Bequest Language

Planned Giving

Planned giving is a thoughtful and generous way to meet you personal financial objectives and also provides for Catholic Charities to help those in need now and in the future.

Here are some ways you can help Catholic Charities provide help and create hope into the future:

Bequests

Bequests remain a most important source of income for Catholic Charities. The generosity and thoughtfulness of those who name Catholic Charities in their wills is most appreciated and necessary to help Catholic Charities continue to meet basic human needs. Bequests may be made in a number of ways: general, residuary, remainder, and contingent.

Catholic Charities encourages bequests that provide the greatest flexibility to meet the critical needs that change over time and suggests the following wording in bequests:

"For the general support of The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York in providing help and creating hope for those in need."

Catholic Charities also recognizes that a donor may have an interest in designating a particular area for his or her contribution, such as: protecting and nurturing children and youth, feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless, strengthening families and resolving crises, supporting the physically and emotionally challenged, and welcoming and integrating immigrants and refugees.

Bequests to Catholic Charities are fully deductible as charitable gifts for federal estate-tax purposes and, in most cases, for state death-tax purposes.

Some common ways of making a bequest are as follows:

A general bequest provides a specific dollar amount to Catholic Charities.
A residuary bequest provides Catholic Charities with a specific asset or sum of money or all or a portion of what remains in an estate after other gifts have been made.
A remainder bequest provides Catholic Charities with a portion of the donor's estate after the death of a life beneficiary.
A gift of contingent interest gives Catholic Charities a portion of the donor's estate at the donor's death or the death of a life beneficiary if certain primary beneficiaries are no longer living.

For more information please contact:

Emily Chau, Director of Planned Giving & Fundraising Systems Analytics
Emily.Chau@catholiccharitiesny.org