More than 40 years ago, our founders were determined to create a safe haven where homeless youth in Sacramento could escape the trauma of living on the streets and be able to receive basic services like food, counseling, educational and employment assistance.  Today, Wind Youth Services does exactly that – over 100 times per day.

Your bequest, annuity, or other planned gift enables us to build a stable foundation that will survive far beyond our lifetimes and help generations of youth far into the future.

Creating a legacy gift is a goal that anyone can achieve.  It is not just for the wealthy or the aged.  Gifts come in many forms and amounts. There is no minimum gift required and no expectation of payment while you are living.  Legacy gifts are usually only a percentage of an estate and demonstrate to your heirs your commitment to the youth of our community.

You can direct a gift toward a specific interest such as the Wind Youth Center, our shelter facilities, counseling & education, social action, the Wind Youth Services endowment (investment) funds, or toward the general benefit of Wind – wherever it’s needed most.  It’s all about your vision for the future.  Wind Youth Services is committed to honoring your intentions.

Most people become members of the Zephyr Legacy Circle simply by letting us know that they have remembered Wind in their will or living trust. You are eligible for complimentary membership in the Legacy Circle if you:

• Include Wind in your will or living trust
• Designate Wind as a beneficiary of your retirement plan
• Use your IRA to give a tax-free gift with a charitable IRA rollover
• Establish a Wind charitable gift annuity
• Designate Wind as a beneficiary of your life insurance policy
• Designate Wind as a beneficiary of a charitable remainder trust
• Make a promised gift of an asset that Wind has agreed to accept

More information about each of these options is below. Please let us know when you name Wind Youth Services in your estate plan by filling out the form at the bottom of this page.

Create a legacy that will sustain Wind Youth Services and our benefit to the youth of our community long into the future.  You can take the first step by filling out a Letter of intent.  If you have already made a provision for Wind Youth Services in your estate plan, if you intend to make such a provision in the near future, or if you just want to investigate estate planning opportunities, please contact the Zephyr Legacy Circle at Legacy@windyouth.org or call the office at 916-395-9000 x273.

Planned Charitable Giving Options

Thank you for your interest in Planned Charitable Giving to Wind Youth Services. Planned giving is an option for all donors of all income levels and may allow you to make a larger gift than you otherwise could from your current assets. A planned gift may also let you receive an income stream for life, while reducing capital gains or estate taxes. By including Wind Youth Services in your financial planning, you can provide a legacy that will benefit the homeless and at-risk youth we serve.

There are many different ways in which you can show your support of Wind Youth Services:

• Outright Gifts
• Bequest by Will or Trust
• Charitable Remainder Trusts
• Gift of Retirement Plan Assets
• Gift of Life Insurance
• Memorial Gift

Because we appreciate your willingness to give to Wind Youth Services, we want to make your gifting experience as convenient and pleasant as possible. Included in this packet is information on the different gifting options -- everything you need to know to select and implement the one that is right for you.

Making a charitable gift to WYS not only helps us continue our mission to provide supportive services & opportunities to youth experiencing homelessness as they pursue self-determined lives of stability & independence, it also may provide you with significant tax savings.

Outright Gifts:

Gifts of cash are the easiest and most direct way to give to Wind Youth Services. For those of you who itemize on your federal income tax return, cash gifts are fully deductible. You can make a cash gift to the Wind Youth Services by sending a check or money order made out to “Wind Youth Services” to the following address:

Wind Youth Services
816 S St.
Sacramento, CA 95811

Cash gifts are fully deductible for those individuals who itemize on their federal income tax return. In addition to cash, Wind Youth Services accepts gifts of vehicles running or non-running, along with donations of food or gently used clothing and household items for our youth.

Wind Youth Services accepts gifts of stocks, bonds, real estate or other appreciated assets.  Gifts of appreciated assets not only benefit Wind Youth Services but may also help you avoid paying capital gains tax on the asset’s increased value while giving you a charitable deduction for the market value of the property.

To make a gift of stocks or other appreciated assets:

US Bank - Account number: 13850672

DTC number: 0280

Account Name: Wind Youth Services

If you have any questions about making an outright gift, please do not hesitate to contact us at 916-395-9000 x273.

Bequest by Will or Trust:

Many supporters want to remember us in their Will or Trust.  If you would like to include us in your Will, you can do so in a number of different ways.

If you want to give us a specific amount or percentage of your estate or a specific asset, please include the following language in your Will or Trust:

“I give  (insert amount, percentage, or description of asset here) to Wind Youth Services of Sacramento, California, to be administered in accordance with and subject to the governing instruments of Wind Youth Services.”

If you want to give us your entire estate, or if you want to give us whatever is remaining in your estate after all of your gifts to other individuals and entities have been satisfied, please include the following language in your Will or Trust:

“I give the remainder of my estate, of whatsoever kind and nature, including all property over which I may have a power of appointment at my death, to Wind Youth Services of Sacramento, California, to be administered in accordance with and subject to the governing instruments of Wind Youth Services.”

Not only can you designate the specific amount or item of property you wish to leave us, you can tell us what you wish us to use it for by restricting it for a specific use, (e.g. to support our drop-in center). If you wish to restrict your gift for a specific purpose, please include the following language in your Will or Trust.

“It is my desire that my bequest be used to (insert desired use here).  In the event that it becomes unnecessary, impractical or impossible to utilize my bequest for such a purpose, Wind Youth Services shall have the right to utilize my bequest for such other charitable purposes as the Board of Directors of Wind Youth Services deem appropriate.”

Bequests can be of cash, stocks, bonds, securities, automobiles, real estate or other appreciated assets. Gifts made by Will or by Trust may help to reduce your estate tax liability. Please consult with your tax professional if you have questions regarding the impact of your gift on your tax liability.

If you have any questions about making a bequest to Wind Youth Services in your Will or Trust, please do not hesitate to call us at 916-395-9000 x273.

Charitable Remainder Trusts

A charitable remainder trust is a wonderful way to make an impact on Wind Youth Services and create a reliable payment stream for you and/or the beneficiaries you select.

How Does It Work?
A charitable remainder trust (CRT) is available in a variety of formats and can be funded with a wide range of assets, including securities, cash or real estate. A CRT provides annual payments to you and/or other beneficiaries you designate for life or for a selected term of years. The remainder is then put to use by Wind Youth Services as you direct.

Relief From Taxes
If you establish a CRT, you may be eligible to receive several tax benefits, including a current charitable income tax deduction, a bypass of capital gains tax on appreciated assets, and a reduction in estate taxes. Your tax adviser will help you determine how each of these benefits applies in your specific situation.

Example
Mr. and Mrs. Smith are 69 years old. Together, they fund a charitable remainder unitrust with $75,000 in appreciated securities.

Based on a 6% unitrust payment, the Smiths will receive in the first year a $4,500 unitrust payment. In the following years, that amount will change based on the trust’s annual value. The unitrust payment will be paid to both of the Smiths while they are both living, then to the survivor for the rest of his or her life.

In addition to their annual payments, the Smiths will be entitled to a charitable income tax deduction of $26,019.75 in the year they establish their trust.

The money left in the trust after the Smiths have died will support WYS in the way the Smiths designated when they set up their trust.

Regular Payments—A Great Way to Supplement Your Income
You and your beneficiaries will receive regular payments from the trust for the entire trust term.

If you establish a charitable remainder annuity trust (CRAT), your annual payment will be a fixed percentage of the initial value of your trust. Your trust “annuity” payment will not fluctuate from year to year based on market performance, and you will receive a predictable payment stream during the trust term.
If you instead establish a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT), your annual payment will be a fixed percentage of the trust’s principal as it is revalued each year. Thus, your “unitrust” payment will increase when the trust value increases, allowing you to benefit from strong market performance, but will decrease if the trust value decreases.

If you want to fund a trust with a gift of real estate (or other hard-to-sell assets), you might want to establish a special kind of CRUT known as a “Flip” CRUT. Until the trust sells the real estate, your annual payments will comprise only the net income of the trust. After the sale, however, you will begin receiving annual unitrust payments as described above. A “Flip” CRUT can provide a great way to convert unneeded illiquid assets into a regular payment stream for you and a wonderful legacy for WYS.

Typically, your CRT annual payment will be made quarterly, but you can decide how often you want to receive your payments when you establish your trust.

Your Legacy for Wind Youth Services
At the end of the trust term, the assets remaining in the trust will be distributed to Wind Youth Services for the purposes you designate. For example, you might direct that the remainder be distributed for WYS’s unrestricted use, or to an existing program of your choosing, such as our shelters, resource center, job training program or drop-in center. 

Gift of Retirement Plan Assets

Maximizing a Tax-Free Gift of Retirement Plan Assets
For many, a retirement plan is an important building block for future financial security. Many individuals enjoy significant growth in their accounts over time, comfortably benefiting from years of the assets’ tax-deferred growth in an expanding market.

However, if the account is no longer needed as a primary source of retirement income, it may not be exhausted during an individual’s lifetime. As a result, any assets remaining in the account when the individual dies will be subject to income and, in some cases, estate taxes.

In some situations, this exposure can result in a combined tax hit of more than 50%, potentially leaving less than half of your plan assets to heirs. Even if your estate is not large enough to be subject to estate tax, and even if your spouse is your account beneficiary (thus avoiding estate tax), income tax will always be owed on the assets when they are withdrawn by an individual beneficiary.

Solving the Tax Dilemma - A “Bequest” of Retirement Plan Assets
Faced with this dilemma, many donors are using their retirement plans to establish special philanthropic legacies. By naming the Wind Youth Services as your retirement plan beneficiary, you will avoid income and estate tax altogether, and 100% of the value of the account will be applied for the benefit of the WYS for purposes you designate. You will maximize the impact of each dollar in your plan and your impact on Wind Youth Services.

Making a gift of your retirement assets at the end of your life is easy. You simply need to request a new beneficiary designation form from your plan administrator and add Wind Youth Services as your beneficiary.

You may designate a specific portion or all of your plan assets to benefit WYS, or, as is often the case with larger qualified plans, you may wish to establish an endowed scholarship or program that will be administered in perpetuity. For example, if you want to provide funds for WYS’s unrestricted use, simply complete your form by designating “Wind Youth Services” (tax ID # 23-7348227) as your beneficiary.  Note that if you are married, your spouse may have to consent to your designation.

Because any designation of your retirement plan for Wind Youth Services needs to fit into your overall estate plan, we recommend that you consult with your professional advisers before completing your designation.

Gift of Life Insurance

Life insurance is often overlooked and underestimated, yet it can be a valuable and financially efficient way of making a planned gift to Wind Youth Services. A charitable gift of life insurance is a wonderful way to use policies that will not be needed to protect a spouse or child (i.e. policies representing "excess" coverage) to help WYS.

The IRC accepts various types of life insurance gifts, including:

- Naming Wind Youth Services as a beneficiary of an existing life insurance policy
- Donating an existing life insurance policy to WYS
- Purchasing a new life insurance policy for WYS

Donating an Existing Life Insurance Policy to WYS
If you have a life insurance policy that does not require additional premium payments (i.e. a "paid-up" policy), you might wish to donate it to WYS. By irrevocably assigning ownership of the policy to a qualified nonprofit institution like WYS, you make a completed charitable gift. Since the policy no longer belongs to you, you can take an income tax charitable deduction equal to the lesser of the replacement value of the policy or your cost basis in the policy.

A gift of a policy that is not fully paid up would entitle you to an income tax deduction for the lesser of the interpolated terminal reserve (plus the proportionate part of the gross premium last paid before the gift that covers the period extending beyond the date of donation) and your cost basis in the policy. The interpolated terminal reserve is usually slightly more than the cash surrender value of the policy. In both instances, your gift would be deductible up to 50% of your adjusted gross income, with a five-year carryover for any excess.

If you continue to make premium payments on the policy, you will receive a tax deduction for the payments. After your lifetime, the donated policy would be excluded from your estate and be fully deductible for estate tax purposes.

Purchasing a New Policy for WYS
You can also decide to purchase a new life insurance policy, designate WYS as beneficiary and assign ownership to WYS. Whether you make one single premium payment or pay premiums over a number of years, your deduction in the first year will be the gross amount of the premium paid in that year. Payments made in additional years would result in additional income tax deductions.

Naming Wind Youth Services as a Beneficiary of a Life Insurance Policy
You can also name WYS as a beneficiary (full or % interest) of a permanent life insurance policy. You would simply do this on the beneficiary designation form provided by your life insurance company. Since you are not irrevocably assigning ownership of the policy to WYS, you would not receive a tax deduction for your gift; however, you would receive an estate tax deduction for the amount that would ultimately pass to WYS.

Memorial Gifts

Making a gift in memory of your loved one is another valuable way to benefit our community—now and for generations to come. Even at the most sorrowful times in our own lives, making a memorial gift can greatly impact the lives of others.

Simply by stating "In lieu of flowers, the family suggests making a donation to Wind Youth Services," you choose to make a lasting tribute to your family member or friend. Memorial gifts are a way for us to honor our loved ones and bring hope in a time of sorrow.

Thank you again for your interest in supporting Wind Youth Services through Planned Giving.  We depend on the generous support of our community to live our mission to engage youth experiencing homelessness who need safety from the streets and access to resources to help them move from crisis to healthy functioning and independence. Please let us know if we can provide any assistance during your planning process. We will be glad to explore options that benefit you, your family, and our youth. Your Legacy will continue to support our mission to provide supportive services & opportunities to youth experiencing homelessness as they pursue self-determined lives of stability & independence.