Charitable giving is one of the most meaningful ways to ensure your values live on while supporting causes you care about. From scholarships to donor-advised funds, here are 20 impactful ways to leave a lasting legacy.
Read More:
- Check out these six ways to give to charity without donating money.
- How much financial help should you give your kids?
- Here are 20 hidden clues that someone's richer than you think.
Establish a Family Foundation
Creating a family foundation is a powerful way to ensure your charitable giving continues for generations. With a foundation, you can pool family resources, define long-term goals, and direct funds toward causes that matter most to you. It allows you to involve children and grandchildren in decision-making, instilling values of generosity and responsibility.
Foundations can support multiple charities over time, making your impact broader and more strategic. While foundations do require administrative oversight, they offer flexibility, tax benefits, and the opportunity to build a lasting legacy that reflects your personal and family values.
Set Up a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)
A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a simple, tax-efficient way to streamline your charitable giving. You contribute money or appreciated assets to the fund, receive an immediate tax deduction, and then recommend grants to your favorite charities over time. DAFs can be a great alternative to starting a private foundation because they require less administrative work while still providing control and flexibility. You can also involve family members in recommending grants, keeping your legacy alive.
With a DAF, your donations can grow tax-free, allowing you to maximize your impact and ensure your generosity continues well into the future.
Learn more about Donor-Advised Funds.
Fund a Scholarship
Establishing a scholarship is a meaningful way to invest in the next generation. Scholarships can be tailored to support students pursuing higher education in fields you’re passionate about. By reducing the financial burden of tuition, you help students achieve their dreams and unlock opportunities they might not otherwise have. Scholarships can also carry your family’s name, preserving your legacy in the academic community.
Many schools and organizations help establish scholarships, making the process more accessible. This type of giving creates a ripple effect, as educated students often give back to their communities.
Create an Endowment
An endowment is a powerful tool for ensuring ongoing support for a nonprofit, university, or cultural institution. By contributing a lump sum to establish an endowment, your donation is invested, and the returns are used year after year to fund operations, scholarships, or programs. This creates lasting stability for the organization while honoring your values long after your lifetime. Endowments can be structured in your name or in honor of a loved one, giving your family a permanent place in the institution’s history.
Name a Charity in Your Will
Including a charity in your will is one of the simplest ways to leave a legacy. Known as a bequest, this planned gift allows you to support causes you care about after your lifetime without affecting your current finances. You can designate a specific dollar amount, a percentage of your estate, or even particular assets such as property or investments.
Many charities offer sample wording to simplify the process. Bequests are flexible and can be changed if your circumstances or priorities shift. By leaving a gift in your will, you ensure your values live on through your philanthropy.
Gift Appreciated Stock
Donating appreciated stock instead of cash can be a smart and impactful way to give. When you transfer stock directly to a nonprofit, you avoid paying capital gains taxes while still receiving a charitable deduction for the full market value. This strategy allows you to maximize both your tax savings and the amount the charity receives. Stock gifts are especially beneficial if you’ve held investments for many years and watched their value grow significantly. Many nonprofits and donor-advised funds are equipped to handle these types of donations, making the process seamless. It’s a win-win for you and the cause.
Here are nine tax secrets of the rich that they don't teach you anywhere.
Donate Retirement Account Assets
Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s can be excellent vehicles for charitable giving. By naming a nonprofit as the beneficiary of all or part of your account, you avoid leaving loved ones with heavy tax burdens, since charities are exempt from income taxes. You can also use qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from IRAs to give directly to charities once you turn 70½, reducing your taxable income.
This approach allows you to support the causes you value most while making smart financial decisions. Retirement account gifts are a tax-efficient way to ensure your wealth leaves a meaningful legacy.
Support Medical Research
Funding medical research can leave a profound and lasting legacy, especially if you or loved ones have been affected by certain health conditions. Donations to research organizations or universities help accelerate scientific discoveries, improve treatments, and, in some cases, save lives. Many donors also choose to establish funds in memory of family members, keeping their stories alive through meaningful impact. Supporting medical research ensures your generosity goes toward building a healthier future for generations to come, making it one of the most powerful legacies.
Sponsor Community Projects
Supporting local projects is a tangible way to leave a legacy that directly benefits your community. Contributions can help build playgrounds, improve parks, expand libraries, or enhance cultural centers. These projects create visible, lasting improvements that future generations can enjoy. Sponsoring a community project also often comes with opportunities for public recognition, such as a plaque or naming rights, preserving your memory within the community.
Beyond money, you can also contribute time or expertise. Investing in community projects helps strengthen neighborhoods, foster connections, and improve quality of life, making your legacy a gift that touches countless lives.
Charitable Gift Annuities
A charitable gift annuity (CGA) allows you to give and receive at the same time. With a CGA, you donate money or assets to a nonprofit, and in return, you receive fixed annual payments for life. After your lifetime, the remaining funds support the charity. This arrangement provides financial security for you while ensuring a portion of your wealth creates a lasting impact. CGAs can also offer tax advantages, including partial deductions and tax-free income. They’re a great option for those who want to balance their philanthropic goals with a steady retirement income, creating a meaningful and mutually beneficial arrangement.
Life Insurance Donations
Life insurance policies are often overlooked as tools for charitable giving. You can name a charity as a beneficiary of an existing policy or take out a new policy specifically for this purpose. This type of gift allows you to make a significant impact at a relatively modest cost, since premiums are much less than the eventual payout. Life insurance donations can also provide tax benefits, particularly if the charity becomes the policy’s owner. By using life insurance, you can ensure that your legacy includes a generous gift to causes you care about, without reducing assets for loved ones.
Legacy Gifts of Property
Donating real estate, artwork, or other valuable property can create a lasting legacy while offering financial benefits. Charities can use these assets directly or sell them to fund their programs. Gifting property allows you to avoid capital gains taxes and may also provide a charitable deduction. This type of donation works well for those with vacation homes, farmland, or collectibles they no longer use but want to see make a difference. By turning personal assets into charitable resources, you can support meaningful causes in a way that honors your life’s investments and passions, leaving an enduring legacy.
Fund Animal Welfare Programs
For animal lovers, supporting shelters, rescue operations, or wildlife sanctuaries is a meaningful way to leave a legacy. Donations can provide food, medical care, and safe havens for pets in need, or help protect endangered species and natural habitats. Many organizations also offer opportunities to establish memorial funds in your name, ensuring your compassion for animals is remembered. By funding animal welfare programs, you help build a kinder, more humane world. This type of giving is especially rewarding for those who want to align their legacy with their love of animals and the environment..
Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT)
A charitable remainder trust (CRT) provides a unique way to balance giving with financial security. You place assets into the trust, which pays you or loved ones an income stream for life or a set number of years. Afterward, the remainder goes to the charity of your choice. CRTs can reduce estate taxes, avoid capital gains, and provide income during retirement.
They’re particularly useful for individuals with appreciated assets, such as stocks or real estate. By setting up a CRT, you ensure your legacy supports the causes you value most while still enjoying the benefits of your wealth.
Sponsor a Child or Family Abroad
Sponsoring a child or family in another country is a deeply personal way to leave a global legacy. Through organizations that facilitate sponsorship, your contributions provide essentials like food, education, and healthcare. Many programs also allow correspondence with the sponsored child or family, creating meaningful relationships across borders. This kind of giving not only changes individual lives but also strengthens entire communities.
Sponsorship programs are often relatively affordable, making them accessible to many donors. By supporting a child or family abroad, you extend your legacy of kindness beyond your local community, impacting future generations worldwide.
Create a Named Fund at a Hospital or Library
Creating a named fund is an excellent way to ensure your generosity is permanently remembered. Hospitals, libraries, and other institutions often allow donors to establish funds that support programs, equipment, or services in perpetuity. These funds can bear your name or honor a loved one, providing ongoing recognition while supporting causes important to you. Named funds help institutions remain financially stable and continue serving their communities.
Whether you’re funding medical care, educational programs, or cultural enrichment, this type of gift ensures your name becomes part of the institution’s legacy while making a tangible, long-term impact.
Fund Environmental Conservation
Contributing to environmental causes is a way to protect the planet for future generations. Donations can support reforestation, wildlife preservation, clean water initiatives, or renewable energy projects. Conservation programs often provide opportunities for visible impact, such as sponsoring the protection of a specific area of land or species. Many organizations also honor donors with plaques, reports, or public recognition.
By funding environmental work, you ensure your legacy includes stewardship of natural resources. This type of giving is good for those who value sustainability and want to ensure their grandchildren inherit a world that is healthy, vibrant, and thriving.
Support the Arts
The arts enrich communities and preserve culture for generations. By supporting museums, theaters, orchestras, or community arts programs, you help sustain creativity and expression. Your contributions might fund exhibits, performances, educational programs, or facility improvements. Many arts organizations offer opportunities for naming recognition, allowing your legacy to live on in a cultural space. Supporting the arts ensures that future generations have access to beauty, inspiration, and history.
Whether your passion is visual art, music, or theater, your generosity can keep the creative spirit alive, leaving a legacy that nurtures imagination and human connection.
Gift Technology Access
Technology is essential in today’s world, yet many people lack access. By donating computers, tablets, or funding digital literacy programs, you can help close the digital divide. Your support may empower students to complete their studies, seniors to connect with loved ones, or job-seekers to find new opportunities. Technology access programs often provide training as well, ensuring long-term impact.
This form of giving equips individuals and communities with tools for success in the modern world. Leaving a legacy through technology ensures that you’ve helped others not just survive, but thrive, by providing them with the resources to stay connected and informed.
Volunteer with Purpose
Your legacy doesn’t have to be only financial. Volunteering allows you to contribute skills, wisdom, and compassion to causes you value. Whether it’s mentoring young people, serving on nonprofit boards, or offering professional expertise, your involvement leaves a lasting impression.
Many people find joy and purpose in continuing to give back during retirement, creating memories that family and community will remember. By pairing your volunteer efforts with financial support, you create a well-rounded legacy that reflects both generosity and personal commitment. Your time can be as valuable as your money.
