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For many non-profits and mission‑driven businesses, fundraising conversations focus on checks, credit card gifts, and perhaps appreciated stock. Yet some of the most powerful, flexible ways for donors to support a mission involve tools they already own: life insurance and annuities.
When structured thoughtfully, these vehicles can provide donors with security and predictable income while creating long‑term, and sometimes transformational, gifts for the causes they love.
This guide walks through, in practical terms, how life insurance and annuities can work in a charitable context, and what donors, boards, and development teams should understand before moving forward.
Life Insurance as a Strategic Charitable Gift
Life insurance can turn relatively modest annual commitments into a substantial future bequest. A single policy can create future funding for programs, endowments, or capital projects at a scale that might be difficult to achieve with cash alone.
Common Ways Charities Use Life Insurance
Donor‑owned policy with the charity as beneficiaryHow it works: The donor keeps ownership and control of the policy and names the non-profit as beneficiary of all or part of the death benefit.
Benefits: It's simple to set up - the donor simply names the charity as a beneficiary. It's also easy to change if circumstances shift, and keeps the donor fully in control during life.
Trade‑off: Because the policy remains a personal asset, the donor generally does not receive a current income tax deduction for ongoing premiums.
Charity‑owned policy on the donor’s life
How it works: The non- profit is both owner and beneficiary of a new or transferred policy; the donor typically makes annual cash gifts equal to the premium.
Benefits: Donor premium gifts are usually income‑tax deductible within standard percentage limits because they are treated the same as cash gifts to public charities. The death benefit is paid directly to the organization, outside the donor’s taxable estate.
Trade‑off: The transfer is irrevocable and the donor relinquishes policy control; the charity must be prepared to own, monitor, and potentially take responsibility for funding or surrender the contract over time.
Donating an existing policy that is no longer needed
How it works: The donor assigns ownership of an existing policy to the charity, which can either keep it in force or surrender it for its cash value.
Points to Consider:
- The donor may be eligible for an income‑tax deduction based on the policy’s value, subject to IRS valuation and documentation rules, and must be mindful of any outstanding policy loans that can create taxable income under “bargain sale” rules.
- From a tax standpoint, life insurance death benefits are generally received income‑tax free by beneficiaries, including charities. If the donor still owns the policy at death, the proceeds are included in the estate, but any portion passing to a qualified charity usually qualifies for an estate tax charitable deduction.
- One important caution: co‑ownership or "split‑dollar" arrangements where a charity’s participation primarily benefits non‑charitable interests are heavily restricted under Internal Revenue Code section 170(f)(10), which can impose excise taxes and deny deductions when a non-profit is used to support private insurance benefits.
Indexed Universal Life (IUL) and Lifetime Mission Support
Permanent policies such as indexed universal life (IUL) combine a death benefit with the potential to build cash value through index-linked growth that the policy owner can access through withdrawals or policy loans. Some donors explore using policy loans as a way to create charitable gifts during life, while still preserving long‑term protection, especially due to potentially preferential tax treatments of these arrangements.
Key Ideas for Donors and Non-Profits
When an individual donor owns the IUL, policy loans are typically treated as advances against the policy rather than taxable income and are therefore considered "tax-free", provided the contract stays in force and does not become a modified endowment contract. The donor can then use those funds to make cash gifts and may be eligible for a charitable income‑tax deduction for those cash contributions, subject to standard percentage and substantiation rules.
When the charity owns the IUL and uses policy loans, the analysis becomes more complex. While most charities are tax‑exempt, certain investment‑related activities can trigger unrelated business taxable income (UBTI), and boards must weigh risk, cost, and clarity of purpose before relying on loans as an ongoing funding source - they can still, of course, rely on the value of the death benefit as a beneficiary.
In practice, the most straightforward and mission‑aligned approaches tend to be:
- The donor owns the IUL: The donor uses the policy it as part of their wider personal financial planning strategy, and makes voluntary gifts - potentially funded in part from tac-free policy loans - when appropriate.
- The charity owns a policy outright as a long‑term asset: This provides security over the long-term value to the charity, while avoiding loan strategies that could endanger the policy or create confusion about risk and expectations.
Annuities as Win‑Win Tools for Giving
Annuities can also be powerful tools for donors who want predictable income and a reliable way to support their favorite organizations. As this topic can be complex, it helps to distinguish between charitable gift annuities (CGAs) and commercial annuities used in a charitable context.
Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs)
A CGA is a simple contract between a donor and a charity: the donor makes an irrevocable gift, and in return the charity promises fixed payments to one or two people for life. This ensures long-term income for the donor, and long-term benefits to the charity who will receive the residual value of the CGA upon the donor passing.
Donors typically receive a partial income‑tax deduction in the year of the gift, based on the portion expected to remain for the charity, along with predictable lifetime income that may be tax‑favored for a period depending on the asset used to fund the gift (e.g. a "Qualified" asset like an IRA or 401k; or a "Non-Qualified" asset like a cash lump sum from an inheritance).
For non-profits, CGAs can provide investable assets and a predictable long‑term funding stream, but they also require careful reserve management, regulatory compliance, and adherence to recommended standards such as those published by the American Council on Gift Annuities.
Commercial Annuities and Charitable Planning
Naming a charity as beneficiary of a non-qualified commercial annuity can be very tax‑efficient, because gain that would be taxable to an individual can often be received by a qualified charity without income tax.
A charity may also own a commercial annuity as a stable investment; earnings are typically tax‑exempt, though unrelated business income rules can apply in certain situations, particularly where leverage or unrelated activities are involved. This scenario requires Boards and Development Teams to have clear advice for possible implications under Unrelated Business Taxable Income or UBTI rules.
One scenario worth a special mention related to donors age 70½ and older, who can in some cases use partial distributions from IRAs to fund a CGA using "Qualified Charitable Distributions" or QCDs. The structure, while limited to a select groups of donors can provide significant benefits to both the donor and charity: it allows donors to support a mission, avoid including the distribution in taxable income, and receive lifetime payments, while benefiting the charity in the same way as any other CGA.
Practical and Ethical Guardrails for Non-Profits and Donors
As with any planning strategy that blends personal finance and philanthropy, the “how” matters as much as the “what.” Thoughtful process builds trust and protects everyone involved.
Key safeguards include:
Suitability and Clarity
Conversations about life insurance and annuities should start with the donor’s goals, family needs, and existing planning, not with a product. Donors should never feel pressured to purchase or donate a policy or contract as a condition of support.
Transparency and Appropriate Documentation
Written materials should clearly explain that charitable gift annuities are obligations of the issuing charity, not bank deposits or commercial insurance products, and that gifts of policies or annuity contracts are generally irrevocable. Clear expectations help avoid misunderstandings later.
Coordination with professional advisors
The most effective and ethical results arise when the non-profit’s development staff and insurance or financial professionals collaborate openly the donor’s tax and legal advisors, with the donor’s interests at the center.
