Legacy Giving

How To Give through Legacy Giving

Click here to download Bulletin Inserts.

For information (and much easier explanations!) call Heather McLean at 519-439-9750 or email Heather.

Legacy Giving, very simply is planning to make a gift. Planned gifts are generally funded from accumulated resources or assets, rather than income. The most common Planned Gift received by the church is a bequest. The tax benefit from a bequest accrues to the donor's estate. The Gift Planning Office can also arrange several gifts which allow you to make a gift from in the future but receive the tax benefits now. You can designate your Planned Gift to any aspect of The United Church of Canada-the Mission and Service Fund, your local congregation, a local mission unit, a United Church camp, a theological college, The United Church of Canada Archives, The United Church of Canada Foundation*—the possibilities are abundant and rich with the excitement of giving!

Gifts of Publicly Listed Securities

Gifts of Listed Securities can be made at a relatively low cost. The taxable capital gain arising on a transfer of publicly listed securities to the church is now 0%.

Wills and Bequests

Your Gift Planners can help you find the language you need in your will to ensure that your bequest goes exactly where you intended it.

Gift Annuities

A gift annuity returns a competitive rate of income to you, most or all of which is tax-free, and a residue which goes to the church work of your choice.

Gift of Life Insurance

You can donate an existing life insurance policy to the church or purchase a new policy through your insurance agent or through Charity Life Direct. The church must be the owner and beneficiary for you to receive tax creditable premiums.

Charitable Remainder Trusts

You can create a Charitable Remainder Trust which will pay you an annual taxable income. A tax receipt is issued for a significant portion of the Trust principal. The Trust principal in full flows to the church work of your choice upon your death.

Gifts of Residual Interest

You can make a gift of real property to the church: real estate, antiquities, art works, etc., and continue to use the property. A tax receipt is issued for a portion of the value of the real property.

Cash Gifts and Interest-Free Loans

Cash gifts can be arranged to deliver optimum tax benefit. An interest-free loan can give the church income from capital which is not taxable to either the church or to you, the donor.

Gifts of Stripped Bonds

A gift of a Stripped Bond is a gift that grows over time. You put an amount in place now which will grow into a much larger gift.

Gift Planning Resources

Download Launching a Planned Giving Program, a new resource to help local congregations establish a gift planning program. Also see these inserts with details on the elements of a planned giving kit:

  1. Thank You for Considering a Planned Gift
  2. Your Gift Can Help
  3. A Message to Our Allied Professionals
  4. Wills and Bequests
  5. Gift Annuities
  6. Life Insurance
  7. Cash
  8. Interest-Free Loans
  9. Publicly Traded Securities
  10. Stripped Bonds
  11. Charitable Remainder Trusts and Residual Interest
  12. Endowment Gifts
  13. Proceeds from RRSPs and RRIFs

For more information, contact Heather McLean at 519-439-9750 or hmclean@united-church.ca.