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Planned Giving

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Since 1983, Community Music School of Springfield has provided access and excellence in music education throughout Greater Springfield. Please help ensure our future success by leaving a legacy in support of affordable, accessible music education for generations.

Wills and Living Trusts

Whether you bequeath a specific monetary amount or a residual portion of your estate, including CMSS in your will and/or living trust creates a legacy beyond your lifetime. For many, the optimal way to make a planned gift to CMSS is through a bequest or other testamentary provision.

You can include a bequest to CMSS for a specific dollar amount or a specific asset, such as a painting or real estate. You also can leave a bequest of the residue of your estate or a percentage of the residue of your estate.

The process of including CMSS in your will or trust is simple. The following is a sample of bequest language:

I give (___________ percentage of my estate) or (the residue of my estate) or ($______ specific dollar amount) to Community Music School of Springfield, for its general use and purposes. Community Music School of Springfield is located at 127 State Street, Springfield, Massachusetts, 01103.

If you have already written your will, a charitable bequest can be added to your will by adding a codicil (or supplement) to the original will.

Your attorney or financial adviser may need CMSS’ tax ID number, which is 22-2501478.

Charitable Remainder Trusts

This gifting opportunity allows you to use cash or an appreciated asset and convert it into income for you and an important gift for CMSS. If you need current income, or future income for your retirement years, a charitable remainder trust can provide income to you for life. It can also be used to provide income for others.

A charitable remainder trust is set up by transferring cash or assets to a trust (at a bank or a trust management company.) The trust pays you, or a beneficiary that you select, an income for life or for a term of years. Upon the death of the income beneficiary, or the expiration of the term of years, the principal passes to CMSS for the purpose you designate.

There are two basic types of charitable remainder trusts, Unitrusts and Annuity Trusts:

  • A unitrust pays you a fixed percentage of the trust’s value, which is revalued every year. If the trust’s value goes up, its payout increases. Likewise, if the trust’s value decreases, the distribution decreases.
  • An annuity trust distributes your income as a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the trust’s initial value regardless of the trust’s value.

Retirement Plans

Naming CMSS the beneficiary of your IRA or other retirement plans may reduce estate taxes for your loved ones. Under current tax law, if you leave your retirement plan assets to heirs, those assets are first subject to estate taxes, then to income taxes, frequently resulting in a combined tax burden of more than 70 percent.

  • You may name CMSS the primary beneficiary of your retirement plan or specify an amount from your retirement plan and receive a tax deduction and other benefits for your generosity. Gifts of Retirement Plans: Income in respect of a decedent (IRD) is income you were entitled to but did not receive during your lifetime. IRD is subject to income, estate, and sometimes generation-skipping taxes too.
  • The most common source of IRD-and the one most likely to comprise a large part of your estate-is an IRA or other retirement plan. You can avoid the taxes on IRD- and make a significant charitable gift to CMSS at greatly reduced out-of-pocket costs.

Life Insurance

Many individuals have life insurance policies whose benefits they no longer need. If this applies to you, you may want to consider naming CMSS the beneficiary and assigning CMSS ownership of the policy. You will receive a charitable deduction; and if you are removing the life insurance policy from your estate, you may also reduce your estate taxes.

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