Planned Giving: why it’s so important and how to do it

Annual charitable giving, planned giving, and grant and foundation dollars fuel 75% of CCLC operations and program development and delivery. Each type and all scales of support are essential. A planned gift to the CCLC is one way to demonstrate your values in supporting education, the environment, and our global well-being while making a lasting difference in the lives of our students and community in Maine and beyond. We invite you to help ensure that CCLC’s emerging future is realized by continuing to support us in the essential ways that you do, and to consider whether a planned gift to CCLC is possible as well.

As CCLC board member and longtime supporter Frank Trocco (page 10) explains, including CCLC in your planned giving is easily accomplished and within reach for many of us. A planned gift is any major gift, made in lifetime or at death, as part of a donor’s overall financial and/or estate planning.

Making a planned gift to CCLC is easier than you think. Here are a few ways for you to consider:

1. Leave a gift that costs you nothing now: Consider leaving a gift in your will or trust to CCLC. You can take care of family and friends first and donate a specific dollar amount or a percentage of your estate. You can leave a gift to CCLC by creating a new will, revising your current will at any time, or by writing an amendment.

2. Donate a retirement account, life insurance policy, bank/brokerage account or CD’s: Leaving retirement assets to a charity is easy and you don’t need a will. Simply update your beneficiary designation form with your plan administrator.

3. Give a gift of real estate, such as a personal home, vacation home, undeveloped property or a farm: These types of gifts may provide significant benefits to you as well as CCLC but require a bit more planning than gifts of cash or securities. Please contact us to discuss your gift.

Here are some ways a planned gift to CCLC benefits you:

1. You retain control of your assets during your lifetime.

2. You can change your beneficiaries at any time.

3. You can provide for loved ones and the CCLC.

4. You can leave a gift in honor or memory of someone special.

5. You choose the amount: there is no minimum contribution.

We are here to help. To discuss your goals or notify us of a legacy gift you have planned, please contact Alan Furth, Co-Founder and Director of Development, (207) 733-2233, alan@thecclc.org.