At The Florida Museum of Natural History we strive to fulfill our mission of understanding, preserving and interpreting Florida’s biological diversity and cultural heritage. We depend on people like you to help us realize this mission. Every gift — large or small — helps support what we do here at the Florida Museum now and into tomorrow.
By supporting the Museum you can help contribute to our outreach efforts to engage underserved audiences, provide funding for ground breaking research, dynamic conservation initiatives and innovative exhibitions that educate, entertain and inspire nearly 200,000 visitors each year, including 14,000 school children.
All gifts to the Museum are deposited at the University of Florida Foundation, which is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, and are eligible to be counted as charitable tax deductions.
Together We’ll Do Great Things
For more information regarding any of the following items or to learn more about endowments, facilities expansion, exhibit sponsorship and corporate support please contact:
Executive Director Advancement
352-273-2087
emmerson@ufl.edu
Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives
352-273-2047
kschwartz@flmnh.ufl.edu
Download Florida Museum Gift Planning Guide
Benefits
- Cash gifts make an immediate and positive impact on a program.
- Cash is the easiest gift to make.
- Cash gifts support collections, exhibits, programs, research or an area which is particularly important to you.
- Cash gifts may be combined with other options to leverage the impact of your gift.
Did You Know?
- The Florida Museum of Natural History accepts checks and wired funds through the University of Florida Foundation, Inc. or, you may contribute through UF’s secure site using a credit card.
- Cash gifts provide the maximum charitable income tax deduction available under federal tax laws. You may claim a deduction up to 50 percent of your adjusted gross income, with any excess balance carried forward for up to five years.
Benefits
- Sustained giving through payroll deduction provides a reliable base of support for the programs and research that are most meaningful to you.
- Payroll deduction is a convenient way to make an enduring impact.
Did You Know?
- UF or Shands employees can support the Florida Museum through biweekly payroll deduction gifts. Learn more and sign up!
- You may increase, decrease or stop your contributions at any time.
Benefits
- Giving appreciated securities — stocks and bonds — can be more tax efficient than giving cash.
- If you make a gift of securities directly to the Florida Museum, you will receive an income tax deduction — and gift credit with the Museum and UF — for the full market value, without paying capital gains tax.
Did You Know?
- If you own securities in a brokerage account these shares can be easily transferred electronically to the Museum.
- In most cases, the Museum will promptly sell gifted securities that are publicly traded and apply the cash toward the purpose you designate.
- Closely held stock and other securities that are not publicly traded work best when there is a mechanism for the Museum to sell the gifted interest to other stakeholders or the corporation itself. For these gifts, the donor must usually obtain an appraisal to claim a tax deduction.
Benefits
- Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k) and 403(b) plans can be subject to double taxation — ordinary income and estate tax — meaning that anywhere from 35-75% of retirement assets can be lost to taxes before they reach individual beneficiaries
- Retirement plan assets left to the Museum will transfer tax-free.
- In planning your estate, consider leaving the Museum your retirement plan assets, and leave more favorably taxed assets to your family.
Did You Know?
- Most retirement accounts allow the owner to select beneficiaries to receive the plan assets remaining at death. To designate the Florida Museum as a beneficiary, contact the account administrator.
- Lifetime withdrawals, even for charitable gifts, are typically treated as taxable income. Proposed changes to federal tax law may allow for future tax-free distributions made directly to the Museum.
Benefits
- A bequest is a gift to the Museum at your passing, generally through a provision in your will or living trust.
- It may be revoked at any time during your lifetime if your situation changes.
Did You Know?
- You can complete a Change of Beneficiary form to name the Museum a beneficiary of your retirement plan, bank account, brokerage account or life insurance policy.
- A bequest might not be received by the Museum for many years — so there’s a delay in funding the gifted purpose. As a result, restrictions placed on the use of your gift should be as minimal as possible, providing the Museum with maximum flexibility, as priorities and programs change over time
- The Florida Museum is frequently approached by potential donors who would like to give collections of insects, animals, plants, fossils and various types of artifacts. The Museum welcomes these gifts, along with field notes, photographs, databases and libraries that complement the collections, provided the gift fits well within the Museum’s existing collections and goals.
- Along with gifts of collections, many donors create an endowment to provide a funding stream which will curate their collection in perpetuity.
- The Florida Museum of Natural History is not able to accept every donation, since it takes considerable funds and staff to maintain them. If you are interested in donating a collection to the Museum, please contact Kali Geiger, Development Assistant, via email at kgeiger@floridamuseum.ufl.edu or by phone at (352) 273-2086.
Benefits
- A Charitable Lead Trust can greatly reduce or eliminate gift or estate tax on trust assets passing to family members.
- A Charitable Lead Trust makes annual payments to the Florida Museum for a period of time set
by the donor, then distributes the remaining assets to the donor’s family or other named beneficiaries. - This structure provides a tax-advantaged method of supporting the Museum for a set number of years, with a potentially
significant future tax-free distribution to family and other heirs.
Did You Know?
- A Charitable Lead Trust is complex in nature and must be carefully reviewed by the donor’s advisers to ensure it is
compatible with their entire estate plan.
Benefits
- A CRT pays individual beneficiaries an annual amount for their lives or a fixed term of up to 20 years.
- Donors who create a CRT can claim an income tax deduction that represents the present value of the eventual gift to the Museum.
- When the CRT ends, the remaining assets are distributed to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Did You Know?
- Life income beneficiaries can be the donor, family members or others.
- The trust principal is normally invested for a total return and grows tax free. It can be invested in a variety of diversified portfolios, including UF’s endowment.
- An Annuity Trust makes a fixed annual payment and a Unitrust makes a variable annual payment.
- Unitrusts are revalued annually and if the principal in the trust appreciates, payments will be correspondingly larger. But there’s a risk. If the principal depreciates, payments will be smaller
Benefits
- In exchange for your gift, UF (on behalf of the Museum) promises to make lifetime annuity payments to one or two annuitants.
- The contractual obligation is backed by the UF Foundation, Inc., making this a very secure source of future income.
- After the death of the last annuitant, the balance of the remaining gift will be used by the Museum for the purpose you’ve designated.
Did You Know?
- Donors receive an income tax deduction based on the fair market value of the assets contributed less the present value of the future annuity payments.
- Payments to annuitants are generally partly taxable as ordinary income and capital gain (depending on the gift asset), and a portion is usually treated as tax-free return of principal.
Outright Gift Benefits
- Receive a charitable income tax deduction for the full fair market value of the property.
- Avoid capital gains tax on appreciation.
- Transfer to the Museum the burden and expense of managing and selling your property.
Retained Life Estate Benefits
- Transfer the title to your personal residence now, while retaining the right to live in or use it for the rest of your life or another’s life. Upon the death(s) of the life tenant(s), title to the property vests in UF (on behalf of the Museum) and any subsequent sale proceeds will be applied to the purpose you designate.
- You receive an immediate income tax deduction based on the fair market value less the present value of the retained life estate.
Did You Know?
- UF’s Office of Gift Planning has the resources and expertise to facilitate most real estate gifts.
- An appraisal is usually required to substantiate the tax deduction for most real estate gifts, and must be obtained by the donor.
- In some cases, UF (on behalf of the Museum) may be willing to purchase a property for less than its fair market value, and the donor is able to claim a tax deduction for the difference.
- Property subject to a mortgage may not be suitable as a gift to the Museum due to tax and other considerations.
Benefits
- Life insurance allows donors to leverage their resources while providing an extraordinary gift to the Museum.
- You may donate your existing policy by making the Museum the owner/beneficiary and receive an income tax deduction for the value of the policy.
Did You Know?
- If you prefer, you may maintain ownership of your policy but name the Museum as a beneficiary. This way you maintain the flexibility to change beneficiaries if your situation changes.
- Fully paid policies are preferable to the Museum. The university may cash out gifts of policies not fully paid unless the donor makes gifts to the Museum to cover future premium payments.
- If you have a term policy (often provided as an employment benefit) consider naming the Museum as a beneficiary.