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Legacy Giving

It is a special kind of donor who provides for the future of our community by making a legacy gift to the Community Foundation. Through a planned gift from your estate, we provide long-term stewardship of your charitable wishes. Your generosity and foresight allocate resources to our nonprofit organizations for decades to come.

When you make a legacy gift to us, you are invited to join our Legacy Society, whose members share your affinity for lasting philanthropy.

How to Leave a Legacy

Let us help you determine the perfect solution for you. Together we examine your philanthropic interests and priorities, your long-term goals and desired impact. We evaluate your assets and taxes, changing circumstances and optimal strategies for giving. You may choose your level of public acknowledgment and involvement.

There are many choices that allow you make charitable gifts while enjoying tax benefits and preserving economic security for yourself and your loved ones.

Download our Legacy Giving Options (pdf) for complete descriptions of the following choices. Download free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Bequest – reduces your estate taxes while supporting your community.
Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) – increases your income (or provides income for another person); when your trust terminates, the remaining funds are used to support your charitable interests.
Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) – allows you to make significant charitable gifts in the near term while transferring substantial assets to beneficiaries; potential benefits are significantly lowered gift and estate taxes.
Retained Life Estate – ensures that you have lifetime security in a home that you gift to the Community Foundation as a charitable contribution.
Life Insurance – can be used as a charitable asset, making you eligible for a charitable tax deduction based on the current value of a paid-up policy.
Retirement Fund Plan – can be used to support charitable interests while achieving significant tax advantages for your heirs.
Real Estate – entitles you to the same federal tax advantages as gifts of securities (for the fair market value of the property), eliminating capital gains tax.
Pooled Income Fund – operates like a mutual fund and gives you the tax benefits of a charitable trust with minimized investment risk and overhead costs.

Our Legacy Society

Community Foundation Sonoma County created our Legacy Society to acknowledge and thank special donors who have chosen to provide for the future of our community through planned gifts made to us from their estate.

If you decide to leave us a planned gift, please let us know. We want to make sure we have your wishes on record to properly carry them out after your lifetime.

As a Legacy Society member, you are acknowledged in publications, on our website and at events such as our annual celebration.

You may always choose to remain anonymous, however, acknowledging your philanthropy on our Legacy Society membership list may inspire others to look toward the future and provide for the causes they care about.

We look forward to speaking with you.

Please contact Celia Bolam at 707.303.9623.

Featured Donor

Greg Young, a Community Foundation donor advisor, talks of the rewards of supporting a nonprofit organization with a local branch in Sebastopol. "I belong to Bread for the Journey because I want to support local start-up organizations that need a little boost to achieve their vision. That boost is often money, but sometimes it's simply asking the right question like, 'What is a business plan and why do you need one?' Watching these seeds sprout is even more rewarding than I had dreamed; meeting people who have the passion and knowledge to make our community a better place is an amazing experience. It fills me with hope for the future... and joy."

Featured donors

For the past year, a team from Community Foundation Sonoma County and the Sonoma Valley Fund has been at work to assess community needs and determine where to focus our involvement in the Valley from the $8.5 million bequest of Roland and Hazel Todd. Based on the community's response and the Todd's wishes, improving health and well-being of residents in the Springs area of Sonoma Valley will be our initial focus. More…