Life-Income Gifts

With a life income gift, you can receive guaranteed income for life while arranging a future gift to the American Red Cross. Popular life-income gift options include Charitable Gift Annuities, Pooled Income Funds, and Charitable Remainder Trusts.

Learn more about planned giving with the American Red Cross by clicking here.
Or contact Ray Slater, Director of Planned Giving, at (215) 299-4038 or slaterr@redcross-philly.org.

Charitable Gift Annuity

You transfer cash or marketable securities ($5,000 minimum) to the American Red Cross, and the Red Cross agrees to pay you (and another person, if you choose) a fixed, guaranteed amount annually for life. You also enjoy significant tax advantages:

• Some of the annual income is tax-free.
• You receive an income tax charitable deduction in the year you establish the gift annuity.
• If you fund the annuity with securities, you owe less capital gains tax than if you sold the shares outright, and tax payments are spread over a number of years.

The American Red Cross uses the charitable gift annuity rates recommended by the American Council on Gift Annuities. Click here to view current rates.

The minimum age at which annuitants can begin to receive payments is 65. However, you can establish the annuity at an earlier age and defer payment until age 65 or later.

Pooled Income Fund

The Red Cross Second Century Pooled Income Fund is somewhat like a mutual fund. Your gift of cash or marketable securities is added to the fund, which is invested to generate income. Each year, you receive a share of the fund’s earnings commensurate with your contribution. For example, if you donate $10,000 and the fund earns 8 percent for the year, you receive $800.

You receive an income tax charitable deduction for the full value of your gift in the year that you make the gift. However, the payment you receive is taxed as ordinary income, and the amount of the payment is not guaranteed.

Charitable Remainder Trust

This life-income gift is created by transferring assets to a trust (a bank or other financial institution) that pays you (and one or more other beneficiaries, if you wish) income for life. At the end of the trust, the remaining trust assets are transferred to the Red Cross.

Although there are costs associated with establishing and administering a charitable remainder trust, the flexibility a trust offers may make the costs worthwhile. A wide variety of assets can be used to fund a trust. There is no minimum age for beneficiaries to begin receiving payments, nor is there any limit on the number of people who can be named beneficiaries.

There are two types of remainder trusts. A Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust pays a fixed dollar amount annually, regardless of fluctuations in the value of the trust assets. A Charitable Remainder Unitrust pays a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust assets. The assets are revalued each year, and the payment reflects increases or decreases in asset value.