Wentworth-Douglass Hospital & Health Foundation

Ways to Give

Over the years, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital has been blessed with many friends who have generously provided funds that have sustained the mission of the Hospital. These gifts have come to the Hospital in many ways, either as outright gifts or through planned giving.

Outright Gifts – gifts of cash or check immediately go to work for the Hospital.

• Annual Fund – gifts to the Annual Fund support the purchase of new or replacement medical equipment and expansion of programs and services.
  
• Remembrance Gifts – There may be times throughout the year when you wish to pay tribute to others and conventional ways of expressing good wishes, thanks or sorrow seem inappropriate. A Remembrance Gift is a way you can honor a special person in your life. A tribute gift can be either a gift to honor a birthday, anniversary or graduation. A memorial gift expresses sympathy and support at the time of loss or on the anniversary of a loss.
  
• Matching Gifts – many companies match charitable gifts made by employees, retirees and directors. These gifts are counted toward the individual’s total giving to the Foundation. Donors need to complete the paperwork from the company’s human resources department and send it to the Foundation.
  
  

Planned Gifts – are specially designed to help you meet your own financial and family obligations while supporting the mission of the Hospital. These gifts give you special income and/or tax advantages. The appropriate form of planned gift can play a valuable role in strengthening your own long-term financial plans. At the same time, it can enable you to leave a lasting legacy that would perhaps not otherwise be affordable.

• Charitable Remainder Trusts – enable you to place cash, securities, or real estate into a trust that pays lifetime income to you and/or to other beneficiaries, with the trust principal eventually passing to the Foundation.
  
• Charitable Lead Trusts – enable you to place cash, securities, or real estate into a trust that pays the Foundation a percentage for a term of years with the principal passing to grandchildren with reduced gift or estate taxes.
  
• Gifts of Retained Life Estates – allow you to make a current gift of a personal residence, vacation home or farm to the Foundation, while retaining the right to live in the house, enjoy your vacation home or work the farm for your lifetime.
  
• Charitable Bequests – allow you to make a gift to the Foundation in one of four different ways. These are: specific bequest, general bequest, contingent bequest, and residuary bequest. You can choose to make the gift unrestricted, restricted, in honor or memory of, or as an endowed gift. To name the Foundation in your will please use the following language:
  
  “I give, devise and bequeath to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital & Health Foundation, a nonprofit institution, located at 789 Central Avenue, Dover, New Hampshire, 03820, the sum of ________ dollars ($______) (or otherwise describe the gift), to be used by said organization to meet the most immediate needs of the institution, as determined by the governing board.”
  
  

Types of Gift Assets

Cash or gifts of cash equivalents are the most common asset for charitable giving. Cash may be used for outright gifts, retained interest gifts, and bequests.

Publicly traded securities that have appreciated in value are a popular way to donate. The full market value is recognized for gift purposes and potential capital gains taxes are avoided.

Real estate whether a personal residence, a vacation home, a farm, undeveloped land, or commercial property, can provide a number of benefits as gifts, including income tax savings and avoidance of capital gains taxes. Life insurance policies that are no longer needed for family or business purposes can be transferred to the Foundation. Transferring ownership during your lifetime enables you to claim a charitable deduction equal to the surrender value.

Personal property such as art, books, antiques and collections can be given to the Foundation. In order to ensure that your wishes can be carried out, all gifts of tangible personal property must first be approved and accepted by the Wentworth-Douglass Hospital & Health Foundation Board of Directors.

Retirement plans make excellent charitable gifts at the time of death. The Foundation can be named to receive all or a portion of company pension plan, an IRA, a 401 (k), or a Keogh plan. Retirement plan assets are often subject to extremely high estate taxes and the income is fully taxable when received by an individual beneficiary. Making a charitable gift may be a better use of these assets.

By naming the Foundation as the beneficiary of a retirement plan you maintain control over the assets during your lifetime, but at your death the plan passes to the Foundation free of both estate and income taxes for the use you have specified. When creating your estate plan you may wish to consider leaving heirs other assets, such as cash and securities that are not as highly taxed and naming the Foundation as the beneficiary of your plan.

For more information contact:
Deborah H. Shelton
Director of Development
Wentworth-Douglass Hospital & Health Foundation
789 Central Avenue, Dover NH 03820
603-740-2894

Get the PDF: