Planned Giving: Leave a Legacy through the Valhalla Society

The Southeastern Cave Conservancy, through its Valhalla Society, is working to protect and manage caves in the southeast. Its major activity is the acquisition of cave preserves, usually by purchase or lease. Contributions from members and donors are always needed for new acquisitions. These come through wills, bequest and insurance or IRA beneficiaries.

In addition, the Conservancy has continuing expenses for property taxes, surveys, boundary marking, maintenance, and other stewardship and management activities. It is often difficult to raise and set aside funds for these ongoing expenses of stewardship. The Conservancy is working to establish financial security and guarantee the protection and preservation of its preserves in decades to come. 

You can help ensure the long-term success of the Conservancy by making a provision in your will, life insurance, or estate plan to leave a gift to the Conservancy. This is called Planned Giving. As explained below, there are a variety of arrangements which can offer income and estate tax benefits to you as a donor while providing support to the Conservancy in its mission.

Through your planned gift to the SCCi, you can choose which of the Conservancy's programs you wish to support. Gifts to the General Fund support all of the Conservancy's activities. Gifts to the Cave Acquisition Fund will be used to buy or lease caves. Or, you can designate your gift toward one of our restricted funds, such as the Stewardship Fund or the Endowment Fund. A gift to either of these funds results  in long-term benefits to the Conservancy. SCCi restricted funds are established for specific purposes, and are invested and managed so that they grow in value over time. A portion of the earnings may be used each year for the fund's purpose, but the principal cannot be spent.

The SCCi Planned Giving program comprises a number of mechanisms, including bequests, insurance assignments, and memorial endowments, that offer many potential benefits to the donor and provide a means for SCCi supporters to invest in the future of the Conservancy while addressing their financial- and estate-planning concerns. A planned gift approach best suited to your needs can be structured, and you can direct the manner in which your gift helps to support the work of the SCCi

If you are interested in helping the SCCi continue to fulfill its mission and vision, while also realizing some of your own financial goals, please read on, to learn more about the planned-gift options available to you.

Bequests

Bequests are one of the simplest ways you can provide for the future benefit of the Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc. A bequest is a gift to an individual, institution, or charity from an individual's estate after his or her death. The terms of a bequest typically are described in a will - a legal document stating how an individual wishes his or her property to be distributed. In fact, one of the principal benefits of a will is that it enables you to determine how and to whom your accumulated wealth will be distributed. For that reason alone, preparation of a will makes sense for individuals of any age, regardless of health.

If the will includes a charitable bequest - that is, a bequest to one or more designated charities - the value of the property, whether real estate, securities, personal property, or cash, is deducted from the appraised value of the deceased's estate and can reduce, or even eliminate, estate and inheritance taxes levied by federal or state governments. If a will already exists, a bequest can be added through an amendment, or codicil, to the will.

A bequest can be quite specific. It can provide for the transfer of a particular property, such as a cave, a parcel of land, an asset such as stock or other securities, or a specific amount of cash. Or, it can be assigned a specific percentage of the value of the over-all estate. Other variations include:

• A residuary bequest, which provides for the assignment of assets remaining in the estate after other expenses and bequests have been satisfied.
• A remainder bequest, which allows for some portion of the estate to be set aside, before bequests are satisfied, to provide income to a surviving spouse or other heir for a period of years or for the lifetime of the beneficiary.

• A contingency bequest, which provides for the charitable bequest only if other beneficiaries, such as a spouse, do not survive you.

Although it is advisable to seek the services of an attorney in crafting your will, the actual wording of a bequest provision to SCCi can be quite simple. For example, the provision can be worded as follows:

I, _________________, bequeath to The Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation chartered under the laws of the State of Georgia with principal offices in Lafayette, Georgia, the following [sum, percentage, or property]: ____________________. 

If you are considering establishing a bequest to SCCi in your will or in a codicil to your existing will, please feel free to contact us. It is helpful to us to learn of your intentions, and we also can assist you and/or your attorney with any questions you might have.

Life Insurance

A life-insurance policy allows several ways of giving and benefiting. You can contribute a paid-up policy that you no longer need by naming "The Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc." as the irrevocable owner and beneficiary. In return, you can benefit from an immediate tax deduction based on your cost basis in the policy. In addition, the value of your estate will be reduced by the full face value of the policy, potentially reducing estate taxes. Upon your death, the life-insurance proceeds pass immediately to the SCCi, without the delays that can accompany probate and estate administration.

Alternatively, you can contribute a life insurance policy for which premium payments are still due. You will benefit from an immediate tax deduction, again based on your cost basis in the policy. SCCi can elect to continue to make the premium payments until the policy matures and benefit from the full face value of the policy, to exercise available options for receiving a reduced value based on the premiums already paid, or to surrender the policy for its current cash value and derive immediate benefit from your gift.

A third option is to name SCCi as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy and to assign ownership of the policy to the SCCi, but to continue to make premium payments yourself. In that case, you receive an immediate tax deduction based on your cost basis in the policy. In addition, each premium payment you make is considered a tax-deductible contribution.

With life insurance policies for which you do not make premium payments, such as employer-paid life insurance, there are additional benefits. If your employer provides life insurance in excess of $50,000, current law requires that you must pay taxes on the policy, whether you need the coverage or not. However, by naming SCCi as the irrevocable owner and beneficiary, you can avoid this tax liability. The policy continues in force, at no expense to you, and when it matures, SCCi benefits fully from the life insurance proceeds.

Gifts of life insurance are not limited to older policies with accumulated value. A new policy can be established with SCCi named as the irrevocable owner and beneficiary. In that instance, although you will not receive any tax deduction based on the cash value of the policy, you will qualify for a tax deduction each year as long as you continue to make the premium payments. Such an approach may be particularly well suited for individuals who wish to provide substantial financial support to SCCi once the policy matures, but who can afford only a limited cash outlay in any given year. For the modest (tax-deductible) cost of the annual premium, you can provide for a significant future gift to SCCi on an installment plan.

Memorial Endowments and Donor-Advised Funds

Donor-advised and memorial endowments can be established over a five-year period with a minimum gift of $10,000. Such funds are accounted for separately, but "pooled" with other restricted funds and endowments of the SCCi to achieve maximum investment yields. Once the minimum principal is established, the fund benefits from SCCi's endowment-investment policy: Only a percentage of the earnings are drawn upon to finance annual programs, with the remainder accruing back to the fund.

Donor-advised endowments encourage the donor to help decide which annual projects in behalf of the SCCi are funded from the investment earnings of the gift, subject to final approval of the Board of Directors. For instance, conservancy members and volunteers might submit projects for your consideration each year. Or, you might elect to have the fund overseen by the Board or Directors. In that case, as the fund is being established, you help define a category of project - e.g., information and education programs, or any project within a specific geographic area - and help establish guidelines for cost-share funding.

Memorial endowments operate in a similar fashion in that the donors can specify areas of giving or even particular projects (within Board guidelines). Typically set up by family members and friends, memorial funds provide a lasting tribute to an individual who, in his or her lifetime, celebrated caving through exploration, stewardship, and/or volunteerism.

Would you like to contact us?

Our mailing address is:

Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc.
PO Box 71857
Chattanooga TN 37407-0857

You can use the form below, or send us email at legacy@scci.org

May we contact you?

If you would like more information on planned giving and the SCCi, estate and income tax benefits of planned giving, or would like to discuss ways in which the SCCi can help with a cave you own, please fill out and submit this contact form. A representative of the Conservancy will contact you to discuss your interests and concerns.