Thank you for making a donation to the Catholic Schools Endowment Foundation. Your generous gift of any size will help us make a Catholic education possible for more children, no matter which Catholic school they attend or neighborhood they come from.

Your gift will make an immediate impact on our mission and allow you to take a charitable income tax deduction. A receipt for tax purposes will be mailed to you.

If you have questions or would prefer to make a gift by phone, please call us at 503.233.8318. To make a gift by mail make checks payable to the Catholic Schools Endowment Foundation and send to:

Catholic Schools Endowment Foundation
2838 E. Burnside Street
Portland, OR 97214

Donating appreciated securities, including stocks or bonds, is an easy and tax-effective way to make a gift. It allows you to avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of appreciated stock, and you also receive a charitable income tax deduction.

To make a gift by electronic transfer

Please contact us at 503.233.8318 or by email, [email protected], for instructions on how you can transfer stock or bonds from your brokerage or investment account to CSEF.

Appreciated real estate, such as a home, vacation property, undeveloped land, farmland, ranch or commercial property, is a meaningful and lasting way to contribute to CSEF. A gift of real estate also allows you to avoid capital gains tax on the sale of the real estate and provides a charitable income tax deduction based on the value of the gift.

Your real property may be given to CSEF by executing or signing a deed transferring ownership. You may deed part or all of your real property to CSEF. Your gift will generally be based on the property’s fair market value, which must be established by an independent appraisal.

If you would like to discuss a gift of real estate, please contact our office at 503.233.8318 or [email protected].

If you have a life insurance policy that has outlasted its original purpose, consider gifting it to CSEF. For example, you may have purchased a policy to provide for young children who are now financially independent adults.

This form of giving provides many benefits:

• You receive a charitable income tax deduction
• If CSEF retains the policy to maturity, you can receive additional tax deductions by making annual gifts so that we can pay the premiums
• If CSEF cashes in the policy, you will be able to see your gift support our charitable work
• If CSEF retains the policy to maturity, or you name us as a beneficiary, once the policy matures, we will use the proceeds to expand access to Catholic education

To make a gift of life insurance, please contact your life insurance provider, request a beneficiary designation form from the insurer and include CSEF as the beneficiary of your policy. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact our office at 503.233.8318 or [email protected].

By making a charitable bequest to CSEF, you can leave a legacy that will benefit families and children throughout Western Oregon. You will also lessen the tax burden on your family and receive an estate tax charitable deduction.

You can make a bequest in your will or in a trust directing a gift to CSEF, or by gifting some of your retirement assets. With the help of an advisor, you can include language in your will or trust specifying a gift to be made to CSEF as part of your estate plan. A bequest may be made in several ways:

• Gift of a percentage of your estate
• Gift of a specific dollar amount or asset
• Gift from the balance or residue of your estate
• Gift of your retirement assets, such as an  IRA

In preparing your estate plan, we recommend that you consult with an experienced estate planning professional. The information on this website is not intended as legal or tax advice.

Sample IRA Language

If the IRA were given to your family, much of the value may be lost through estate and income taxes. By designating CSEF as the beneficiary of all or part of your IRA (using a beneficiary designation form provided by your custodian), the full value of the gift is transferred tax-free at your death and your estate receives an estate tax charitable deduction.

Sample Bequest Language

Name: CSEF

Full legal name: Catholic Schools Endowment Foundation of Oregon

Federal tax ID number: 81-4541803

Address: 2838 East Burnside St, Portland, OR 97214

Sample will or trust language

Gifts to CSEF in a will or trust can be drafted as: “My executor/trustee shall distribute (X) to the Catholic Schools Endowment Foundation (federal tax ID number: 81-4541803).” The (X) can be:

• a percentage of your estate/trust;
• a specific dollar amount;
• specific assets; or
• a combination of the above.

Sample Beneficiary Designations

Retirement plans such as IRAs and 401Ks, pensions, financial accounts, annuities, and life insurance policies all have beneficiary designations. To designate CSEF as a transfer-on-death (TOD) beneficiary, you can write CSEF as: Catholic Schools Endowment Foundation of Oregon (federal tax ID number: 81-4541803).

If you are like most people, you probably will not use all of your retirement assets, such as your IRA, 401(k), 403(b), pension or other tax-deferred plan, during your lifetime. You can make a gift of all or part of your unused retirement assets to help expand Catholic education to more families in Western Oregon. Another option is to to avoid ordinary income tax on your required minimum distribution by making a gift this year through an IRA charitable rollover.

Learn more about leaving your retirement assets to CSEF.

IRA Charitable Rollover

Benefits

If you are 70½ or older, you may be interested in a way to lower the income and taxes from your IRA withdrawals. An IRA charitable rollover is a way you can contribute to the CSEF mission and achieve tax benefits this year.

• Avoid taxes on transfers of up to $100,000 from your IRA to CSEF
• Satisfy your required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year
• Reduce your taxable income, even if you do not itemize deductions
• Make a gift that is not subject to the deduction limits on charitable gifts
• Help expand Catholic education to more families in Western Oregon

How it works

• Contact your IRA plan administrator to make a gift from your IRA to us.
• Your IRA funds will be directly transferred to CSEF.
• Please note that IRA charitable rollover gifts do not qualify for a charitable deduction.
• Make a gift that is not subject to the deduction limits on charitable gifts.
• Please contact us if you wish for your gift to be used for a specific purpose.

Retirement Assets

Benefits

• Avoid potential estate tax on retirement assets
• Your heirs will avoid income tax on any retirement assets funded on a pre-tax basis
• Receive potential estate tax savings from an estate tax deduction

How it works

To leave your retirement assets to CSEF, you will need to complete a beneficiary designation form provided by your retirement plan custodian. If you designate CSEF as beneficiary, we will benefit from the full value of your gift because your IRA assets will not be taxed at your death. Your estate will benefit from an estate tax charitable deduction for the gift.

More about gifts of retirement assets

Did you know that 60%-70% of your retirement assets may be taxed if you leave them to your heirs at your death? Another option is to leave your heirs assets that receive a step up in basis, such as real estate and stock, and give the retirement assets to CSEF. As a charity, we are not taxed upon receiving an IRA or other retirement plan assets.

Please let us know if you have already included CSEF as a beneficiary of your retirement assets. We would like to thank you and recognize you for your gift. If you have questions or need assistance, please call contact our office at 503.233.8318 or [email protected].

Have you recently sold property and are looking for a way to save on taxes this year and plan for retirement? Are you looking for a way to provide your children with income while making a gift to CSEF? Perhaps you want to pass on some of your assets to your family while reducing or eliminating gift or estate taxes.

Gifting to CSEF through a charitable remainder unitrust, “give it twice” trust, or charitable lead trust can help you achieve your financial goals and make Catholic education available to more families in Western Oregon.

If you have any questions about trusts, please contact us at 503-233-8318 or [email protected]. We would be happy to answer your questions and provide you with an illustration demonstrating your specific tax benefits.

Charitable Remainder Unitrust

Benefits

• Receive income for life, for a term of up to  20 years or life plus a term of up to 20 years
• Avoid capital gains on the sale of your appreciated assets
• Receive an immediate charitable income tax deduction for the charitable portion of the trust
• Establish a future legacy gift to CSEF

How it works

• You transfer cash or assets to fund a charitable remainder unitrust.
• In the case of a trust funded with appreciated assets, the trust will then sell the assets tax-free.
• The trust is invested to pay income to you or any other trust beneficiaries you select based on a life, lives, a term of up to 20 years or a life plus a term of up to 20 years.
• You receive an income tax deduction in the year you transfer assets to the trust. CSEF benefits from what remains in the trust after all the trust payments have been made.

Give It Twice Trust

The “give it twice” trust is a popular option that allows you to transfer your IRA or other asset at death to fund a term-of-years charitable remainder unitrust. We call this kind of unitrust a “give it twice” trust because you can use the trust to pay income first to your family for a number of years and then distribute the balance of the trust to charity.

Benefits

• Use the full value of your unused retirement account to provide income to your surviving spouse and to your children or other loved ones for a specified period of time
• Create an estate tax deduction and savings from your gift
• Support the important work of CSEF

How it works

• We can help you and your attorney with the process of creating a charitable remainder unitrust.
• You complete an IRA or other retirement account beneficiary designation form, naming the charitable trust as the beneficiary, and return the form to the account custodian.
• When you pass away, the custodian will transfer your retirement account to the charitable trust.
• The trust will pay income to your spouse, children or other individual beneficiaries for their lives, term of years or life plus term of years.
• At the conclusion of the payments, the balance of the trust will be transferred to CSEF.

Charitable Lead Trust

Benefits

• Receive a gift or estate tax charitable deduction
• Pass inheritance on to family at a reduced or zero cost
• Establish a vehicle from which you can make annual gifts to charity

How it works

• You make a contribution of your property to fund a trust that pays CSEF income for a number of years.
• You receive a gift or estate tax deduction at the time of your gift.
• After a period of time, your family receives the trust assets plus any additional growth in value.

Charitable Gift Annuity

You may be tired of living with the instability of the fluctuating stock and real estate markets. A charitable gift annuity is a gift made to CSEF that can provide you with a secure source of fixed payments for life.

You can fund your gift annuity with cash or property. If you decide to fund your gift annuity with cash, a significant portion of the annuity payment will be tax-free. You may also make a gift of appreciated securities to fund a gift annuity and avoid a portion of the capital gains tax. Please contact us at 503.233.8318 or [email protected] to inquire about other assets that you might be able to use to fund a charitable gift annuity.

Learn more about charitable gift annuities.

Benefits

• Receive fixed payments to you or another annuitant you designate for life
• Receive a charitable income tax deduction for the charitable gift portion of the annuity
• Benefit from payments that may be partially tax-free
• Further the charitable work of CSEF with your gift
• How it works
• You transfer cash or property to CSEF.
• In exchange, we promise to pay fixed payments to you for life. The payment can be quite high depending on your age, and a portion of each payment may even be tax-free.
• You will receive a charitable income tax deduction for the gift portion of the annuity.

How it works

• You transfer cash or property to CSEF.
• In exchange, we promise to pay fixed payments to you for life. The payment can be quite high depending on your age, and a portion of each payment may even be tax-free.
• You will receive a charitable income tax deduction for the gift portion of the annuity.