The USJF Endowment Trust Fund (Endowment Trust) is a special fund established to accept gifts & USJF life membership fees none of which CAN EVER BE SPENT. In fact, your donations count towards your USJF life membership status! Our endowment will continue in perpetuity with the requirement that only Endowment Fund income may be disbursed & disbursements can only be used for judo development around the USA.
Most gifts take the form of cash donations of after tax income & savings; however, gifts of appreciated property (real estate, stocks, etc.) or funds from a tax deferred retirement account can produce much more bang for the donor’s dollar where tax deductibility might include the fully appreciated-before tax-value. Neither you nor the USJF Endowment Trust will pay any income tax on the untaxed appreciation or retirement account income but you still get to write-off the full property value on the owner’s income tax return..
Donations to the Endowment Trust also come from our members’ & friends’ estate plans but where payment or transfer is deferred to the time of death in many cases. Charitable estate planning is very easy to accomplish by simply providing “The sum of $10,000 from my [estate, trust, etc.] upon my demise to the USJF Endowment Trust Fund”. Once again there can be some income tax savings to other estate or trust beneficiaries if “income in respect of decedent” or IRD property is used to fund this bequest. Your retirement account is a good example of an “IRD” asset. If other beneficiaries were to receive such IRD property, they would be required to pay income tax on the retirement account proceeds as received; however, our Endowment Trust, being a 501(C)(3) tax exempt entity pays no income tax. Our bequest might read: “Upon my demise…shall pay the sum $10,000 to the USJF Endowment Trust Fund, a IRC Section 501(C)(3) tax exempt charity with headquarters in Ontario, Oregon (FEIN_________________), such sum, where ever possible to come first from any income in respect of decedent (IRD) assets of my estate….”
An even simpler donation can be set up by naming our Endowment as beneficiary (100% or to be shared with others) of a life insurance policy. Often times the insurance which may have been a very valuable form of financial security when the children were young is no longer as critical to spouse or other family members & thus, can become a desirable source for making a charitable bequest.
Another simple method of giving at death is to name the Endowment as either a “PAID ON DEATH BENEFICIARY” or a joint account holder of a bank or brokerage account which will result in the Endowment Trust receiving some portion of bank account funds, securities, etc. left after death. Those who may not be comfortable deciding on a specific dollar amount to bequeath sometimes prefer this method as the gift can remain a fixed % of what ever balance eventually is left in the account & it is also easy to modify such a bequest. Such inheritance schemes are sometimes thought of as a will substitute.
The USJF Endowment Trust Fund currently holds about $793,000 in assets of which approximately $158,000 constitutes the total of funds from nine separate scholarship programs. With this very special fund, the US Judo Federation will continue pursuing its mission “…to serve and support its members in the American judo community while upholding the principles of mutual welfare and benefit.”
To learn more about the USJF Endowment Trust Fund, contact the USJF Planned Giving Director, Dr. Leslie Minot through the national office at:
P.O. Box 338; Ontario, Oregon 97914
Telephone (541) 889-8753
Fax (541) 889-5836 or (413) 502-4983