LEAVE YOUR LEGACY IN SCIENCE, THROUGH DRI

PLANNED GIVING

Including DRI in your estate through a planned gift is a remarkable testament to your belief in the powerful impact of science to develop solutions to address how humans are impacting their environments and how the environment impacts humans.

Your commitment to scientific research can help make the world a better place for generations to come. Your gift will help DRI develop solutions to the challenges we face. Those solutions won’t come easy. It will require bringing together outstanding scientific talent, equipping them with access to world-class technology and facilities, and creating an environment that supports innovation and risk-taking.

A planned gift could be a bequest in your will or living trust, a charitable remainder trust, or naming us as a beneficiary of a retirement plan fund, life insurance policy or others. If you have already made arrangements to make a planned gift to DRI, please let us know so that we can provide you with helpful information and ensure we understand your wishes. By joining others who have chosen to make a planned gift to DRI, we would be honored to thank and recognize you for your contribution by offering you a membership in the DRI Legacy Council. Through the Legacy Council we will acknowledge you in a way that is meaningful to you, for making a lasting impact in scientific research and facilitating discoveries to help how we live in our environments and manage the environment’s impact on us. Unless you prefer to remain anonymous, you will be acknowledged and honored in our publications, social media and at DRI events.

PLANNED GIVING TOOLS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Gifts by Will or Trust

A charitable gift from your estate is a favored method of giving that can enable you to achieve your financial goals and benefit DRI. No other planned gift is as simple to make or as easy to change, should you ever need the assets during your lifetime.

Please work with your advisors, but a bequest may be right for you if:

●      You want to make a future gift to DRI
●      You want the flexibility to change your mind.
●      You want continued access to your wealth, should you need it.
●      You are concerned about outliving your resources.

In addition to your advisors, to help you get started on your plans and legacy, you can use FreeWill, an online tool that guides you through the process of creating a legally valid will or trust. It’s easy to use, accessible online and can be completed in 20 minutes. You can use this resource on its own, or use it to document your wishes before finalizing your plans with an attorney.

Have you already included a gift in your will or trust? Please fill out the form below to let us know! We would love to thank you for your generosity.

Gifts of Retirement Accounts and Other Financial Assets

While you may transfer many of your assets through your will or living trust, a document called a beneficiary designation controls distribution of your retirement plans, life insurance policies, commercial annuities, and a variety of financial accounts.

One of the simplest ways to make a gift to our institute is to designate DRI to receive your assets at the end of your lifetime. You can specify all or a percentage of the assets you want each beneficiary to receive. Often, it’s as easy as filling out a form, but discuss your plans and any questions with your financial or legal advisors.

Beneficiary designations are an option for giving the following financial assets:

Retirement Account Assets

An alternative to a charitable bequest is to designate DRI as the beneficiary of your retirement account assets. This gift is simple because there is no need to modify your will or living trust. All you need to do is complete a beneficiary designation form with your plan administrator.

A gift of retirement assets can have the added advantage of being a very tax-wise way to make an estate gift. This is because your retirement assets, if left to individuals, will be subject to income tax when they receive distributions and, for most non-spouses, those distributions must take place within 10 years, potentially pushing your beneficiaries into higher income tax brackets. If you give your retirement assets to a tax-exempt organization such as DRI, 100 percent of the retirement assets will be available for its charitable purposes. If you want to remember us in your estate plan, a tax-efficient strategy is to leave other types of assets—cash, securities, real estate—to your heirs and give the more heavily taxed retirement assets to DRI.

Note: Directing your retirement assets to both charitable and noncharitable beneficiaries can accelerate the income tax. Always consult with your advisors before naming the beneficiaries of your retirement assets.

Life Insurance

You can also use a life insurance policy to make a gift to DRI. It’s usually as simple as completing a form with the insurance company designating DRI as the beneficiary of all or a portion of the death benefit of your life insurance policy. As an alternative to naming DRI as the beneficiary, you can transfer ownership of the policy during your lifetime. Transferring ownership can produce an immediate income tax charitable deduction for the value of the policy and future income tax deductions if you continue to pay premiums on the policy.

Bank Accounts

You can instruct your bank to pay DRI all or a portion of what remains in a checking or savings account at the time of your passing. Your bank can provide you with the appropriate beneficiary designation form.

Investment Accounts

You can instruct your investment company to transfer to DRI some or all investments held in the account at the time of your passing. Your broker or agent can help you complete the process, which may be as simple as amending the name on the account to include DRI.

Do you have an IRA, 401(k), life-insurance policy, or any other assets not included in your will? If so, these are called non-probate assets, and you must plan your beneficiaries for them separately. Use this online tool to make your plans and designate us as a beneficiary of one or more of these assets. (We’d copy the form and make it DRI focused).

The IRA Gift (QCD)

Your IRA can provide a tax-smart way to make an impact with DRI now. The IRA Charitable Rollover (also called the Qualified Charitable Distribution, or QCD) can be a great way to make a tax-free gift to DRI and satisfy your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD).

How Do I Qualify?

• You must be 70½ years or older at the time of the gift.
• Gifts must go directly from your IRA to DRI.
• For 2025, total QCD gifts cannot exceed $108,000 per donor.

Contact your advisors if you have any questions about if or when you qualify,

Benefits of Qualified Charitable Distribution

The Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) can offer multiple benefits for making gifts from your IRA.

• If you don’t itemize your income tax deductions, a QCD can offer all the benefits of an itemized income tax charitable deduction.
• If you are age 73 or older and must take a Required Minimum Distribution RMD, a QCD gift can satisfy your RMD without increasing your income taxes.
• You may direct your gift to a program or area of your choice.
• It is a wonderful way to create an immediate impact on DRI’s scientific research.

How Can I Make an IRA Charitable Rollover?

Contact your IRA administrator to request a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA to DRI.

Life Income Gifts

Learn about gifts that allow you to give to DRI while generating income for yourself and your family.

Charitable Remainder Trust

A charitable remainder trust (CRT) can provide you and/or other beneficiaries with variable or fixed annual payments for life or a term of years, after which the remainder of the trust assets pass to DRI for the purposes you designate.  A CRT is highly flexible and may allow you to make gifts of assets that are not easily converted to cash. Consult with your advisor to establish a CRT that best aligns with your charitable and financial goals.

A charitable remainder trust could be right for you if:

• You want to provide income for yourself or others.
• You want the possibility of income growth.
• You want to save income taxes or capital gains taxes.
• You want to choose the person who administers your gift and guides its investments.
• You want to make a generous gift to DRI.
• You are considering a gift amount of $100,000 or more.

Contact your advisors to see if this is right for you, and how to proceed.