Gift Planning

Deferred Gift Annuities
(Complete gift description)

This version of the charitable gift annuity is especially designed for younger donors. Called the deferred gift annuity, it makes fixed annual payments to you and/or another beneficiary for life, with payments commencing at a future date. Because of the deferral of income:

• The Zoological Society of San Diego can offer a higher income rate for these annuities than for annuities whose income starts immediately, and
• You may receive a larger charitable income tax deduction than you could get from any other life-income gift plan.

These two features make the deferred gift annuity quite attractive to donors in high-earnings years who are concerned about securing both current tax deductions and additional sources of retirement income.

Use a deferred gift annuity to help plan for retirement

Many donors establish a series of deferred annuities over several years, using funds they had already set aside for retirement saving. They set the commencement date for payments from these annuities to coincide with their or their spouse's retirement.

Planning points

The deferred gift annuity offers the same benefits of simplicity, security, and attractive income taxation that the regular gift annuity provides our donors:

• Your deferred annuity is a contract between the Zoological Society of San Diego and you, and your annuity payments are an obligation backed by our corporate assets;
• You secure a charitable income tax deduction based on the market value of the assets you contributed, minus the present value of the life-income interest you retained;
• No up-front capital gains tax is payable if you fund your deferred gift annuity with appreciated securities; only a portion of your gain is recognized, with the tax spread over your annuity payments;
• Part of each annuity payment to you comes tax-free as the return of principal;
• The balance remaining in your deferred annuity after the death of the beneficiaries will be used by the Zoological Society of San Diego for the purpose you designated when you created the gift annuity.
• A deferred gift annuity at the Zoological Society of San Diego can be made with a gift of $25,000 or more.

How do you create a deferred gift annuity?

We will provide a draft of the deferred gift annuity agreement for review by you. As always, we encourage you to seek the advice of your professional advisor. We'd be happy to share additional material with them.

For more information

Email us, complete the personal illustration form, or call us at (619) 744-3352 so that we can assist you through every step of the process.