Planned Giving is a great way to further the Mount’s mission while advancing your own financial objectives at the same time.  Your planned gift will create a long-lasting legacy at the Mount.  

This is particularly important to Mount St. Dominic Academy, whose history of educational excellence has spanned three centuries. A planned gift to the Mount ensures that the Mount will endure for many years to come by ensuring a future revenue source for the school.  Planned Giving also demonstrates your long-term commitment to our mission of educational excellence and empowering young women.

As its name conveys, planned giving refers to a charitable gift that, unlike an outright gift of cash, requires some planning before it is made, often through a bequest in a will, but also through other means for transferring assets.

Planned gifts can offer you:

• A  means for reducing taxes on your income, estate and capital gains;
• A way to turn low-yield assets into a higher income stream,
• A source for a lifetime income stream, either for yourself or a designated beneficiary.

If you are considering a planned gift, our Development Office staff is ready and willing to work with you to develop a giving plan that you and your financial advisor deem best for your individual situation.  Planned giving options include:

Bequests

• Bequest are the most straightforward way of making a planned gift to the Mount.
• A bequest is made when you allocate a gift to the Mount in your will.
• Not only have you remembered the Mount, but you also have also helped to reduce the taxes owed on your estate because you have made a charitable donation.
• Those making a planned gift to the Mount will be inducted into the Mother Catharine Society Membership in this society is permanent and restricted exclusively to those who support the Mount with a planned gift. Click here to read more about the Mother Catharine Society.
• Please see our sample bequest language below for suggested wording or contact the Development Office for further assistance.

The following language is appropriate for donors who want their bequest to be unrestricted and generally expendable by Mount St. Dominic Academy:

"I, [name], of [city, state, ZIP], give, devise and bequeath to Mount St. Dominic Academy, a non-profit corporation located in Caldwell, New Jersey, [specific amount or percentage of the estate or description of property] for [its unrestricted use and purpose] or [for such purpose as the Board of Trustees of Mount St. Dominic Academy shall determine to be in the best interest of the Academy]."

Bequests also may be directed to purposes or operating programs of special interest to donors. Donors who are interested in designating bequests to special purposes or endowments should contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it in the Development Office for additional information at 973.226.0660 ext. 1130.

• A gift of appreciated securities Is an outright gift to the Mount that often offers tax advantages over gifts of cash.
• Since securities can be transferred to us directly, rather than sold, their value is increased because sales expenses are not incurred. 
• Transferred securities are also sheltered from capital gains liabilities.

• A commonly used and mutually beneficial form of planned giving, a charitable gift annuity to the Mount is a contract made between you and the school.
• An outright gift is made to the Mount and in return, the Mount agrees to make fixed payments for life to you and up to one other annuitant.
• Payments can begin immediately or can be deferred for a period of time set forth in the annuity contract.

• You can leave the balance of a retirement account to the Mount after your death, saving your heirs a significant amount in taxes since retirement accounts are often taxed at much greater rates than other assets.
• By leaving a retirement account to us, there will be more left of other assets to serve as gifts to your family.

• The Mount gladly accepts gifts of whole life insurance policies which name the school as both the owner and beneficiary of the policy.
• You will receive a tax deduction for the value of the fully paid policy.
• You can also name the Mount as a beneficiary in a term life insurance policy.

• Gifts of land, homes or income-generating property can offer great benefits to the Mount.  Real estate can be given as an outright gift or left as a bequest in a will
  
• Real estate may also be transferred whole or in part to the school while you retain residency rights and receive an income tax deduction for your gift.

• Like a charitable gift annuity a charitable remainder trust makes payments either to you, or to a beneficiary you designate from the proceeds of the trust principal.
• At the end of the trust term, the Mount would receive whatever is left in the trust.
• These trusts can often provide an income tax deduction or shelter from certain capital gains taxes.

• These trusts provide for fixed payments to the Mount for the term of the trust.
  
• At the end of the trust term, the principal can be returned either to you or your beneficiaries.
• Charitable lead trusts can be a very helpful tool for passing assets on to heirs