By leaving a planned gift you are ensuring that the Branford Compassion Club (BCC) can continue to serve our feline friends and our community. You will help guarantee  that we can continue our mission into the future.

Good Stewards
As dedicated and passionate rescuers, we are called upon to be good stewards of the assets with which we are entrusted. We must also consider how we will maintain the shelter that provides a temporary home for so many rescued cats, and secure its foundation and vitality for future generations.

Good stewardship requires sound financial planning and that is why we have established an endowment. One way you can help us is by making a planned gift to our endowment.

What is a Planned Gift?
Planned gifts are planned for during the donor’s lifetime but not realized by the beneficiary until a future transfer is made, or upon the donor’s death. A planned gift can be an expression of your values and commitment to feline rescue.

It’s a way of saying that, after your family and loved ones, these are the causes that matter most and providing for them is important to you.

There are many ways to plan a gift. There are gifts that pay you income in retirement, and gifts that help reduce or avoid income and estate taxes. How you make your gift is important, but the key is to ensure that your planned gift meets your personal, financial, and charitable goals.

Planned gifts are a wonderful way to create a meaningful legacy for you and your family. A planned gift does not require great wealth, just a willingness to continue supporting a cause that has been important to you during your lifetime. It is a win for you and a win for the Branford Compassion Club.

HOW TO CREATE A PLANNED GIFT

Through a Bequest in Your Will:

  • Before making a bequest to BCC, we encourage you to speak with your legal and / or financial advisor.
  • Designate a bequest in an amount that is appropriate for you.
  • Direct your bequest in a way that allows BCC to use your gift to grow the endowment.

Through a Charitable Gift of Life Insurance:

  • Apply for a new life insurance policy naming BCC as the policy owner and beneficiary.
  • Name BCC as a beneficiary of your existing policy (designating any percentage of the policy’s face amount to the organization).

Using Your IRA or 401(k):

  • If/when you must take a required minimum distribution (RMD) from an IRA you can instruct your IRA administrator to make that distribution (up to $100,000) directly to BCC, while you are alive.
  • If you have an IRA, tax advantages exist to have the balance in that IRA go to charity upon your death, instead of to your heirs and to direct your life insurance in the same dollar amount to your living heirs.
  • At any age, you can call your IRA or 401(k) administrator and change your beneficiary to BCC.
  • Using your IRA can have significant tax advantages, not only for you during your life, but for your estate and heirs.

Through a Transfer upon Death:

Perhaps the simplest planned gift, like a beneficiary change, would be to designate BCC to receive a bank or brokerage account or a stock held in a holding account upon your death. This transfers the asset without going through probate court like a will designation requires.  If you decide to support BCC with an endowment gift, now or in the future, it is helpful to  confidentially let us know.  When creating an estate gift for BCC, we encourage you to speak with your legal and/or financial advisors to  assist in your planned giving.

  • Sample Language for making an unrestricted dollar-specific bequest: – fill in the desired amount to replace “green” samples! “I give and bequeath the sum of “twenty-five thousand” dollars ($25,000.00) to Branford Compassion Club, Inc., at P.O. Box 768 Branford, CT 06405 for its endowment.”
  • Sample Language for making a residuary bequest: “I give and bequeath “twenty-five” percent (25%) of my unassigned assets to Branford Compassion Club, Inc., at P.O. Box 768 Branford, CT 06405 for its endowment.”

For more information about creating a planned gift contact Anne Godsey annergodsey@gmail.com, (203) 605-2718.

Our Legal Name and Address: Branford Compassion Club, Inc. P.O. Box 768 Branford, CT 06405.