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Planned & Endowment Giving

Wrongfully convicted Tennesseans’ futures start with your legacy.

How leaving a legacy gift benefits you:

  • Creates a permanent legacy

  • Saves on taxes

  • Supports what you believe in in an enduring way

We are grateful to donors who include the Tennessee Innocence Project in their estate planning. Such avenues of generosity include:

  • Charitable bequests

  • Life-income gifts through charitable remainder trusts or charitable gift annuities

  • Retirement plans or IRA beneficiary designations

  • Life insurance gifts

  • Gifts of stock or real estate

  • Charitable lead trusts.

The following is an example of language you can use when making a bequest in your will:

“I, [name], of [city, state, ZIP], give, devise, and bequeath to the Tennessee Innocence Project [written amount or percentage of your estate or property] for its unrestricted use and purpose.”

If you have included the Tennessee Innocence Project in your estate plans, please let us know so that we can properly thank you.

Are you a justice enthusiast over 70½ with an IRA? Would you like to ensure justice for all in a tax-advantaged way? The Charitable IRA Rollover may be just the answer for you.

At the end of 2015, federal legislation was passed making the IRA charitable rollover gift option permanent, allowing charitably minded individuals 70½ or older to make gifts from their IRAs and exclude the amount of their gift from gross income.

This legislation allows donors to make gifts to the Tennessee Innocence Project today, during their lifetimes, rather than waiting to give through estate plans. To benefit from this gift opportunity, the following qualifications must be met:

  • The gift must be transferred directly from the IRA account by the IRA administrator to the Tennessee Innocence Project.

  • Donors with the check-writing ability for their IRAs may use this feature to complete their gift.

  • Donor must be age 70½ or older at the time of transfer.

  • The maximum amount a donor may transfer per year is $100,000. If married, and each spouse has an IRA, then each may gift up to $100,000 for a total of $200,000 a year.

  • The gift must be outright. Gifts to donor-advised funds or to life income vehicles do not qualify.

  • The IRA charitable rollover makes it possible for one to give the gift of a lifetime!

We encourage you to consult your financial planner or attorney to help guide your planned giving decisions. Then, please contact TIP’s Chief Operating Officer, Becca Morris at becca@tninnocence.org for any additional information.

Would you like to make a gift to our permanent endowment or reserve funds? These funds will give the Tennessee Innocence Project enduring stability to fight for the innocent.

Let us know today, and help us plan for tomorrow. Contact us at 615-581-7230.