Through a planned gift to March of Dimes, you can leave your own mark and change lives for children and adults with disabilities so that they can lead more independent lives.

Read about types of legacy gifts one can make:

The most commonly planned gift, a charitable bequest, is a donation made through your Will. You can choose to leave March of Dimes a specific piece of property, a pre-determined sum of money or a percentage of your estate. Planned today, a bequest benefits March of Dimes  after your death. Click here to view suggested bequest language.

---

A gift of life insurance is a creative way for you to build our long term financial strength without diminishing your own - even a relatively small commitment can provide significant benefits for March of Dimes. There are many ways for you to make a gift using life insurance:

A charitable gift annuity allows you to make a significant gift to March of Dimes while at the same time receiving a guaranteed, pre - determined annuity payment - possibly for life. A charitable gift annuity may be attractive to you if you are a conservative investor 65 years of age or older because they represent safe investments that offer significantly higher returns than you could receive through Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs).

Simply put, an annuity consists of two parts: a gift to March of Dimes for which you will receive a tax receipt and a guaranteed stream of income for you and your surviving partner, either for life or a specified number of years. Here's how they work: A minimum of $10,000 is transferred to March of Dimes which is divided into two parts. At least 25 per cent is counted as an immediate donation to March of Dimes, for which you receive a charitable tax receipt. The remainder is used to purchase an annuity from a top-rated insurance company providing a guaranteed income.

A charitable gift annuity provides both an immediate and potential future donation to March of Dimes. While you are investing to secure the quality of your life, you are also improving the quality of life for countless others. Your gift will be used to support the health and well-being of children we serve, now and far into the future.

 

A Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) is a life income gift that enables you to give today (with immediate tax savings) while retaining use of the asset. After a prescribed period of time or upon your death, the asset is transferred to one or more charities.

In essence, you irrevocably transfer a property (investments, real estate, work of art, etc.) into a trust to be managed by a trustee (a financial institution, yourself, a lawyer or other individuals), name March of Dimes as the remainder beneficiary in trust, and reserve an interest in the property for life. The remainder interest in the property transfers to March of Dimes.

A trust document names the interest income beneficiary. You receive a tax receipt based on the net present value of the remainder interest.

The result of this planned gift is that you can receive income or use of the property during life.

The immediate tax deduction available to you depends on the value of the property, your age, beneficiary and other beneficiaries, and the period of time that the income interest will exist.

The tax receipted value of your remainder trust will provide an income tax receipt in the year of the gift and may be carried forward for the following five years. Our team will be pleased to discuss the many tax, estate and personal planning benefits of these trusts.

Download the Charitable Remainder Trust document

---

 

Your retirement funds are amongst the most heavily taxed assets you own. However, when March of Dimes is designated as a direct beneficiary of a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or registered retirement income fund (RRIF), these taxes are offset at the time of death. Your gift will be treated as a charitable donation in the year of death and March of Dimes will issue a tax receipt for the full amount being transferred to it.

The gift is simple to make - you name March of Dimes as a direct beneficiary on the plan document and advise the institution holding your retirement account of the change.

Download the Registered Assets – RRSPs and RRIFs document

---

 

A gift of property including real estate, jewellery or art can be an attractive way to make a substantial commitment to March of Dimes  and to realize important tax and income benefits.

Prior to making a gift of real estate, you will need a professional appraisal completed by a qualified third-party appraiser to determine the fair market value of the property. With the appraisal complete and the property legally transferred, a receipt for income tax purposes will be issued for the appraised value.

There are many ways to make this donation: you can give the property outright, place it in trust, retain the use of it for life or gift it by Will.

 

---

 

Thanks to the Federal Budget of May 2006, you no longer pay capital gains tax when you gift appreciated securities to March of Dimes.

When individuals sell an appreciated stock, mutual fund or flow through shares, they are required to pay tax on 50 percent of the capital gain. However, if they donate the securities to charity, they pay no capital gains tax. This makes appreciated stock one of the most cost effective ways to donate to March of Dimes. 

---

Your will may be the most important legacy you leave. Not writing one, or not having a current will, is a common mistake that means you don't control who inherits your estate, or who executes your wishes. More importantly, it shifts the burden of that responsibility onto your loved ones.

Fortunately, it's a mistake that's also easy to fix.

If you're organizing your estate and writing a will, you're probably wondering how to distribute your assets. You'll be thinking about children, siblings, parents, other close relatives, friends. You should also be considering charities.

March of Dimes Canada receives a significant amount of money from legacy gifts – they make a big difference to our work and the people we support. That's why we've partnered with Willfora, Canada's first free resource that allows you to create a legal will online in less than 20 minutes. Willfora also makes it easy to support causes that are important to you, which we hope is one of your goals when you're making your bequests.

What if you change your mind later No problem. Willfora's confidential, secure platform allows you to update your will as easily as you created it. You can take care of your loved ones while empowering ability across Canada by supporting our work. What a remarkable legacy.

For more information on how you can build your legacy, please contact: