Providing options to donors is critical. Are you doing everything that you can to attract major gifts?

Donors have many choices when it comes to the charitable causes that need their support. Especially in today's economy, having a solid "case for support" and the ability to market your organization is critical. What is equally critical? Offering the most options for how your prospective donors can provide their support.

54Freedom is here to show you that major gifts are very much within your reach:

Charitable gift annuities are one of the most attractive planned giving alternatives a charity can offer. 54Freedom makes it simple and affordable to use our patent pending 54Freedom Gift Annuity process to help you and your donors meet your goals quickly, safely and easily.

We can help you to develop these gifts and to reduce or eliminate the administrative costs -- whether you are just getting started or you already have a planned giving program in place. We help find new donors and help you to develop your current donor base. We can provide content for your web sites, compliant and attractive emails to send to your donor base, and help with other communications. In addition, we provide expert case design and the technical support you need to get your donors through the process. Essentially, we are there every step of the way from initial case design to closing, including managing all the administration after the gift is made. It doesn't have to be difficult, complicated or costly.

If you want to learn more click here to set up a meeting with one of our development experts.

Got Questions About Charitable Gift Annuities?
We've Got Answers — What You Need to Know (FAQ's)

What is a Charitable Gift Annuity?

A traditional charitable gift annuity (CGA) allows your Donors to make a gift to their favorite charity, and still receive an income for themselves or others. As part of the transaction, the charity, in return for a transfer of cash or other accumulated assets, agrees to pay a fixed sum of money over one or two lives. The payments from the charitable gift annuity are fixed and will not fluctuate.

What is a 54Freedom Gift Annuity?

The 54Freedom Gift Annuity is a revolutionary, patent-pending process by which smaller charitable organizations that do not have a planned giving or money management infrastructure may offer a gift annuity option to their donor base.

The 54Freedom Gift Annuity approach splits the tax deductable portion of a traditional Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA) transaction away from the portion dedicated to annuity obligation to the donor.

For example, a male age 70 wants a $100,000.00 54Freedom Gift Annuity. The same IRS guidelines apply to the 54Freedom Gift Annuity that apply to a traditional CGA, but in 54Freedom approach, the payments and liabilities are split. In this example, the $30,000.00 donation goes directly to the charity while the $70,000.00 is used to purchase a 54Freedom Gift Annuity. The 54Freedom product is underwritten by insurance carriers with high ratings. The 54Freedom Gift Annuity offers the donor more estate planning options than the traditional Charitable Gift Annuity. These options make it possible, for example, to guarantee that annuity payments continue to be paid to the annuitant's estate in the event of his/her untimely death. Similarly, should the annuitant live longer than expected, the payments are the obligation of the insurer, not the charity.

How does 54Freedom market its Gift Annuity product?

The 54Freedom Gift Annuity is licensed and distributed through large financial institutions including banks and brokerage firms as well as large Insurance Marketing Organizations (IMOs). 54Freedom's distribution also includes its own sales center in Miami, FL as well as internet lead generation platform, www.54freedom.com . The product's marketing reach makes it possible for a charity to receive donations from donors nationwide, simply as a result of being affiliated with 54Freedom.

What Makes 54Freedom's Approach to Charitable Gift Annuities Different for Not-for-Profits?

The 54Freedom approach provides Administrators, Planned Giving Professionals and their donors with greater flexibility in how a Gift transaction is structured, providing more options to the donor in terms of how payouts are structured. 54Freedom employs annuities to fund the 54Freedom Gift Annuity Product keeping the annuity obligation off the Not-for-profit's balance sheet. 54Freedom also provides help with fund raising. In addition to assisting with case design and administration for individual gifts, 54Freedom can also provide assistance with email communications, and help with the development of internet educational content for members. The 54Fredom call center can assist with Donor Campaigns. Our program design results in no administrative charges to the Charity or Not-for-profit.

What types of people and organizations are going to be interested in 54Freedom Gift Annuity?

54Freedom Gift Annuity also works well for people with disabilities and special needs trusts, and, of course, high net worth individuals seeking tax advantaged investments. Additionally people with appreciated assets may be interested. Some examples include customers with CDs or other fixed income investments where the interest rate has declined. Customers who want to lock in growth of appreciated assets but who don't want to pay tax on the capital gain are likely to be interested. People with IRA's which have appreciated greatly should be interested too. A 54Freedom Gift Annuity transaction works well for charities of all kinds. We can help you in your fund raising efforts.

What Are Some Of The Tax Benefits Of This Transaction?

Capital gains on the donated asset are reduced because a portion of the gain is offset by the deduction for a charitable donation. Any remaining capital gains are amortized over life of income stream. Additionally, the asset is removed from estate reducing the taxable estate to the donor's heirs.

What is the Underlying Insurance Product for 54Freedom Gift Annuity transaction?

Traditional Charitable Gift Annuities are fixed annuities as described by Section 501(m)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code. A 54Freedom Gift Annuity transaction can avail itself of a wider array of investment annuity products.

What Determines The Amount of The 54Freedom Gift Annuity Payments?

Four key variables are used to calculate the amount of the annuity payment received by your members: the amount of the contribution, the number of annuitants, their age, of course, and the annuity interest rate.

What Determines the Interest Rate For The Annuity?

The American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) has published suggested charitable gift annuity rates since the 1920's. Although a charity is free to offer any schedule of rates it wishes — so long as its rates don't exceed the limits imposed by federal and state laws — most charities, including our 54Freedom Foundation, do in fact, follow the rates suggested by the ACGA.

How Often Will The Annuity Payments Come?

The payout options can be either immediate or deferred. In addition, your member can select the frequency with which they receive payments be it, monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually.

How Is the Amount of the Deduction for a 54Freedom Gift Annuity Calculated?

There is an immediate tax deduction for current year with 5 year carry forward, if needed. The actual deduction amount is the amount of the contribution to the charity, minus the present value of the payments that will be made to the beneficiary. We make the calculation using IRS tables regarding life expectancy and assumed earnings as well as the annuity rate.

How Are Gift Annuity Payments Taxed?

If the 54Freedom Gift Annuity is funded with appreciated assets such as a mutual fund or deferred annuity, and the original donor is the one receiving payments, part of the payment will be treated as ordinary income, part will be treated as capital gain, and part tax-free return of capital. We can make this projection for you as part of the case design process.

How Will Our Members Know What Taxes to Pay Each Year?

Your members will receive an IRS Form 1099-R sent by the insurer.

Who is 54Freedom Securities LLC ("54 Freedom")?

54Freedom is a New York C Corp, founded in 2010, by Jim Griffin (CEO) and Tom Sullivan (major stock holder and inspiration.). See, 54Freedom Securities Inc.

What is the primary business of 54Freedom Securities LLC?

54Freedom Securities is a New York registered general insurance agency and registered fund raising organization.

What States is 54Feedom registered as a fund raising organization?

54Freedom is registered in the state of Florida and will be registered in all 50 states by end of 2012.

What Information Do You Need for a Donor Illustration?

Click here to see our interactive illustration fact-finder. The information we need includes name, address, birth date and gender of donor, as well as amount of donation, the likely timing of the gift, and what their tax rate paid was last year. For the projections we will also need to know who the annuitant(s) are likely to be, their ages, sexes and states in which they reside, as well as the tax rate percentages.

How does a potential donor choose a charity?

54Freedom provides a list of charities that have contracted with 54Freedom for the donor(s) to choose from.

How does a charity join the 54Freedom platform?

All a charity must do is to apply to 54Freedom, complete and sign the standard contract to join the 54Freedom platform and then provide information about itself so that donor's may choose it from a list of worthy affiliated causes. 54Freedom confirms that participating charities are section 501(c)(3) organizations.

From an administrative perspective what responsibilities does the charity take on when it participates in the 54Freedom program?

Once the 54Freedom contract is executed, the only administrative requirement for the charity will be an accounts payable function to pay 54Freedom a fund raising fee after donations are received and fees invoiced. 54Freedom Securities has its own third party administration TPA capability. 54Freedom processes all the tax deduction calculations, tax receipts and tax returns.

I'm Interested. What do I need to do next?

We will ask you for your contact information and send you a Not-for-Profit Starter Kit. Click here to receive your free Starter Kit.

Disclaimer: This is not tax or legal advice. Please be sure to involve your members' tax and legal advisors in any transaction.