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Beneficiary Designations

Make a Gift in a Few Easy Steps

Not everyone wants to commit to making a gift in their wills or trusts. Some prefer the increased flexibility that a beneficiary designation provides by using their:

  • IRAs and retirement plans
  • Life insurance policies
  • Commercial annuities
  • Bank accounts, certificates of deposit and brokerage accounts

It's as easy as 1-2-3-4 to include your favorite MultiCare foundation or program as a beneficiary.

  1. Start by requesting a change-of-beneficiary form from your policy administrator or download the form from their website.
  2. Decide what percentage (1 to 100) you would like us to receive and list our legal name and tax ID, along with the percentage you chose, on the beneficiary form.
  3. Return the form to your custodian to establish your gift.
  4. And, please let us know. Many plan administrators assume no obligation to notify non-profit organizations of your designation and won’t monitor whether your gift designations are followed. Informing us helps preserve your intentions and ensures that we are able to follow your wishes.
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See How It Works

An Example of How It Works

Family smiling Robert and Carol treasure the financial help they've been able to give their children and Mary Bridge Children's Child Abuse Intervention Department (CAID) over the years. The couple recently updated their will to leave stocks and real estate to their kids. They left the Mary Bridge Children's Foundation, for benefit of CAID, a $75,000 IRA to be transferred following their lifetime. Because the foundation is tax-exempt, the entire $75,000 will help provide care to the children supported at CAID.

If Robert and Carol had left the IRA to their children, approximately $18,000* would have gone to pay federal income taxes-leaving only $57,000 for their family's use. Robert and Carol are happy knowing they are making the most of their hard-earned money thanks to their updated estate plan.

*Based on an assumption of a 24 percent marginal income tax bracket.

Learn how to fund it

You can use the following accounts to make beneficiary designation gifts:

Get free planning help

The MultiCare Foundations is proud to provide free and confidential estate planning services through Thompson & Associates for friends like you.

Learn more

Not sure how to begin planning?

Download a free personal estate planning kit

Ready for next steps?

  1. Talk to your financial or legal advisor to learn which assets will or will not trigger taxable income when paid to a beneficiary. (Need an advisor? Look here for advisors familiar with MultiCare foundations and services.)
  2. Contact our gift planning team at 253-403-3093 or plannedgiving@multicare.org for additional information on beneficiary designations and how they can help support better care in your community well into the future.
  3. If you name a MultiCare program or foundation in your plans, please use our legal name and federal tax ID number.
  4. If you have already named a MultiCare program or foundation in your plans, please let us know so that we can carry out your wishes as intended and thank you for your gift.

A charitable bequest is one or two sentences in your will or living trust that leave to MultiCare a specific item, an amount of money, a gift contingent upon certain events or a percentage of your estate.

an individual or organization designated to receive benefits or funds under a will or other contract, such as an insurance policy, trust or retirement plan

"I give to MultiCare, a nonprofit corporation currently located at 315 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, WA 98405, or its successor thereto, ______________ [written amount or percentage of the estate or description of property] for its unrestricted use and purpose."

able to be changed or cancelled

A revocable living trust is set up during your lifetime and can be revoked at any time before death. They allow assets held in the trust to pass directly to beneficiaries without probate court proceedings and can also reduce federal estate taxes.

cannot be changed or cancelled

tax on gifts generally paid by the person making the gift rather than the recipient

the original value of an asset, such as stock, before its appreciation or depreciation

the growth in value of an asset like stock or real estate since the original purchase

the price a willing buyer and willing seller can agree on

The person receiving the gift annuity payments.

the part of an estate left after debts, taxes and specific bequests have been paid

a written and properly witnessed legal change to a will

the person named in a will to manage the estate, collect the property, pay any debt, and distribute property according to the will

A donor advised fund is an account that you set up but which is managed by a nonprofit organization. You contribute to the account, which grows tax-free. You can recommend how much (and how often) you want to distribute money from that fund to a MultiCare program or foundation or other charities. You cannot direct the gifts.

An endowed gift can create a new endowment or add to an existing endowment. The principal of the endowment is invested and a portion of the principal’s earnings are used each year to support our mission.

Tax on the growth in value of an asset—such as real estate or stock—since its original purchase.

Securities, real estate or any other property having a fair market value greater than its original purchase price.

Real estate can be a personal residence, vacation home, timeshare property, farm, commercial property or undeveloped land.

A charitable remainder trust provides you or other named individuals income each year for life or a period not exceeding 20 years from assets you give to the trust you create.

You give assets to a trust that pays our organization set payments for a number of years, which you choose. The longer the length of time, the better the potential tax savings to you. When the term is up, the remaining trust assets go to you, your family or other beneficiaries you select. This is an excellent way to transfer property to family members at a minimal cost.

You fund this type of trust with cash or appreciated assets—and may qualify for a federal income tax charitable deduction when you itemize. You can also make additional gifts; each one also qualifies for a tax deduction. The trust pays you, each year, a variable amount based on a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust assets. When the trust terminates, the remaining principal goes to a MultiCare program or foundation as a lump sum.

You fund this trust with cash or appreciated assets—and may qualify for a federal income tax charitable deduction when you itemize. Each year the trust pays you or another named individual the same dollar amount you choose at the start. When the trust terminates, the remaining principal goes to a MultiCare program or foundation as a lump sum.

A beneficiary designation clearly identifies how specific assets will be distributed after your death.

A charitable gift annuity involves a simple contract between you and a MultiCare program or foundation where you agree to make a gift to a MultiCare program or foundation and we, in return, agree to pay you (and someone else, if you choose) a fixed amount each year for the rest of your life.
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