Mark the legacy of a loved one by making a donation in their honour (cash or gifts in kind). Their legacy will live on in the difference the gift makes for youth in need.

After taking care of your family and loved ones, we welcome you to think about making a meaningful impact on the world by leaving a charitable bequest.

No one should overlook the importance of making a will

A carefully drafted will ensures the financial security and well-being of your loved ones. It is a planning tool that you can use to determine which people and organizations will benefit from your estate, who will handle distribution, and who is to be guardian and trustee for those you love. Without a will, the government distributes your estate according to a legal formula. Taxes and administration costs can reduce the value of your estate, and the settlement may not reflect your wishes or the needs of your family and friends. In drafting or revising your will, the needs of your family should be your primary responsibility. However, there may also be an amount that can be allocated from your estate for charitable purposes and allow you to perpetuate a lifetime of giving. Unless otherwise directed by a donor, the UNF Foundation places all gifts received by bequest in its Foundation General Fund. This will ensure that the Foundation can introduce new programs and continue funding current ones to serve future generations of Ukrainian-Canadians.

Naming Pathways to Education as a beneficiary on your life insurance policy is a wonderful way to leave a legacy. We’re happy to accept either your revocable or irrevocable gift of life insurance. Securities:

• Publically Traded Securities
• Gifts of Real Estate
• RRSPs or RRIFs

To learn more about how you can leave or share a legacy, please contact us the UNF Foundation at: 145 Evans Avenue, Suite 210. Toronto, Ont. M8Z 5X8 If you prefer not to donate online, you can give a one-time or monthly donation by calling  416-925-2770.

All gifts must have certain attributes. A gift must be:

• voluntary,
• a transfer of property (for example, cash, stocks, real estate, or clothes), and
• unconditional.

One type of property is cash. A gift of cash is easy to value, and easy to use! A gift in kind is a non-cash gift, or a gift of property other than cash. There are several types of gifts in kind. Since a service is not property, a donation of services is not a gift. A tax receipt cannot be issued for a donation of services.

Gifts in kind include all types of property, except for cash.  In order to issue a tax receipt for a gift in kind, a charity must be able to determine the gift’s value. Depending on the type of property, valuing it can be very straightforward or very complex. Valuing property is discussed in the Valuing Gifts and Advantages section. There are many different kinds of property:

• Tangible property (property that a person can touch)
  • real property (land and attached buildings)
  • capital property (property that is purchased with the intention of holding or using it, rather than reselling it)
    • depreciable property (property that is expected to be used, generally in a business, over a number of years)
    • personal use property (property generally used by a person, not in a business context)
      • listed personal property (specifically identified property that is expected to increase in value over time, such as various types of collections)
      • other personal use property
    • other capital property
  • non-capital property (inventories of goods held for resale)
• Intangible property (that is, property that has no physical form)
  • securities and investments
    • qualifying securities (generally, securities that are traded on a stock exchange)
    • non-qualifying securities (securities that are not traded on a stock exchange)
  • interests in tangible property
    • leasehold interests (the right to possess and use a property for a period of time, through a lease)
    • residual interests (the remaining rights to a property after the current owner continues to possess and use it; these rights are usually created in a will)
  • intellectual property (trademarks, patents, licenses, and so on)
  • other legal rights and intangibles

The particular classification of a property depends in part upon the circumstances of the owner of the property. For example, an article of clothing could be:

• personal use property, if the owner is an individual who wears the clothing;
• non-capital property (i.e. inventory), if the owner is a clothing retailer; or
• depreciable property, if the owner is a business that provides the clothing to its employees as uniforms to be worn on the job.

There are several options you might consider when making a bequest to the UNF Foundation in your will. You can specify a dollar amount, a specific property, a percentage of your estate, or the portion that remains after you have provided for your family. You may also name the UNF foundation as a residual beneficiary in the event others you have named do not survive you.

1. A specific amount of money or property

The UNF Foundation can be named in your will to receive a specific amount of cash, or property such as an art collection, a home, parcel of land, etc.

Specific amount bequest

“I direct my Trustees to pay or transfer the sum of $…..… to the UNF Foundation to be added to its Foundation General Fund.”

Gift of real property

“I direct my Trustees to transfer and convey all my interest in real property (…description) to the UNF Foundation to be added to its Foundation General Fund.”

2. Percentage of your estate

Distribution of your assets can be arranged on a percentage or share basis. The bequest then remains in the same proportion to each other, despite fluctuations in the value of your estate from time to time. This is an especially important concept in a time of stock market volatility. “I direct my Trustees to pay or transfer….% of the residue of my estate to the UNF Foundation to be added to its Foundation General Fund.”

3. Residual bequest

Whatever property remains in your estate after debts and testamentary expenses are paid, and after specific bequests under your will have been fulfilled, is known as the residue of your estate. You can leave all or part of the residue of your estate to the UNF Foundation under your will. “I direct my Trustees to pay or transfer the residue of my estate to the UNF Foundation to be added to its Foundation General Fund.”

4. Double-purpose bequest

A sum of money can be directed to be held in trust under a will. The income from such a trust can be paid to a spouse or other beneficiary and the capital of the trust can be paid to the UNF Foundation, for placement in Foundation General Fund, upon the death of your spouse or other beneficiary. Wording will vary according to the trust agreement.

All about gifts of life insurance

One way that individuals can make a large gift to charity is by giving a gift of life insurance. The charity then receives the proceeds of the insurance policy when the individual dies.

An individual can give an insurance policy to a charity when the policy is first issued or at any time after that.

There are three parts to a gift of insurance that charities should understand. These are:

• the insurance policy,
• any premiums paid to keep the policy in force, and
• the proceeds of the policy when the insured person dies.

Insurance policy

When an insurance policy is given to a charity, it must be an unconditional transfer of ownership of the policy. The policy might have no value (as is the case with a term life insurance policy or a newly issued whole life policy) or it might have a value (as is the case with an existing whole life insurance policy). If the policy has no value, the charity cannot issue a tax receipt to the donor.

The insurance company that issued the policy will be able to provide the value of the policy to the charity so that the charity can issue a tax receipt to the donor.

Insurance premiums

Once a policy is owned by a charity, premiums will generally have to continue to be paid to keep the policy in force. (Some whole life policies may be “paid up”; that is, no further premiums are required to keep the policy in force.) If the donor pays the premium, she is considered to have made a gift to the charity equal to the amount of the premium. In essence, this is no different from a donor making a cash gift to the charity, which the charity then uses to pay the insurance premium.

The charity can issue a tax receipt for the amount of the premium the individual paid. The charity should obtain a copy of a statement or receipt from the insurance company to support the amount of the premium paid and also who made the payment.

Insurance proceeds

When an insured individual dies, the insurance company pays out the proceeds of the insurance. When a charity collects insurance proceeds on a policy it owns, this payment is not a gift and no receipt may be issued. This is because the policy was a gift, and was receipted accordingly at the time it was donated. But if the policy was not owned by the charity, and the charity was simply named as the beneficiary of the insurance, then the proceeds are a gift, and a tax receipt for the amount of the proceeds may be issued to the owner of the policy (usually the insured individual’s estate).

Making a Gift of Securities

In May 2006’s Federal Budget, publicly listed securities to charitable organizations became exempt from any capital gains tax. The 2008 Federal Budget included an amendment to the tax law, adding exchangeable shares to the list of securities that the tax treatment already applies to, which includes:

• Shares listed on most Canadian and certain foreign stock exchanges
• Prescribed debt obligations
• Shares of the capital stock of a Canadian public mutual fund corporation
• Units of widely held Canadian mutual fund trusts
• Interest in related segregated fund trusts

The benefits of donating a gift of securities to the UNF Foundation are twofold. First, you will receive a tax receipt for the fair market value of the donation in the amount of the closing trading price on the day the UNF Foundation receives the security. Second, your donation is exempt from the capital gains tax that typically applies to the sale of a security.

Donating Securities to the UNF Foundation—it’s fast, it’s easy and both you and your community benefit!