Charitable gift annuities are a very flexible way to make a gift to Lincoln Park Zoo. They can be designed to provide a fixed income for life for you and/or others you choose. They are easy to create and can be funded with gifts of relatively modest amounts.

Here’s how a Lincoln Park Zoo charitable gift annuity works:

• You transfer cash or other assets to Lincoln Park Zoo. This involves the completion of a simple agreement and can normally be done by mail.
• You will receive generous fixed payments annually (or more frequently, if desired). The amount of your payment is a percentage of your gift at the time your gift is funded and will not change with interest rate and investment market fluctuations.
• You will be entitled to an immediate charitable income tax deduction. In addition, part of each annual payment is received tax free for a period of time.
• If you would like, you can also choose to name another person (typically a spouse, parent, or sibling) to receive payments with you, instead of you, or following your lifetime for the remainder of his or her life.
• The assets used to fund your gift annuity will generally be removed from your estate for probate and tax purposes.
• You make a significant charitable gift to Lincoln Park Zoo equal to a portion of the amount used to fund your gift annuity agreement.

Many persons choose to fund more than one gift annuity agreement with Lincoln Park Zoo over time. As payment rates increase with age, each gift annuity generally features larger payments. 

When property such as stock, mutual funds, or other securities that have increased in value is given for a gift annuity, the charitable deduction is typically based on the full value of the property, not just its original cost.

In addition, the part of the capital gains tax that would be due on a sale of the gift portion can be avoided at the time of the gift, and the rest of the gain can be reported over the annuitant’s life expectancy. The use of appreciated, low-yielding assets to fund a gift annuity can thus be an excellent way to completely bypass capital gains tax at the time of your gift, enjoy a current charitable income tax deduction, and gain the advantage of reporting a portion of each payment at lower, more favorable capital gain tax rates for a number of years.

The following table lists age(s) when gift annuities start and the applicable annuity rate (for illustrative purposes only):

One Life	Rate
70	5.7%
75	6.3%
80	7.1%
85	8.1%
90+	9.5%
Two Life	Rate
70 & 72	5.3%
75 & 78	5.7
75 & 85	6.0%
78 & 82	6.1%
85 & 90	7.5%

One Life Example

Maureen Davis, 70, decides to give $10,000 for a gift annuity agreement on March 10, 2010. The payment rate based on age is 5.7%, or $570 for life. Because of the charitable gift portion of the annuity, there will be a tax deduction of $3,909 allowed for the year of the gift.

In addition, $383 of each annual payment will be received free of tax for the first 15.9 years that payments are received.

The amount of the gift annuity is also removed from a donor’s probate and taxable estates, in many cases resulting in additional savings.

To summarize, Maureen Davis has:

• Transferred $10,000 in exchange for an income for life.
• Arranged for payments that will total 5.7% of the gift amount annually, which is $570 per year.
• Eliminated tax on $383 (about 67% of the payments) for the first 15.9 years they are received.
• Made a gift that results in an immediate charitable income tax deduction of $3,909.
• Assured the amount used to fund the gift annuity will not be subject to estate tax or probate expenses.

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Two Life Gift Annuity Rate Calculator

Click on the date and enter your date of birth: March 10, 1935. Your rate for a one life gift annuity at age 75 will be 6.3%

Enter another date of birth for a second person here (March 10, 1935) and see the two life rate for ages 75 and 75. Your rate for a two life gift annuity will be 5.6%

Retirement and larger payments

Deferred gift annuities make even larger payments beginning when you retire or at another future date you choose.