We are always pleased to discuss your plans and interests with you. However, San Francisco Botanical Garden Society cannot provide you with tax or legal advice. If you are considering starting, or changing, your estate plans, we encourage you to obtain independent and professional advice to ensure your plans are executed according to your wishes.

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Gifts through Your Will or Living Trust

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Leaving a gift to the Garden in your will or living trust is an easy and flexible way to ensure your legacy. In just one sentence, you can help secure the Garden’s future.

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At the Garden, all unrestricted gifts charitable gifts are used strategically to support the organization’s top priorities at the time of receipt. For an unrestricted gift, sample language is provided below.

 

For a specific sum:

I give to San Francisco Botanical Garden Society the sum of [insert the amount you wish to leave to the Garden] to be used for the benefit of San Francisco Botanical Garden and its programs.

 

For a percentage of your estate:

I give to San Francisco Botanical Garden Society [insert a percentage] of my estate [OR] [insert percentage] of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate to be used for the benefit of San Francisco Botanical Garden and its programs.

 

Your professional advisors will also need the following Garden identifiers:

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Legal name: San Francisco Botanical Garden Society at Strybing Arboretum
Address: 1199 9th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122

Tax ID number: 94-6050168

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If you are interested in leaving a gift to a specific area of the Garden’s work, please contact the Development Office, to ensure your wishes can be met.

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Lorraine Woodruff-Long
Director of Development
lwoodruff-long@sfbg.org
415.661.1316 x 305

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Development Office
320 Judah St, Suite 2
San Francisco, CA 94122

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Beneficiary Designations

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Making the Garden a beneficiary of a policy or plan can provide you with more flexibility than committing to a gift in your will. Gifts of this nature are generally require just a few steps to make.

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Life Insurance Policies

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A gift of a life insurance policy is treated much like a bequest made through your will. Because you retain the ownership of your asset (the policy), you will not receive an income tax charitable deduction for this future gift or for your premium payments during your lifetime. The policy's proceeds will be included in your gross estate, and your estate can take an estate tax charitable deduction.

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IRAs and retirement plans

A gift of your retirement assets enables you to put the funds you have accumulated during your lifetime to good use, free of taxes. You can include the Garden as the beneficiary of the entire remaining funds in the account or establish a percentage to fund a bequest.

 

IRA Charitable Rollover

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If you are 70 ½ years old or more, you can receive tax benefits from gifts made directly from your IRA to the Garden, up to the value of $100,000 this year. Providing for the Garden this way lets you see the benefits of your giving during your lifetime.

 

Endowed Gifts

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The Garden offers opportunities to establish new named endowment funds with a gift of $50,000 or more. In addition, the Garden may have existing endowments you can donate to support.

All donations made to establish such funds are invested, with a view to using a portion of the annual income from these investments to support the Garden’s top priorities. The remaining income is re-invested for indefinite support.

 

Charitable Remainder Trusts

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A Charitable Remainder Trust is established for the life of the donor and/or any beneficiary, and is irrevocable. You can create an annuity trust or a unitrust, both of which provide you or other named beneficiaries with income for each year of life, or a period not exceeding 20 years from assets you give to the trust to create. The twenty-year maximum does not apply if the trust life is based on the life expectancy of the income beneficiary. At the end of the time limit, or death of the donor, remaining assets, or a percentage of, are distributed to the Garden.

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An annuity trust provides you with income each year in an amount calculated at the time the trust is established. Your payments are unaffected by fluctuations in trust investments.

With a unitrust, the income you receive is redetermined each year, based on a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust’s assets.

 

Charitable Lead Trusts

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A Charitable Lead Trust is an irrevocable trust established for the life of the donor or by will. You can create a charitable lead annuity trust or a charitable lead unitrust.

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A charitable lead annuity trust provides the Garden with an amount each year calculated at the time the trust is established. Payments are unaffected by fluctuations in trust investments.

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A charitable lead unitrust provides the Garden with an amount that is redetermined each year, based on the value of the assets in the trust.

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At the end of the term limit, the remaining assets are passed back to the donor or another designated beneficiary.

 

Gifts of Real Estate

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The Garden is grateful for all gifts you may consider providing us during, or after, your lifetime. While we wish to encourage gifts of any kind, it is our policy to assess whether to accept gifts of real estate on a case by case basis.

 

If you are considering any gift to the Garden, please contact us to discuss.

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To learn more or to share your plans with us, please contact:

Lorraine Woodruff-Long

Director of Development

lwoodruff-long@sfbg.org

415.661.1316 x 305

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Development Office
320 Judah St, Suite 2
San Francisco, CA 94122

 

The information on this page is to help you get started in estate planning. San Francisco Botanical Garden Society cannot provide tax or legal advice. We encourage all our donors to obtain independent and professional advice to ensure your plans are executed according to your wishes.