A charitable bequest is a revocable gift to University School of Milwaukee through a will or living trust. Many people choose to include charitable gifts in their estate plans because of the flexibility of bequests. You can choose to leave a specific amount of money or an asset (stock, real estate, etc.), or a percentage of your estate after other bequests, debts, and taxes are paid. This ensures that your family is cared for before a gift to USM is made.

Additionally, an easy way to make a gift to USM is to designate the school as a beneficiary of a retirement plan, brokerage or bank account, or life insurance policy.

If you have a traditional individual retirement account (IRA) and are at least 70-1/2 years of age, you can give up to $100,000 per year to charities and 501c3 non-profits (like USM) without being taxed on the distribution. A qualifying distribution must go directly from your IRA to the charity, and you may not receive any goods or services in exchange for your gift. This is a smart way to support USM while avoiding taxes on your required minimum distribution.

Please note that this rollover law only applies to IRAs and not other retirement accounts (401k, 403b, etc.). If using a charitable rollover is appealing to you, you have to option to roll over funds from your other retirement accounts to an IRA and then make a qualified charitable distribution. Please contact your financial advisor for additional information.