Friends of the Future Circle

Remembering Lake Country School in your Will or Estate Plans 

Estate planning protects your family and perpetuate your values into the future. Whether your estate is large or small, having a will guarantees that the assets you’ve spent a lifetime building up are used in accordance with your wishes.

Estate planning is a way to make a lasting gift to those organizations that have made a significant and positive difference in your life. For many parents, staff members and alums, Lake Country School is one of those organizations. It has provided a caring and quality educational environment for children and a warm, welcoming community for adults.

Everyone who remembers Lake Country School in their estate plans becomes a member of the Friends of the Future Circle, and are celebrated at a biennial dinner and recognized in the Annual Report.

Please consider including Lake Country School in your estate plans and remember to always review all planned gift arrangements with your attorney or estate planner. 

For additional information about estate planning or to inform us of an existing estate gift to Lake Country, please contact Mary Vrabel, Development Director, at 612-827-3707 ext. 13 or mvrabel@lakecountryschool.org.

Charitable Bequests in Your Will

Charitable bequests to Lake Country School are easily made whether your estate is simple or complex. You may choose to leave a specific dollar amount, percentage, or residue of your estate or to the school, or gift a certain stock or life insurance policy. You can also make your bequest contingent on a certain event. Click here for sample bequest language.

Life Insurance Gifts

Lake Country School welcomes being named as beneficiary of a life insurance policy or being gifted ownership and beneficiary interest of paid up policies. You qualify for a charitable deduction for the cash value of the policy. If premium payments remain on a policy, you receive a deduction on premiums you pay after naming Lake Country School as beneficiary.

Gifts of Retirement Plan Assets

Lake Country School encourages donors to name the school as beneficiary of IRAs, 401(k)s and profit sharing plans. Gifting retirement plan assets in this way provides for substantial tax savings (income and estate taxes) to the donor’s estate.

Real Estate

Making a gift of appreciated real estate is another way to support Lake Country School. By gifting real estate to the school, you can avoid capital gains on the appreciation, receive the fair market value as a tax deduction and decrease the size of your estate.

Retained Life Estates

A retrained life estate is a gift of real estate with the restriction on it that the donor or the donor’s beneficiaries retain the right to live on the property for a term of years or the rest of their lives.

 

Other Estate Planning Options

Life Income Gifts

Life income gift instruments include Charitable Remainder Unitrusts, Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts, Charitable Gift Annuities and Pooled Income Funds. Life income gifts often provide substantial tax benefits for the donor in the form of charitable deductions, avoidance of capital gains on appreciated securities and decreased taxable estate assets. While Lake Country School does not administer these plans, attorneys, estate planners and community foundations can direct you in establishing life income gifts.

Glossary of Terms for Life Income Gifts:

Charitable Remainder Unitrusts and Annuity Trusts
Charitable Remainder Trusts, either Unitrusts or Annuity Trusts, are designed to allow a donor to make an irrevocable, deferred charitable gift for the benefit of Lake Country School of the assets remaining in a trust while receiving an income stream from the trust to one or more beneficiaries for their lifetime(s) or a specified number of years. 

Charitable Gift Annuities
With Charitable Gift Annuities, a donor makes a gift for the benefit of Lake Country School in exchange for a contractual commitment for beneficiary(ies) to receive a specific income at least annually for the remainder of their lifetime(s) or a specified number of years beginning either immediately or at some date in the future.

Pooled Income Funds
Donors to a Pooled Income Fund purchase shares in a fund which are invested to provide life income to the participants. The net income earned by the fund is distributed to donors at least annually based on the donor’s share of funds in the pool. When the donor (and his or her named beneficiaries) becomes deceased, that share of the fund principal becomes the property of Lake Country School. 

Gifts of Interest Income

Lake Country School welcomes gifts of interest income which are generally made through vehicles such as Charitable Lead Trusts where interest income from a trust is gifted to the school and the assets of the trust revert to the donor or donor’s beneficiary at some future date.

Lake Country School is a non-profit, 501(c)(3).  Our federal tax identification number is 41-1278205.  Thank you for your support of the mission, the work and the students of Lake Country School!