The U.S.-Japan Council can be named as a beneficiary in your will or revocable trust in several ways. You can specify an outright gift to the U.S.-Japan Council as a designated dollar amount or as a percentage of your estate. You can also make a residuary bequest, where the U.S.-Japan Council is named as a remainder beneficiary and will receive funds after specific bequests have been paid to your other individual beneficiaries.

Using your 401(k), IRA, pension or profit sharing plan is a tax-wise way to make a gift to the U.S.-Japan Council. Retirement plans remaining in your estate are often subject to both estate and income taxes when received by heirs. In a large estate, the effective tax rate on a retirement plan may exceed 70%, leaving little for your heirs. However, you can designate the U.S.-Japan Council as a beneficiary of a portion or all of your plan. The amount left to the U.S.-Japan Council is both income and estate tax free. To make a gift of this kind, ask your plan administrator for a change of beneficiary form.

A gift of life insurance can provide a significant charitable deduction. You could purchase a new policy or donate a policy that you currently own but no longer need. To receive a deduction, designate the U.S.-Japan Council as both the owner and beneficiary of the life insurance policy. For more details, be sure to consult your legal adviser and work with your insurance agent.

You can also leave an endowment to the U.S.-Japan Council which can be funded upon your death or during your life. The income from the endowment would be designated to go to the U.S.-Japan Council for its general purposes or to support a particular initiative. The principal stays intact for perpetuity. It can be set up to honor your family’s memory or can designate someone else you’d like to honor.

Charitable Remainder Trusts benefit donors who wish to retain income from an asset while ultimately giving it to charity. The donor would contribute an asset to an irrevocable trust, naming the U.S.-Japan Council as the beneficiary. The donor would receive specified distributions from the trust for a determined period of time or for the donor’s life. The donor can claim immediate income tax deductions for a portion of the donations and can avoid capital gains taxes on assets that are owned and sold by the trust. After the specified time period has elapsed, the trust assets (the “remainder”) pass to the U.S.-Japan Council.

Charitable gift annuities are similar to charitable remainder trusts, with the exception that the donation is made to the U.S.-Japan Council which, in turn, guarantees the payment of an annuity to you for your life. At the end of the term, what you have contributed to the U.S.-Japan Council is used by the Council to carry on its work. The annuity is a percentage of the amount you donate (typically around 6% per year), and provides you with a charitable income and estate tax deduction.

Charitable Lead Trusts offer the opportunity to involve children and grandchildren in the charitable gifting process, while ultimately transferring assets to your family. The income from the trust is first paid to the U.S.-Japan Council for a specified number of years. After the term is over, the trust assets are passed on to your beneficiaries, typically your children and grandchildren. Depending on the structure of the trust, the donor may be entitled to an income tax charitable deduction, as well as estate tax savings.

This vehicle allows you to “split” a gift or bequest of property between charitable and non-charitable beneficiaries. For example, you can bequeath $10 million to the CLT. The CLT would become effective at death and would name a tax exempt organization as the beneficiary for a period of 20 years. This tax exempt organization can be your own foundation or other charities of your choosing. Each year during the 20 year term, the tax exempt organization(s) would receive an aggregate payment equal to 5% of the fair market value of the trust at the beginning of each year (initially $500,000). On the 20th anniversary of your death, the trust will terminate and the balance of the trust principal will be paid out to your family. Besides providing for charity, the CLT would provide you with an estate tax charitable deduction of about 75%

($7,500,000) of the amount that is used to fund the CLT. This translates into estate tax savings of about $3,750,000.