If you manage your own stock portfolio, there's a very easy way to make a gift to your favorite charity and build your own legacy. Just designate National Gift Annuity Foundation as the beneficiary of all or a percentage of your brokerage account using a beneficiary designation form. After your passing, the account balance you've selected will be transferred to our organization. Not sure where the forms are located? You'll need to contact your brokerage firm and/or search their website for "manage beneficiary designations" or "beneficiary designation form."
More Details on Gifts of Stocks and Investment Accounts
Investment accounts hold cash or stocks for the long term. You may have a mutual fund or a brokerage account, which is held at a financial institution. The objective of these accounts is to achieve long-term growth, provide future income, or preserve capital. After your passing, the remaining account balance may be transferred to heirs or charity.
When you opened the account, you should have received a T.O.D. form that tells the financial institution what to do with the assets when you pass away. If you do not complete this form, you will cause unnecessary confusion among your heirs and added expense to your estate administration.
Keep it simple. Ask the account custodian for a T.O.D. form, complete it, and share it with your financial or legal advisor. You can also leave all or a percentage of the assets to NGAF. Any portion of your investment account left to us will be exempt from estate and inheritance tax. You also avoid paying any capital gains on assets that have increased in value over the years!
You may be a joint owner of the brokerage account, or you may have made a loved one a joint owner. The joint-owner may engage in transactions on the account during your lifetime. The joint owner may also have "rights of survivorship," meaning that he/she will automatically succeed to the account when you pass away. Even if you have a joint account, you should complete the T.O.D. form to assure that the brokerage knows what to do with the remaining assets when both account holders have passed away. This step will also assure that the account may not become part of a time consuming and costly probate process.