Planned giving allows you to create a meaningful legacy that extends your support for children and families beyond your lifetime. Through thoughtful estate and tax planning, you can maximize your impact on WV KidsFest and your loved ones, ensuring that your generosity continues to make a difference for future generations. There are many ways to give, each designed to honor your commitment while minimizing the effect on your estate.
No matter where you are in life, it’s wise to think ahead about how your legacy will be handled. Taking a few simple steps today can bring peace of mind, knowing you’re protecting your loved ones while supporting the causes you care about most.
Your estate plan is an opportunity to extend your impact by helping children and families through WV KidsFest. By including WV KidsFest in your will, donating assets, or creating an endowment, you help ensure that we can continue providing school supplies, educational support, and joyful experiences for children in need — for years to come.
A Simple Way to Support WV KidsFest: A Gift in Your Will
One of the easiest and most direct ways to make a lasting impact is by including a cash gift to WV KidsFest in your will. With just a simple paragraph, you can name WV KidsFest as a beneficiary and specify the amount or type of gift you’d like to give. Whether you’re creating a new will or updating an existing one, your attorney can help you include the proper language.
Gifts can be structured in several ways, including outright, residual, contingency, or restricted bequests — giving you the flexibility to make a gift that reflects your wishes.
Below is sample language to share with your estate planning professional:
“I, (name), of (city, state, zip), give, devise, and bequeath to WV KidsFest (specific dollar amount, percentage of my estate, or description of property) for its unrestricted use and purpose.”
Your generosity will help ensure WV KidsFest continues to bring joy, school supplies, and support to children and families for years to come.
Multiply Your Impact with a Gift of Life Insurance
Life insurance is a powerful way to make a significant gift to WV KidsFest, often larger than you might think possible. With relatively affordable premiums, you can ensure that WV KidsFest receives the full value of your policy’s death benefit — potentially a substantial gift that makes a lasting difference. As long as premiums are paid, WV KidsFest will receive the proceeds directly, free from income taxes, estate taxes, probate costs, and other fees.
There can also be tax advantages for you. Depending on how you structure your gift, you might be eligible for an income tax deduction based on the policy’s value or your cost basis. In some cases, ongoing premium payments may also qualify for deductions. If you transfer ownership of the policy to WV KidsFest, your charitable deduction is generally the lower of the policy’s fair market value or your adjusted cost basis.
The simplest way to make this type of gift is to name WV KidsFest as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy — ensuring your legacy supports children and families for years to come.
Maximize Your Impact with Retirement Plan Giving
Naming WV KidsFest as a beneficiary of your retirement plan is a simple and effective way to make a meaningful gift. You can give through a direct transfer from your traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), or 403(b), or by naming WV KidsFest as a beneficiary — primary, successor, or contingent — of all or part of your account. To get started, simply reach out to your retirement plan custodian.
This option allows you to defer your gift until the end of your lifetime, potentially reducing the size of your taxable estate. Even better, since WV KidsFest is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, your gift comes to us tax-free — helping your gift go even further. While individuals like spouses or children typically owe income taxes on distributions from retirement accounts, WV KidsFest receives the full value of your generous contribution without tax obligations.
Your gift ensures that children and families in our community will continue to benefit from the support and joy WV KidsFest provides for years to come.
Make a Bigger Impact by Donating Stocks, Bonds, or Mutual Funds
Donating appreciated securities — such as publicly traded stocks, bonds, or mutual fund shares — is a powerful way to support WV KidsFest while enjoying valuable tax benefits. When you donate investments that have grown in value, you can claim a charitable tax deduction for the current market value of the securities, not just what you originally paid. Plus, you’ll avoid paying capital gains taxes on the transfer!
If you were to sell the securities first and donate the cash proceeds, you’d owe capital gains tax — but by donating directly to WV KidsFest, your full gift supports our mission.
The IRS determines the market value of your gift by averaging the highest and lowest trading prices on the day your securities are transferred to WV KidsFest.
Please note: When securities are transferred electronically, donor information is not automatically provided. To ensure we properly acknowledge your generous gift, please notify our Development Team about your donation. You can make your gift by working with your broker to transfer securities electronically, by registered mail, or by naming WV KidsFest as a beneficiary of your investment account.
Your support helps us continue to bring smiles, supplies, and support to children and families in our community!
Create a Legacy with an Endowment Gift
Endowments are a lasting way to support WV KidsFest for generations to come. These dedicated funds are carefully invested to provide ongoing growth and annual support for our programs that bring joy, educational resources, and essential services to children and families in need.
An endowment can be created by an individual or a group of donors and can be established in honor or memory of a loved one — ensuring a lasting impact. You can choose to contribute to an existing endowment fund or establish a new one, either for general use or to support a specific part of our mission that’s close to your heart. Gifts of any size are welcome to existing endowment funds.
To establish a new endowment, the minimum commitment is $25,000, which can be made as a one-time gift or through a pledge paid over time. Endowment funds can be named for the principal donor(s) or someone the donor wishes to honor. Once fully funded, the endowment will begin generating annual support, while the principal remains invested to sustain WV KidsFest well into the future.
Your endowment gift will help ensure that WV KidsFest continues to serve and uplift our community for years to come.
Turn your old ride into bright futures!
Donors Share Their Experience with Donating a Vehicle:
“I wanted to take a moment to email the two of you to express how easy this process was to donate my car… [They] took the time to answer all my questions, allowed me to contact [them] directly when I had follow-up questions, and even helped me by phone fill out the necessary forms that I needed to complete the transaction with the DMV.” – Monica M.
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