“Let the Caring Continue”

The Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc. was re-organized in 1997 as an independent body responsible for the fundraising programs and activities of Mont St. Joseph Home in Prince Albert. Planned Giving is one such program and it has been aptly named “Let the Caring Continue”.

By joining “Let the Caring Continue” you provide Mont St. Joseph Foundation the opportunity to acknowledge your intentions and be recognized as a major supporter – today.

In appreciation of your anticipated gift, Mont St. Joseph Foundation wants you to become a part of this community today. By becoming a member of “Let the Caring Continue” you receive the following: an invitation to our Christmas Donor Social, listing in the Christmas Newsletter as a “Let The Caring Continue” member, and your name will have a special place on the Donor Wall displayed in the Home as an enduring testament to your care and concern for Mont St. Joseph Home. You will become a member of a select group of people who have chosen to make Mont St. Joseph Home and the residents a priority in their Financial Plans.

By considering Mont St. Joseph Home in your plans today, you can help ensure the vitality and continuation of Mont St. Joseph Home tomorrow. Your gift can make a difference and we encourage all those who have included Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc. in their wills to join The Let the Caring Continue Program today.

Gifts of Cash
Most Foundation supporters give gifts of cash. For many, it is as easy as writing a cheque or using a credit card. Your charitable tax receipt is issued on the date your donation is received or on the date it is post marked. Please make cheques payable to the Mont St. Joseph Foundation.

Friends & Family: Monthly Donor Program
We offer a convenient, automatic monthly donation option to suit your budget. This opportunity is available to anyone who wishes to be a regular contributor to the Foundation in support of the people who live in Mont St Joseph Home. It is convenient, efficient, and secure. You decide which date is most suitable for you: the 1^st or the 15^th of the month – then each month we will ensure your donation is made. Only one tax receipt is issued for the previous year’s gift total.

In Memoriam Donation
Many families request that relatives and friends make an “In Memoriam” donation when they lose a love one. It’s a meaningful way to express sympathy to the bereaved family.

When you make an “In Memoriam” donation to Mont St. Joseph Foundation, you leave a loving, lasting legacy in the name of the deceased while contributing to the comfort of our residents.

Once we have received your donation, we will send a condolence card to the bereaved family on your behalf. Once the “in Memoriam” donations received reach $1,000 your loved one’s name will be placed on our Donor Wall and will forever be remembered as a friend of Mont St. Joseph Foundation.

Special Occasion Donation
The “Special Occasion” tribute donation is a unique way to mark a special event in someone’s life. Be it a birthday, anniversary, retirement, or any other special occasion, you can make a donation to the Mont St. Joseph Foundation on behalf of a person you wish to honor.

We will send a card in your name to the person you have chosen to honor.

How to make a “Gift of Cash” or “Family & Friends” or “Special Occasion” donation

Online
By Mail: 777 - 28th Street East, Prince Albert, SK, S6V 8C2
Phone 306-922-4663 or fax 306-953-4550
Stopping by the Foundation Office at the address listed above.

A tax receipt will be issued promptly.

Undesignated Gifts
Most planned gifts are made to the Foundation with no pre-set conditions. These are referred to as designated gifts and with the ever-changing needs of Mont St. Joseph Home; this type of designation is preferred. The “future” aspect of planned gifts such as bequests, life insurance and remainder trusts make it hard to know for sure where a donor’s gift will be most needed when it is finally received at the home.

Designated Gifts
When an individual whishes to specify how their gift is to be used, it would be a valuable exercise for that person to sit down with someone from the Foundation and talk about their wishes and how they might be best carried out.

Restricted gifts have sometimes been received by charities for programs that no longer exist. Such a situation, however, can be avoided by the inclusion of a “Power to Vary” clause in the will.

There are five options available:

Capital Equipment Priorities as determined by Mont St. Joseph Home
Specific Named Capital Equipment
Holy Family Endowment Fund
Education Endowment Fund
Funding for Eden Neighbourhoods

Brief descriptions of the above listed items are available upon request.

Bequests by Will – The Ultimate Gift
Making a Will is not only a sensible thing to do – no matter your age, no matter how big or small your estate – it is the loving thing to do. Here’s why:

A Will avoids legal tangles, family arguments, delays and possible taxes.
A Will enables you to distribute your money and property exactly as you choose, securing your family’s financial future and acknowledging individual and organizations by specific bequest.

A bequest is often referred to as “the ultimate gift” because it is a gift of cash or property that you make in your Will. It is one of the most common ways that individuals choose to give to a charity such as Mont St. Joseph Foundation and usually takes one of the following to two forms:

An unrestricted bequest allows the Home to use the donor’s gift where it is felt to be needed most.

A restricted bequest is a gift with a specific purpose. The donor may, for instance, specify the gift be used for a particular area of care in the home (i.e. Pastoral Care, Respite, Staff Development, Younger Disabled)

A bequest to the Mont St. Joseph Foundation can also provide a tax benefit to the donor’s estate. The donor’s estate will receive a tax receipt for the full value of a bequest made to the Foundation in his/her Will. That receipt will reduce the tax payable by the estate. If the total bequest cannot be used for tax purposes on the donor’s final tax return, the excess may be carried back to the previous tax year.

Wills can be complex and should be drafted with the assistance of a lawyer or other qualified professional. A lawyer, tax accountant or estate planner can help you set up your Will to minimize taxes and probate fees on your estate.

If it is your plan to include Mont St. Joseph Foundation in your Will, we would like to hear from you. We can then review with you the terms of the bequest, particularly if it is restricted, to ensure that we will be able to comply with your wishes.

The Role of Life Insurance in Gift Planning
Would you like to make a large gift to the Mont St. Joseph Foundation but are unable to give up large amounts of cash due to business and family situations? Would you make a substantial gift to Mont St. Joseph Foundation if it could be done without diminishing you estate? Does your financial portfolio include a life insurance policy bought under no longer relevant financial circumstances? If you can answer “yes” to any of those questions then, perhaps, Life Insurance is the gift planning vehicle for you.

Gifts of Life Insurance:
Charity Named as Beneficiary but not owner of a policy. It is possible that you, the donor, do not want to transfer ownership of a life insurance policy over to the Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc. You want to retain access to the cash value or be able to change the beneficiary in case family or other circumstances change. It is possible, however, to name the Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc. as primary beneficiary of all or part of the proceeds or as a contingent beneficiary should the primary beneficiary not survive you. This can be done by signing a “Change Beneficiary” form that can be obtained from the insurance company or one of its agents.

A gift done this way offers “no tax benefits” to the donor. Should this be an issue, you should name your estate as beneficiary to receive the death benefits and then include in your will a charitable bequest for the same amount as the proceeds received from the policy. Your estate would then receive a charitable tax receipt and this may decrease the tax payable on the final tax return and possibly from the year before as well.

Mont St. Joseph Foundation as Owner of the Policy
As your circumstances change, life insurance policies that were once important guarantees for your family’s future may no longer be needed. If you choose, you can make Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc. owner and beneficiary of such a policy. The donor receives a number of benefits by making a gift of a life insurance policy:

A charitable tax receipt is issued for the cash surrender value of the policy.
It is not coming out of your income and therefore, should not be missed.
The ultimate value of the gift will have a tremendous impact on the future funding provided by Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc.
The gift will not affect your estate.
You can choose how the money is to be used by the Foundation.

If you are still making payments on the policy, the annual premiums are eligible for a charitable tax receipt. In the case of a whole life policy, you may wish to pay up the policy after which time the dividends earned by the policy are sufficient to cover the ongoing annual premium payments. During the period you are paying up the policy, the resulting tax credit could help defray up to 50% of the premium cost.

Wealth-Replacement
An aspect of planned giving that is gaining popularity is the use of life insurance to replace wealth. As a donor, you may hesitate to make a large gift to the Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc. because you do not want to lessen the legacy you wish to leave your children. You can get around this difficult situation by purchasing a life insurance policy with the same face value as the donation amount. The children are named as beneficiaries and the policy proceeds replace the assets removed from the estate because of the donation.
Depending on your age and state of health, it is often possible to purchase the entire policy with the tax savings realized from the gift. The only cost to you would be the income generated from the gifted asset.
Another possibility would be to contribute the gift to a Charitable Remainder Trust. Part of the income earned from the trust could be used to purchase a life insurance policy. In the case of a couple making the gift, a “second-to-die” policy could be purchased and would be substantially less costly. In this case, the children would receive the policy proceeds after the death of the surviving parent.
It should be noted that in this type of arrangement, you are not contributing a life insurance policy. Instead, you are contributing a gift of cash, securities, artwork, or real estate and will be receipted in the usual way and offering immediate tax benefits. The policy belongs to you for the benefit of your children. Said another way, the policy is not the gift but, rather, makes the gift possible.

The Charitable Remainder Trust
In this type of planned gift you, the donor, create a trust funded with securities, real estate, or cash, making an irrevocable gift of the remainder interest the charity. You retain the interest income for the rest of you life, another beneficiary’s life or for a guaranteed number of years. At no time can the principal of the trust be decreased.

This type of arrangement offers you a number of benefits:

You are entitled to a donation receipt for the present value of the remainder interest.
You need recognize only the capital gain attributable to the remainder interest and even that can be reduced or eliminated by choosing to receive a donation receipt for any amount between the cost base and the fair market value.
You retain the income generated by the asset.
If you so choose, you are free of any management responsibility for the Trust.
The gift is not subject to probate and is less likely to be subject to a challenge.

Gifts of Residual Interest
Making a gift of residual interest could be described as being the best of both worlds. This type of arrangement allows you, the donor, to make a gift – usually artwork or real estate – and continue to either reside in or keep in your possession until you die.

This type of gift requires that the property be irrevocably transferred to a charity such as Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc. You are then entitled to a charitable tax receipt for the discounted or present value of the residual interest owned by the charity. The value of this receipt will not be as large as it would be if this was an outright gift of property to the charity, but you get to use the property as if it were yours until your death.

The present value of the property is actuarially calculated according to the regulations set out by revenue Canada. It takes into account the fair market value of the property, the life expectancy of the person(s) retaining a life interest in the property and the current interest rates. An accountant or actuary is usually asked to do this calculation.

The benefits to both yourself and the charity are numerous and include the following:

You have an immediate tax benefit.
You continue to have use of the property.
You have the satisfaction of knowing that your gift will eventually help the charity.
The charity knows that it will be receiving a substantial gift that will impact significantly on its future resource base.

Other things that the donor should take into account with regard to a gift of residual interest are:

You remain responsible for maintaining and insuring the property.
If the gift is your personal residence there is no tax on the capital gain.
Should the residual interest be in other property that has appreciated, you would be taxable on a portion of the gain. For example: if the residual interest equaled 50% of the value of the property you would declare 50% of the capital gain. There is certain tax planning options that could be used to reduce the taxable gain.

Gift Plus Annuities
The Gift Plus Annuity Plan combines your gift to Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc. with an annuity which the Foundation purchases on your behalf through a licensed insurance company.

Your guaranteed annuity payments will continue throughout your lifetime, unaffected by changes in the economy or interest rates. If you wish, the annuity can be written to cover you and your spouse through both lifetimes.

The exact amount of your annuity payments will depend on your age(s), the size of your contribution and the annuity rates in effect at the time of your gift.

Depending on your age, a portion of your annuity payment will be tax-free. Older individuals will receive entirely tax-free payments plus a donation receipt. Because of these tax benefits, you may be able to increase your cash flow while making a charitable gift.

The portion of your contribution not required for the annuity will be used by Mont St. Joseph Foundation Inc. as you direct. It could be put to immediate use or invested as part of the Foundation’s endowment fund to provide for the future needs of the Home.

Benefits to the donor include the following:

Guaranteed payments for life. In many cases these payments will be larger than what would be received if the same money was invested in a GIC or other fixed income investment.
Potential for a gift receipt.
All or the major portion of the annuity payment will be tax-free.

How to make a planned gift:
We would be very pleased to work with you and your advisor to arrange a planned gift which best suits your goals. Please note that the information here does not constitute legal or financial advice. You are encouraged to seek professional legal, financial and estate planning advice before deciding on a course of action. For more information contact jwhite@montstjoseph.org