Leave a Legacy

“I want my energy and support for EarthCorps to continue to thrive long after I’m gone” – Ann Lawrence

Planned giving opportunities offer creative, flexible ways for you to support EarthCorps – now and into the future.

EarthCorps’ Watershed Society ensures that legacy gifts of any size will be invested in developing global environmental leaders and protecting our Puget Sound region for future generations. Through your planned gift, you may be able to provide substantial charitable support while receiving significant tax benefits. Read Ann Lawrence’s story of why she joined the Watershed Society and is leaving a gift to EarthCorps in her will.

We invite you to leave a legacy for tomorrow by considering one of the planned giving opportunities below.

Bequests

Making a gift through your will or living trust is a way to make a permanent statement of your values and a way to define your legacy and how you will be remembered. Bequests are also one of the easiest gifts to make and the most realistic way for many people to leave a legacy for succeeding generations. Learn more about leaving EarthCorps in your will.

Gifts of Life Insurance

A gift of a life insurance policy is an excellent way to support EarthCorps. If you own a policy that has outlasted its original purpose, consider making EarthCorps the new owner of the policy. For example, this can be appealing if you have purchased a policy to provide for minor children and they are now financially independent adults. You can also designate EarthCorps as a partial, full or contingent beneficiary of a life insurance policy. This way you will continue to own the policy during your lifetime. Learn more about gifts of life insurance.

Gifts of Real Estate

Donating appreciated real estate you have owned for more than a year, such as a home, vacation property, undeveloped land, farmland, ranch or commercial property can make a great gift to EarthCorps. Learn more about making a gift of real estate.

Gifts of Retirement Assets

Donating retirement assets, such as those in an IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or other tax-deferred plan, is a smart way to make a gift to EarthCorps. Donors typically arrange for EarthCorps to receive such assets once their lives have ended and they no longer need them. This can be accomplished by completing a simple beneficiary designation form. If you are 70½ or older you may also be interested in a way to lower the taxable income on the amount you must withdraw from your traditional IRA each year. This so-called “IRA charitable rollover” is a way you can help continue our work and benefit this year. Learn more about gifts of retirement assets.

Charitable Remainder Trusts

A charitable remainder trust (CRT) is an irrevocable trust that serves a couple different purposes. You contribute assets to a CRT that pays you, or a chosen beneficiary, a stream of income each year for life or a term of up to 20 years. The remainder of the trust’s assets then go to EarthCorps (as well as to any additional charities of your choice). Placing assets in a CRT results in an income tax charitable deduction. In addition, many people with long-term appreciated assets choose to make a CRT part of their estate planning strategy in order to reduce capital gains tax. Learn more about charitable remainder trusts.

Share Your Plans

Have you already included EarthCorps in your legacy plans? If so, please let us know so we can thank you and welcome you to The Watershed Society.

Questions?

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact EarthCorps’ Development Team at development@earthcorps.org.

Ann Lawrence, Watershed Society Member

My initial attachment to EarthCorps was similar to my initial attachment to Seattle: I shared the love of our parks and green spaces and the inviting trails that took us out into nature!

Seattle became my home in 1974, and I was invited to join the EarthCorps board in 1998. Joining the board gave me an opportunity to combine my interest in the environment with EarthCorps’ unique international component.

My support and admiration for EarthCorps has never wavered in these past 20 years. I have hosted a number of the international corps members and I count them among my extended family. Now, I am able to visit them in their own home counties and see first-hand the wonderful work they are doing. Their energy continues to inspire me.

I keep in close touch with the field work that EarthCorps does throughout Puget Sound and I benefit from the healthy parks that surround my neighborhood, such as Cheasty Greenspace. I have watched that park evolve from a neighborhood nescience into a place of pride, not only for families in my neighborhood, but throughout the Seattle community.

A particularly unique aspect of EarthCorps is the relationships that it fosters, where people- staff, corps members, volunteers, and supporters stay connected to each other and to the organization for years. I am continually impressed with the quality and consistency of the staff. EarthCorps has been able to attract and retain an amazing number of dedicated and experienced people. This bodes well not only for EarthCorps’ culture of communitarianism where the staff know they matter, but also for the long-term health of the organization.

It has been a thrill to watch the impact of the organization grow and to see alumni become decision-makers in their own careers, fostered in part by their EarthCorps experience.

There is a sustainability that is built into the EarthCorps model that gives me great confidence. I know that whatever problems EarthCorps may face, they will be handled creatively, energetically, and resolutely. And, I am confident that the vision and spirit will endure, thrive, and attract others, which is why I have included EarthCorps in my will. I want my energy and support for EarthCorps to continue to thrive long after I’m gone.