The mission of Bethel College has never been more important, and the support of alumni and friends has never been more deeply appreciated. Planned giving programs provide many options for support, including named gift opportunities, and donors are discovering that many planned giving programs create income streams that surpass those of conventional investment programs. Many also create tax-redemption opportunities at the same time.

What is your estate?
Your estate is whatever you accumulate during your life. It is money, land, stocks, insurance, furniture, jewelry, automobiles, artwork, volumes of literature, etc.

What is an estate plan?
An estate plan is a specific statement listing your preferences in conserving and protecting your income and assets during your lifetime, and your estate at your death. Such a plan incorporates meeting your need for spendable income now and security for retirement or disability, and it allows you and your heirs to take advantage of current estate tax laws. Perhaps most importantly, an estate plan allows you to choose the best way to pass property to family members, charities, and others during life and after death.

Who needs an estate plan?
Everyone needs an estate plan – you need an estate plan! This is a good, individual plan which reflects your needs and wishes. Estate planning is not just for millionaires. An “estate plan” is not a will. The state will dictate how your wealth and property are distributed at your death, but will not make a plan for you.

Including Bethel in your estate plan
The Office of Development invites you to talk with us about planned giving options that would benefit you, your church and Bethel at the same time. By including Bethel in your estate plan, you would join hundreds of others who have done the same, and you would become a part of Bethel’s Log Cabin Society.

Let us draft a Memorandum of Agreement
The Office of Development would be pleased to draft a Memorandum of Agreement for consideration. The draft would include a statement of intent on the part of the donor, a description of the fund to be created, the procedures by which it would be administered, and the criteria by which funding decisions would be made. Included in the agreement would be a biographical narrative of you, the donor and of the person/family being honored or memorialized when the fund is created.

We encourage you to consult an attorney or tax advisor before entering into any type of planned giving agreement.