Planned Giving

Over the years, the Austen Riggs Center has received many generous bequests and other estate gifts from our friends and supporters. These gifts have helped us to create an endowment, increase financial aid for patients, and secure our fellowship program. To recognize those who have provided for Riggs in their estate plans, we are launching The 1919 Society.

There are a number of ways to plan your gift to the Austen Riggs Center. Many of these could provide your estate with significant tax benefits and help meet other financial planning needs, while providing a generous gift to Riggs.

Any planned gift or bequest entitles you to membership in the Austen Riggs 1919 Society, a very special group of friends who have included Riggs in their estate plans. If you have already included Riggs in your estate plans, won’t you please let us know so that we can thank you personally? Among the most popular planned gifts:

WAYS TO QUALIFY FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE 1919 SOCIETY

There are many ways to support the Austen Riggs Center through your estate plan, and some may even allow you to provide more than you might have first considered. Some key characteristics of the most popular plans are described below.

BEQUESTS AND RETIREMENT PLANS
A will provision allows you to make a substantial contribution to Austen Riggs without diminishing the assets available to you during your life. Since bequests are deductible from your taxable estate, significant estate tax savings may be possible. If you name Austen Riggs as a beneficiary of your retirement plan, you also avoid income tax when the Austen Riggs receives its share of your plan.
Click here for sample bequest language

CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUSTS
You can use an irrevocable trust to provide yourself and/or a loved one with a fixed annual income or an income which varies with the value of the trust. Part of your gift qualifies for an income tax deduction, as calculated with IRS tables. At the death of the last income beneficiary, the corpus of the trust is distributed to Austen Riggs.

CHARITABLE LEAD TRUSTS
You can support Austen Riggs and other charities for a term of years or for the life of an individual by creating a charitable lead trust. Income will be paid to Austen Riggs each year during the term of the trust. When the trust terminates, the assets in the trust revert to you or to individuals you wish to benefit.

REAL ESTATE WITH RETAINED LIFE ESTATE
A residence or other real property may be given as an outright gift, or you may prefer to give your residence, farm or vacation home and retain the right to occupy it for life. You get a charitable deduction in the year you arrange your gift.

LIFE INSURANCE
When you give a life insurance policy to Austen Riggs, the cash surrender value of the policy or the cost of a replacement policy is deductible as a charitable contribution. If you continue to pay premiums after your gift, these premiums are also deductible

INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNT GIFTS
New legislation allows donors who are 70.5 years or older to make gifts using funds from the individual retirement accounts (IRAs) without paying income tax.

For more options and further information, contact Susan Bronson, Director of Development, at 413-931-5333 or susan.bronson@austenriggs.net