Seniors who own life insurance often face a dilemma when they no longer need their policy or can afford the premium required to keep it in force. With few options, most seniors (over 250,000 every year) lapse or surrender their insurance. Charities, in need of annual giving, are facing inflation, depressed markets in stocks, bonds, real estate, bitcoin, and more. Further Ukraine and other US worldwide crises are siphoning off available charitable dollars. When charities refuse to accept donations of life insurance, they miss out on a multi-trillion dollar asset class and a valuable alternative to cash gifts. Charities often refuse to accept donations of life insurance because of the expense, administrative hassles, or lack of expertise.
Seniors who either surrender their policy or sell it and donate the cash to charity are depriving the charity of the full value of the policy which may be significantly larger than the surrender or life settlement value. The majority of charities that do accept donations of life insurance require their donors to sign an advance agreement obligating them to continue paying the premium. Fortunately, there is a new solution that aligns the interests of charities and their donors.
By reimagining collaboration between the insurance industry and charitable giving, Insuring A Better World Fund eliminates these barriers and maximizes the value of charitable gifts of life insurance. Insuring A Better World Fund is a charity for charities that offers seniors the ability to donate their unneeded life insurance policy and make a legacy-sized gift to their favorite charity painlessly, eliminating the burden of continuing to pay premiums.
For charities, this is a no-brainer because they can receive donations of insurance with absolutely no administrative burden or cost. In practice, charities can receive distributions from insurance policies through Insuring A Better World Fund without ever being involved in the donation process.
What is the size of this missed opportunity? There is approximately $20 TRILLION of life insurance in force today and almost ninety percent of these policies will lapse without paying a death benefit to their owners or charity. Annually over 250,000 seniors lapse their life insurance policies wasting in excess of $100 BILLION. Despite the enormous size of this asset class, it remains largely untapped as a source of charitable funds.
Every day, 10,000 people turn 65. By this age, the original purpose for their purchase of life insurance often no longer exists. Perhaps they purchased a policy for income protection for their family, or they may have purchased the policy to protect their business or business partners. As their family ages, they often become financially independent.
As the policy owner ages, they may have retired or sold their business. In each of these cases, the original purpose for the life insurance coverage has changed or no longer exists. Insuring A Better World Fund gives these seniors the ability to donate unneeded insurance policies and make legacy-sized gifts for the benefit of their favorite charities.
Insuring A Better World Fund provides seniors a valuable charitable alternative to simply allowing their insurance policies to lapse and solves the major problems that policy owners and charities face when considering a gift of insurance. Insuring A Better World Fund makes the donation of life insurance efficient, predictable, and cost-free.
What are the benefits to policy owners?
- A paradigm shift transforming an unwanted policy into a legacy-sized donation
- Satisfaction of donative intent
- Improved cash flow from no longer having to pay premiums
- A valuable charitable tax deduction*
- Insuring A Better World Fund’s proprietary aggregation technique allows donors to be alive while their chosen charities receive distributions
What are the benefits to charities?
- New large and predictable stream of revenue
- Insuring A Better Word Fund pays all premiums and costs to keep the policy in force until maturity
- Alignment of charity and donors
- No administration or life insurance expertise required
- Potential for annual gifts from the same donor from the donor’s premium savings
- Insuring A Better World Fund’s proprietary aggregation technique is a paradigm shift, changing a lumpy gift realized only at the death of the donor and subject to lapse, into a predictable stream of income paid out over years while their donor may still be living.
*Please note that we are not tax advisors and cannot give tax advice. Please consult with a tax professional for your specific circumstance.
Category: Planned Giving Marketing
