Planned Giving

The simplest form of gift planning—a bequest is a gift that is created through your will or trust and comes to SCDS after your lifetime. Bequests can be for any amount and can include cash, securities, real estate, or other property. They can be stated as a specific dollar amount, a percentage of your estate, or the remainder of your estate.

Benefits:
- A bequest is free of federal and estate tax
​​​​​- Your bequest can be designated for a particular purpose (endowment, special fund, etc.)
- A bequest can be changed later
- You can leave a legacy and provide future support to SCDS

How to name Savannah Country Day School in your will or trust:
Bequest intentions are straightforward to organize. In as little as one sentence (click here to access sample) you can complete your gift to SCDS.

Individuals can also make a gift of life insurance by making Savannah Country Day School the irrevocable owner and beneficiary of a life insurance policy that has cash value and is no longer needed. Individual donors, in many cases, may claim a charitable deduction when gifting a life insurance policy with cash value. 

A Charitable IRA Rollover makes it easier to use IRA assets, during lifetime, to make charitable gifts to SCDS. The Charitable IRA Rollover allows individuals age 70½ and older to make direct transfers of up to $100,000 per year (and up to $200,000 per year for married couples) from individual retirement accounts to qualified charities without having to count the transfers as income for federal tax purposes. So, these are “tax-wise” gifts for donors who must take an annual required minimum distribution from their IRAs. Since no tax is incurred on the withdrawal, gifts do not qualify for an income tax charitable deduction, but are eligible to be counted toward an individual’s minimum required distribution.

Provisions of the Charitable IRA Rollover:

- Distributions must be made directly to a qualified charity by the plan administrator of an IRA. Retirement assets in 401(k), 403(b), SEP, or SIMPLE plans do not qualify but may be rolled into a new or existing IRA and transferred to the charity.
- Distributions may only be made to 501(c)(3) tax exempt organizations and cannot be made to donor advised funds, private foundations, or supporting organizations.
_ Distributions may not be used to fund life-income gifts such as charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, or pooled income funds.

These types of gifts are also known as “life-income” gifts. They are investment vehicles that provide the donor with a fixed income for life, based on the initial value of the investment, and after the passing of the donor the remaining amount becomes the gift to Savannah Country Day School.

A charitable gift annuity could be right for you if:
- You want to maintain or increase your cash flow.
- You want the security of fixed, dependable payments for life.
- You want to save income taxes or capital gains taxes.
- You would like income that is partially tax-free.
- You want to make a generous gift to SCDS.
- You are considering a gift amount of $100,000 or more.
- You are at least 55 years of age.

Many donors today are using Donor Advised Funds to optimize their tax situation while still supporting their favorite charities. These funds are set up with large financial institutions or community foundations who act as the charitable sponsor. Donors who direct gifts from these types of funds have a few options for the disbursement of any remaining funds upon their passing. One option is to designate the remaining balance of the fund to support Savannah Country Day School.