A gift of retirement plan assets to MORF is an excellent choice because of the heavy taxes             your heirs could incur if you were to give retirement plan assets to them. Individual             Retirement Accounts (IRAs), 401(k) plans, profit–sharing plans, and money purchase plans

are qualified plans suited for funding charitable gifts. These plans usually permit lump sum             distributions, and they are legally permitted to pay survivor benefits to a trust designated by

the donor.             When a retirement plan ends (often at the end of the plan participant’s life, or that of a             spouse), the plan assets are potentially subject to both federal estate and income taxes.             An additional tax may be added if the state where you live assesses an estate or income             tax. Because of the taxation, these assets often become costly to transfer to individuals             such as children. The potential taxes remind us that tax–deferred retirement savings plans             were designed as retirement vehicles, not as inheritance plans.             When MORF is named as a beneficiary, amounts left from retirement plans pass directly             to the foundation and are not subject to estate and income taxes. By making a gift of             retirement assets, you are able to preserve the full value of your retirement savings to help             improve patient outcomes.             For Example, Sandy Surgeon wishes to make a major gift to MORF. She has a $2 million             estate, with $1 million of it in retirement assets and $1 million in stocks. It is advantageous             to her to choose to contribute the retirement assets to MORF, and leave the stocks to her             children. MORF, as a 501(c)(3) non–profit, would receive full value of the retirement assets.             If her children are named beneficiaries of both, they would end up receiving only about 40             percent, or $400,000, of the retirement assets – while they would receive almost 57 percent,             or $568,000, of the stocks.             It is essential to discuss your estate and financial plans with an advisor who is an             expert in designing and implementing a charitable gift of retirement plan assets. In             order for these gifts to work, technical and complex rules must be followed.