Retirement assets or life insurance

Retirement assets or life insurance

Naming the University of Minnesota Duluth as a beneficiary of your retirement account or life insurance is a simple and tax-advantaged way to support UMD.

As with any gift to UMD, you may direct your gift to a specific college or program.

Retirement account

Benefits

  • If transferred to heirs, assets in tax-deferred retirement accounts—401(k)s, 403(b)s, IRAs, etc.—are subject to income tax and possibly estate tax. If left to UMD, these assets will pass free of tax. For this reason, you may want to consider leaving these assets to UMD and providing for your heirs using assets that are not subject to income tax.
  • You can designate UMD to receive a percentage or all of the remaining assets in the account.
  • You maintain control over these assets during your lifetime and can change the beneficiaries at any time.

Life insurance

Naming UMD as a beneficiary of your life insurance policy is a simple way to make a charitable gift to the University of Minnesota Duluth. Gifts of any size benefit students, faculty, research, and programs.

Benefits

  • Control: You maintain control over the policy during your lifetime, and can change the beneficiaries at any time.
  • Flexibility: You can designate UMD to receive some or all of the proceeds of any life insurance policy.
  • Simplicity: Proceeds are not subject to probate and are distributed immediately to beneficiaries.
  • Estate tax reduction: Gifts to UMD are not subject to estate tax.

Other options

Here are other ways to make a gift to UMD using a life insurance policy, which may also provide income tax benefits:

  • Give a policy for the U of M Foundation to surrender and use the cash value for an immediate impact at UMD.
  • Give an existing paid-up policy with guaranteed benefits.

Making your gift

To make an estate gift using retirement assets or life insurance, simply designate the University of Minnesota Foundation as a beneficiary of your account or policy. Each company has its own forms and requirements to designate or change a beneficiary. Please contact your plan administrator or insurance company to request the appropriate forms.

To designate a gift to any area of the University of Minnesota Duluth, please use the following information when completing the beneficiary designation form:

Name: University of Minnesota Foundation
Address: 200 Oak St. SE, Suite 500, Minneapolis, MN 55455
UMF Federal Tax ID number: 41-6042488


Notify your beneficiaries

Many financial institutions do not inform beneficiaries of gifts after the owner has passed away. Informing your beneficiaries of your plans ensures that your gifts will go to the people and organizations you have named. It’s also important to tell your charitable beneficiaries how you want your gift to be used.

Let UMD know about your gift

If you’ve already named the University of Minnesota Duluth as a beneficiary of your retirement account or life insurance, thank you! We encourage you to tell us about your gift by completing our estate gift form. This document does not create a binding commitment. Any information you provide about your gift will be kept confidential. By sharing your gift, you ensure that the Foundation understands how you’d like your gift to be used.

Inspire others

All donors who make estate or other planned gifts to UMD are welcomed into the President’s Club Heritage Society, a community of forward-thinking donors who have chosen to invest in our University’s future and create a lasting legacy of support for students, faculty, research, and programs. You can share your gift with us and remain anonymous if you choose.

 

DISCLAIMER

Information on this website is not intended as legal or tax advice. For information on how any gift may affect your tax situation, please consult with your own professional advisor.