Help LACMA continue to be a vibrant source of inspiration for future generations to enjoy—consider a legacy gift through your estate plan.

Planned giving can be as simple as including a bequest provision in your will or naming LACMA as a beneficiary of your retirement plan or life insurance policy. If you are looking for a way to supplement your income, consider a charitable gift annuity, or charitable remainder trust, which are gifts that will support LACMA and pay you, or other designated beneficiaries, income for life.

Your gift, no matter the size, will help ensure that coming generations will enjoy the arts and programming at LACMA that you value today. Through planned giving you can support the area of the museum that means the most to you—whether it’s LACMA’s exhibitions, public programs, outreach initiatives, art acquisitions, or an unrestricted gift to help grow the museum’s endowment fund.

All those who have established a planned gift are recognized with membership in LACMA’s Legacy Circle. Members receive special benefits and recognition. We invite you to join others in Legacy Circle by remembering LACMA as you plan for the future. If you have made a provision for LACMA already, we encourage you to let us know. 

For more information about planned giving, please contact Diana Veach at @email or 323 857-6207. All inquiries are confidential.



One of the most popular and easiest ways to make a planned gift is to include LACMA in your will or living trust. Charitable bequests are fully deductible for estate tax purposes and allow you to make a future gift without affecting the assets available to you during your lifetime.

You may indicate that LACMA is to be the recipient of a specific amount, a percentage of your estate, or remainder amount after all your specific beneficiaries have received their assets. In addition to cash, you can give securities, real estate, art, and other forms of personal property. A bequest can be made for the general benefit of LACMA or for the benefit of a particular area or program of interest.

If you have already drafted a will, your attorney may add LACMA as a beneficiary through a simple amendment called a codicil. Similarly, a gift provision for LACMA may be added to a revocable living trust.

Sample Language:

Unrestricted Bequest
An unrestricted bequest allows LACMA to use your gift when received wherever the need is greatest.

“I give (the sum of ___ dollars), (all or ____ percent of the residue of my estate), to Museum Associates, dba Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90036, for its general purposes.”

Restricted Bequest
You may wish to designate your bequest for a particular area or program of special interest.

“I give (the sum of ___ dollars), (all or ____ percent of the residue of my estate), to Museum Associates, dba Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90036, in support of (your choice of program). At any time, if in the judgment of the Trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the designated use of this bequest is no longer practicable or appropriate, then the Trustees shall use the bequest to further the general purposes of the museum, giving consideration where possible to my special interest as described above.”

A LACMA Charitable Gift Annuity can be a wonderful way to receive an additional source of dependable income, secure an income tax deduction, and make a gift that will benefit generations to come.

The benefits are compelling:

  • Increase Current Income – Assets like low-interest CDs and or low-yielding appreciated securities can be converted into an annuity paying a great rate.
  • Fixed Regular Payments - Your annuity payments will remain the same, no matter what happens to the financial markets.  And, part of your annuity payment may be tax-free.
  • Income Tax Deduction - You will receive an immediate charitable deduction for a significant portion of your gift.
  • Create an Important Legacy – Direct your gift to support the area or museum program closest to your heart.

With a charitable gift annuity, you transfer assets today that will be used in part by the museum in the future.  In the meantime, you will receive income payments for life. Many donors establish multiple annuities over time and take advantage of higher rates as they grow older.

Single Beneficiary

Selected Gift Annuity Rates (New Higher Rates as of Jan. 1)

Age 

   65    70    75    80    85    90+
     Rate        5.7%       6.3%       7.0%       8.1%       9.1%       9.7%   

 

Rates for two beneficiaries differ.

Example: At age 75, you establish a charitable gift annuity with a $25,000 gift to LACMA. Based upon the rate of 7.0%, you will receive income payments of $1,750 each year for the rest of your life. In addition, the gift provides you with a current income tax charitable deduction of approximately $10,906 and $1,135 of your annual payments will be tax-free for the next 15 years.

Gift annuities are easy to establish and can be created with as little as $5,000 for one person or $10,000 for a couple. LACMA also offers deferred payment gift annuities, which can be an excellent way to supplement your retirement program in the future.

Try our online Gift Calculator to explore your options.

IRA Charitable Rollovers – A Tax-Saving Way to Support LACMA

If you are 70 ½ or older you can use your IRA to make charitable contributions to LACMA and other charities of up to $100,000—without having to count the transfers as income for federal income tax purposes. This can be a wonderful opportunity to make a current gift to support a specific LACMA program or area of interest within the museum.

Typically, an IRA withdrawal followed by a charitable contribution would have to be reported as income then deducted as a charitable gift. But with the IRA Charitable Rollover, distributions from an IRA made directly to LACMA will be excluded from your income altogether. Furthermore, the transfer can count toward your required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year.

Don’t let this tax-wise opportunity to give today pass you by. Your IRA custodian should have distribution forms you can use to initiate the transfer or feel free to contact us for assistance.

 

Future IRA Gift Option

If you are interested in helping LACMA in the future rather than right now, you may want to consider naming LACMA as the beneficiary of your IRA or other retirement plan.  

If left to an individual other than a spouse, your IRA can be subject to multiple layers of taxation. An option you may wish to consider is to name LACMA as the beneficiary of these assets and leave other less-taxed assets to your heirs. This permits you to continue to take withdrawals from your IRA during your lifetime and then leave the remaining value of your IRA to LACMA to support the area of the museum you love the most.

For more information or to coordinate a distribution from your IRA to LACMA, please contact Diana Veach at @email or 323 857-6207.

IRAs and retirement plans such as a 401(k) can be great assets to leave to LACMA.  A qualified retirement plan is an effective way to save for retirement, but if left to an individual other than a spouse, they can be subject to multiple layers of taxation.

An option you may wish to consider is to name LACMA as the beneficiary of some or all of your retirement plans and leave other, less-taxed assets to your loved ones.

Naming the museum as a beneficiary of your retirement plan is easy.  Simply contact your retirement plan administrator to obtain the appropriate beneficiary forms.  

Life insurance may offer an attractive way to make a gift to LACMA.  If you have a current policy, you may want to name LACMA as a beneficiary or contingent beneficiary. Any benefit LACMA receives from your insurance will be excluded from your taxable estate.

By taking the extra step of naming LACMA the irrevocable beneficiary and owner of your life insurance policy, you can obtain an immediate income tax charitable deduction equivalent to either the policy's cash surrender value or replacement value. If additional premiums are due, you can deduct those payments as charitable contributions each year.

In addition to Charitable Gift Annuities, you may want to discuss the option of a Charitable Remainder Trust or Charitable Lead Trust with your financial advisor.

A Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) is a type of trust that provides you and/or other beneficiaries with income for life or a term of years and then distributes the remaining assets to LACMA. A tax deduction is available for an amount equal to the present value of what the museum will receive when the trust terminates.

Although a more complex undertaking than a charitable gift annuity, a CRT gives you the flexibility to customize it to meet your goals.  You not only select the beneficiaries but also the trustees who manage the assets and in the income distribution rate. CRTs can provide a fixed payout (annuity trust) or a variable payout that fluctuates with the value of the trust assets (unitrust).

A Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) enables you to pass assets on to your heirs with significantly reduced gift or estate taxes.  A CLT is an arrangement in which assets are transferred to a trust that pays an annual amount to LACMA for a set number of years, with the assets in the trust ultimately passing on to another beneficiary, such as your children. Primarily created by those in higher estate tax brackets, the trust can pass its assets on to younger generations with significantly reduced gift or estate taxes.

Gifts of real estate may include a house, condominium, vacation home, apartment building, commercial building, farm, or land.

Real estate can be contributed now as an outright gift or later as a testamentary gift. It is also an attractive asset when used to fund a charitable remainder trust to provide income to you or others.

With retained life estate arrangement, you may contribute your personal residence now but continue to reside there for the remainder of your lifetime. This gift enables you to continue to enjoy your home without diminishing your standard of living, and obtain an immediate charitable deduction for income tax purposes.

In addition to outright gifts, the museum welcomes bequests and promised gifts of works of art. We ask that gifts be made in the areas in which we collect and that you notify LACMA of your intentions beforehand so that we may review and advise you as to whether your work is best suited for LACMA.

You may also choose to make a gift of a fractional interest in a work of art during your lifetime, which will allow for a current charitable gift deduction for the value of the percentage that is given to LACMA.  Your remaining interest would be promised to LACMA and under current law would need to be given within the next ten years.