Leave a legacy
Every act of giving makes an impact; collectively, they’re a force that shapes our state.
Rhode Island Foundation has carefully and thoughtfully invested legacy gifts for generations of generous Rhode Islanders.
Setting up a legacy gift is simple and deeply satisfying. Our experienced staff can work with you—and your lawyer or professional advisor, if you wish—to create a charitable legacy that will meet community need long into the future. With your legacy give you have the opportunity to support the Foundation's grantmaking and beyond-grantmaking efforts to meet the needs of the day, provide support for your chosen cause or charities, and ensure that you are providing for family members, realizing tax savings, and more.
Legacy options
You can name the Foundation in your will or trust, make it the full or partial beneficiary of an insurance policy or retirement plan, or make a deferred gift through a charitable remainder trust or gift annuity that can pay yourself or a loved one income for life and then establish a named endowed fund upon your passing.
Naming the Foundation in your will or trust is simple. A charitable bequest can be for a specific dollar amount, a percentage of your estate, or what remains after other bequests - including those to family members - are made. Or your will or trust can specify that your heirs receive lifetime income from your estate, with the remainder going to the Foundation for charitable purposes.
Retirement fund assets from qualified plans or IRAs are ideal for charitable giving purposes because these assets are most heavily taxed. They offer an opportunity to avoid income and estate tax while giving a significant gift.
Charitable remainder trusts appeal to donors with appreciated assets such as real estate or securities. They allow you to receive income (or provide income to another person) with the knowledge that the funds remaining when the trust terminates will be used to support your charitable interests. (The Foundation also can assist with charitable lead trusts which support your charitable interests now, leaving remaining trust assets to you or your heirs.)
Charitable gift annuities are a contract between you and the Foundation, guaranteeing you or someone you name a certain fixed income for life. At the death of the last annuity recipient, assets will be used by the Foundation as you originally specified.
Life insurance can be used as a charitable asset, enabling you to be eligible for a charitable tax deduction based on the current value of the paid-up policy. Or you can simply name the Foundation as beneficiary of part or all of the insurance proceeds.
Her powerful impact continues
The late Elizabeth Freeman Clifford had a “powerful impact on her community and family” during her lifetime. Thanks to a pooled income fund, her community impact continues.
Local organizations benefit
Honoring the nursing profession
The John J. O’Connor Jr. Memorial Nursing Scholarship Fund was created through a charitable remainder trust by Joan M. O'Connor as a tribute to her late husband.
Fund assists nursing students
The 1916 Society
Rhode Islanders who name the Foundation in their estate plans or establish deferred gifts become members of the 1916 Society.
Members of the Foundation's 1916 Society are acknowledged as special partners in philanthropy, receive invitations to events and regular communications from us, have access to Foundation staff members as a resource for charitable giving, and - if they so choose - are recognized on our digital donor wall at One Union Station.
To learn more, contact Kelly Riley, Stewardship & Cultivation Officer, at (401) 427-4028, or send her an email.