By naming Massachusetts General Hospital as a partial or full beneficiary of your assets, you can support our mission of advancing patient care, research, education and community health.
You can leave as little or as much as you like to Mass General, while continuing to take care of your loved ones. In most cases, the process only requires completing and submitting a “new beneficiary designation form.” If you need help securing the form, we’d be happy to help.
Beneficiary designations are available when giving the following assets:
A gift of retirement assets is a simple way to support Mass General. All you need to do is request and complete a new beneficiary designation form from your plan administrator. That allows you to control the transfer of these assets at your death without modifying your will or living trust.
Designating Mass General as the beneficiary of your retirement assets is among the most tax-efficient ways to make an estate gift. Suppose you leave these assets to individuals. Upon receipt of the distributions, these individuals would be subject to income tax. In the case of most non-spouses, the distributions would have to take place within 10 years, potentially pushing designated beneficiaries into higher tax brackets.
By donating to a nonprofit organization such as Mass General, 100% of the funds are available for its charitable purposes. You can also be strategic in developing your estate plan. For instance, you could leave assets like cash, securities and real estate to your heirs and donate the most heavily taxed retirement asset (e.g., your IRA) to Mass General.
You can also make a gift to Mass General via a life insurance policy. Simply complete and return to your insurance company a form designating that Mass General receives all or a portion of the death benefit associated with your policy.
Or, rather than naming Mass General as the beneficiary, you could transfer ownership of the policy. This approach results in an immediate income tax charitable deduction and potential income tax savings in the year of the gift.
A commercial annuity sometimes has a remaining value at the end of the annuitant’s lifetime. You can leave Mass General all or part of this amount by designating the hospital as a beneficiary on the appropriate form from your insurance company.
You can instruct your bank to pay Mass General all or a portion of what remains in a checking or savings account upon your death. Ask your bank for the appropriate beneficiary designation form.
You can instruct your investment company to transfer to Mass General some or all of the investments held in the account at the time of your passing. Your broker or agent can let you know the process for doing this; it may be as simple as adding “Transfer on Death (TOD) to Massachusetts General Hospital” after your name on the account.
DAFs offer immediate tax benefits as well as flexibility. Some donors use their DAF as an opportunity to engage family members in decisions about which charities to support. In addition to outright gifts from your DAF, you can extend your support by making Mass General a beneficiary of your account or by designating Mass General to receive a portion of the account value.
