Planned Giving

To find out more about specific strategies for Planned Gifts, click on these categories of gifts:

 

Other Gift Considerations
Testamentary gifts or bequests are among the Orchestra's most important sources of individual giving, meeting current as well as endowment needs. Bequests can be in the form of a specific cash amount, specific property, or a percentage of the remainder of the donor's estate. The latter permits more flexibility in estate planning.

 

Using your retirement plan as a gift vehicle is a good way to make a bequest to the Orchestra. Retirement plans that remain in your estate are often taxed twice before receipt by your heirs.

 

You can designate The Philadelphia Orchestra as a beneficiary of the balance in your IRA, Keogh, tax-sheltered annuity, or qualified pension or profit-sharing plan. In your beneficiary designation form you can designate a dollar amount or a percentage of the retirement account, for example, or you can designate the entire amount left in your retirement plan for the Orchestra.

 

A member of the Orchestra's development staff will be pleased to work with you and your attorney or other advisor to provide language to effect your bequest. For more information about making a planned gift to The Philadelphia Orchestra, please contact call 215.893.3146.

 

Bequests
The Philadelphia Orchestra Association is a non-profit association organized in 1900 under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Orchestra Association is exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and gifts to The Philadelphia Orchestra Association are exempt from federal income, gift and estate tax.

 

One of the easiest ways to benefit The Philadelphia Orchestra is to include a bequest provision in your will or deed of trust.

 

If you have already made a provision in your will or trust for The Philadelphia Orchestra, we hope that you will share these plans with us so we can honor and acknowledge your generous intentions. The Orchestra recognizes all donors who have made provisions in their will, regardless of size of the bequest, or otherwise in their estate plans by honoring them in our Wister Society (the list of whose members is published in every issue of Playbill for Orchestra concerts and also on this website on the “Wister Society” page).

 

Retirement Plan Asset Gifts
You can leave the Orchestra a part or all of your IRA, 401(k) Plan, HR-10 Plan or other retirement plan by naming the Orchestra as a partial or entire beneficiary of your plan. Retirement plan assets are more highly taxed than most other assets in a person's estate plan. So if you leave them to your family members, they receive less per dollar in the plan than they would from another asset. Accordingly, when you are arranging your financial affairs in your estate plan, it is often wiser to have charitable gifts such as bequests to the Orchestra made payable out of your retirement plan assets rather than other assets. It will mean a greater net estate for your family beneficiaries. The director of planned giving would be happy to consult with you on such actions at no cost and with no obligation.

 

Life Insurance Policies
You can make the Orchestra a beneficiary of a life insurance policy by writing on the beneficiary designation form "The Philadelphia Orchestra Association, for its general operating expenses" and then name a set amount (e.g., "$100,000") or a percentage (e.g., "50%") or the entire proceeds.


Charitable Lead Trust
A charitable lead trust is a trust which pays income to a charity (this is the "lead" portion), such as the Orchestra, for a period of years and then at the end of that period distributes the principal to individuals, usually the children or grandchildren of the person who creates the trust. Why would someone create such a trust? The answer is often that it is done in order to reduce very significantly the gift and estate taxes which would otherwise be payable on the principal being transferred down to successive generations of the family. The tax benefits are very worthwhile and that is why sophisticated holders of family wealth choose them. The added benefit is that you have the opportunity to be very generous to the Orchestra in the process. Our director of planned giving (at no charge to you and with no obligation), or your personal tax or estate planning advisor, can produce custom made illustrations of how this trust could work for you.

 

Charitable Remainder Trust
A charitable remainder trust pays a set amount or a variable amount to you, or to other persons whom you designate, and then after a period of years (usually upon the death of the person receiving the income) the principal (this is the "remainder") is paid to the Orchestra. You can set up these trusts during lifetime with particularly advantageous income tax deductions to you, or you can set up such a trust in your will to take effect upon your death with equally important estate tax savings. Funding such a trust during life with a highly appreciated asset is a common practice for those with significant assets and sophisticated advisors. You can receive personalized illustrations of what the savings are for you and your family from the Orchestra's director of planned giving (at no charge and with no obligation), or you can ask your personal advisor for such illustrations.

 

Charitable Gift Annuity
Is a Charitable Gift Annuity right for you? Would you like to convert low-yielding or non-income producing assets into lifelong income? Are you interested in receiving a fixed income stream, no matter what happens in the financial markets? Would you like to minimize your capital gains tax and receive a current income tax deduction for a future gift?

 

Through a charitable gift annuity, you will receive a specified rate of return, based on your age at the time the planned gift is created. Current rates are listed below, illustrating a $20,000 single life annuity.

 

CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITIES RATE CHART
AGE
RATE*
ANNUITY
$20,000 GIFT
TAX DEDUCTION
65
6.0%
$1,200
$8,083
70
6.5%
$1,300
$8,706
75
7.1%
$1,420
$9,498
80
8.0%
$1,600
$10,294
85
9.5%
$1,900
$10,878
*American Council of Gift Annuities recommended rate
Rates available change over time

For a no-obligation personalized illustration, contact the Orchestra’s Planned Giving Office.

 

Pooled Life Income Fund
The Orchestra's Pooled Life Income Fund is a type of charitable trust that operates in a similar manner to a mutual fund. Your gift of cash, securities or other property is pooled with gifts from others. If you give stocks with a low cost basis, however, you realize no capital gains tax on the gift to the Pooled Income Fund. This is a very important advantage. The Orchestra invests all of the Fund with the primary objective of current income and secondary objective of growth of principal. A share of the Fund's net income proportionate to your share of the Fund's principal will be paid every year to you or your designated beneficiary. Upon your death or the death of your designated beneficiary, the Fund will distribute your proportionate share to the Orchestra. The Fund's return was 3% for 2005, 2.99% for 2004, 1.95% for 2003, 3.36% for 2002, 2.94% for 2001, and 3.30% for 2000.

 

The Philadelphia Orchestra strongly recommends that all donors consult their own professional advisers before making planned gifts.

 


Planned Giving Advisory Committee
The Philadelphia Orchestra's Planned Giving Advisory Committee is made up of a select group of professionals from the fields of law, financial planning, banking, trusts, investments and insurance. We take this opportunity to thank these professionals who have demonstrated a supportive commitment of their time and expertise to The Philadelphia Orchestra. These professionals have particular experience and interest in either planned giving, or related tax law or in the professional disciplines that border on personal philanthropy. We appreciate the dedicated attention that they give as we meet throughout the year to discuss matters pertaining to planned gifts and the achievement of the Orchestra's long term financial goals.

 

Chairman: Martin A. Heckscher, Esquire

Huldah Anderson The Glenmede Trust Company
Charles M. Aulino The Glenmede Trust Company
John Bland Northwestern Mutual
Deborah L. Chiumento  Bessemer Trust Company
Gregory J. Dienna U.S. Trust Company
Joseph J. DiMaio, Jr. West Capital Management
Julia B. Fisher J. P. Morgan Private Bank
Bayard R. Fiechter Hawthorn/PNC
Barbara J. Gohn Bank of America
Melissa M. Grossman Dechert LLP
Paul C. Heintz Obermayer, Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP
William H. Haines, IV The Pennsylvania Trust Company
John S. Harrison The Bryn Mawr Trust Company
Martin A. Heckscher Heckscher Teillon Terrill & Sager LLP
Hal S. Hershgordon The Private Consulting Group
Mary B. Hickok Wilmington Trust Company
Michelle J. Hong Brown Brothers Harriman
Anne Marie Hughes National City Bank
Peter J. Johnson Davis Wright & Tremaine LLP (Seattle)
Kimball Leiser Planned giving consultant
Dortohy F. Luntey J.P. Morgan Private Bank
Peter J. May Wachovia Wealth Management
John F. Meigs Saul Ewing LLP
Amy Millman Mellon Wealth Management
Francis J. Mirabello Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
Murray Pinkus Wilmington Trust Company
Monika Panger Legg Mason
Francis H. Rasmus Wister Society Member
Frank P. Reiche Archer & Greiner, P.C.
Warren Reintzel The Glemede Trust Company
Roderick A. Russell Mellon Wealth Management
Marilyn C. Sanborne Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP
William T. Saunders Meeteetse Advisors
Scott Schumacker Schumacker and Lunkenheimer, LLP
David Shapiro Dechert LLP
Richard I. Sichel The Philadelphia Trust Company
Douglas Simon Deutsche Bank
Hana Slamova Goldman Sachs
Terri L. Smith Wachovia Bank
William R. Sneed III Sneed Consulting
Mark Steinberger Pitcairn Financial Group
Kathleen Stephenson Pepper Hamilton LLP
L. Pierre Teillon, Jr. Heckscher Teillon Terrill & Sager LLP
Dodie Theune Bryn Mawr Trust Company
Robert N. Tropp Hawthorn/PNC Advisors
Brad S. Weingart Bernstein Global Wealth Management
Lee B. Zeplowitz Zeplowitz Group