to the beneficiaries you designate when you pass. Beneficiary designations function separately from your other estate documents, so it is important to ensure you have conferred with your advisers to align your designations to your overarching estate plan. Bank accounts, IRAs, savings bonds, life insurance, donor-advised funds, brokerage accounts, and mutual funds all have the ability to assign a beneficiary designation. You can assign the beneficiary designation as any percentage, up to 100%, via the following language:
University of Illinois Foundation fbo Illinois Public Media
Tax ID 37-6006007
Attn: Office of Gift Planning and Trust Services
303 St. Mary's Road
Champaign, IL 61820
Other Ways to Give
Donor Advised Funds
Recommending your donor advised fund make a grant to the UIF fbo Illinois Public Media is an easy way to make an impactful gift that supports the mission today. We can help you get started on the process.
Gifts of Retirement Assets
IRA accounts, savings bonds, and commercial annuities are often the most attractive assets to leave to UIF for the benefit of Illinois Public Media because UIF does not pay any income tax on these assets that a non-charitable beneficiary (like a relative) would pay. The entire amount can be put to use to create, produce and broadcast programs.
Charitable IRA Rollover
After you have attained the age of 70 ½, you are permitted to transfer up to $105,000 annually from your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to a qualified charity like UIF. The funds must come directly from your IRA provider with the check written to UIF. The direct transfer has two main benefits: 1) Any funds transferred will count towards or cover your required minimum distribution (“RMD”) for that tax year, and 2) distributions are not added to your taxable income. (Please note that while you will not receive a charitable deduction for these gifts, excluding them from your income is more advantageous than a deduction.) Contact us for instructions you can share with your IRA administrator and to ensure your gift is directed as you wish.
Gifts of securities
Appreciated, marketable securities held for more than a year make great gifts because your charitable deduction is the fair market value at the time of your donation and your appreciation escapes capital gains taxation. Contact UIF’s Cash Receipts Department (cashdesk@uif.uillinois.edu or 217-244-0352) for updated electronic transfer instructions to complete your gift of securities.
Gifts of land or real estate
A gift of your appreciated real property (such as your home, vacation property, vacant land, farmland, ranch or commercial property) can make a great gift. Some of the benefits to you may include avoidance of paying capital gains tax; and receiving a charitable income tax deduction. These gifts require UIF review and pre-approval before being accepted.
Gifts that Pay You Back
Charitable Gift Annuities (CGA)
A CGA is an easy, popular option that allows you to transfer cash or appreciated, marketable securities to UIF for the benefit of Illinois Public Media in exchange for a charitable deduction the year of your gift and, based on your age, a specific fixed payment for life. (If unneeded now, payments can also be deferred for at least one year after a CGA’s creation for an increase in both the charitable deduction and annual payments.)
Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs)
These options allow you to transfer assets to UIF to put in a trust, benefit from an income tax deduction, and receive payments to you or others for life or a certain number of years. When the trust terminates, its remaining assets are used to support Illinois Public Media. (These options can provide fixed or variable income and require slightly higher minimum investment than CGAs.)
UIF can develop a free, no-obligation CGA or CRT illustration customized for your particular goals.
Information for Advisors
If you're advising someone who is planning a gift or bequest to WILL, we are happy to assist you. Together, we can create the arrangements to help your clients leave a lasting legacy that carries on the vital work of public broadcasting. Please contact us for further information on the variety of assets to give, ways to give or for any other assistance that we can provide.
Questions? Please contact Erin Lippitz at 217-333-7300.
This material has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.