Planned Giving

Plan a Gift That Can Enrich Lives for Generations to Come

If our work with the arts has touched and enhanced your life, we invite you to consider an estate gift that will continue our mission of “building community through the arts” for generations to come. Since our inception more than 40 years ago, Morris Arts has continued its longtime goal of dedication to the arts while achieving significant growth in the Morris County community and receiving numerous accolades for quality programs and service excellence. Through your extraordinary kindness and generosity of a planned gift, you can help ensure that these programs flourish and thrive, and thereby continue to enhance, build and strengthen our community.

Your gift will preserve Morris Arts’ work of providing:

  • Arts education programs in the schools, including 40-50 Arts Residencies each year touching 9,000 students, and programs created to improve at-risk student achievement.
  • Programming in the community, including the family-friendly Giralda Music & Arts Festival, Pumpkin Illumination, First Night Morris County and Meet Me in Morristown, to name just a few.
  • Support of our local community of artists and art organizations, including exhibits at the Gallery at 14 Maple and the Atrium Gallery, and support of 20 – 30 smaller arts organizations .
  • Arts advocacy locally and statewide, including regranting efforts resulting in 750 cultural arts programs benefitting 78,000 people.

Types of Planned Giving Gifts

There are many ways to create a meaningful legacy which can benefit Morris Arts and also provide tax and financial benefits to you (please see How Specific Gifts Provide Tax Relief). Below, we briefly outline some options.

Remembering Morris Arts in Your Will
Including Morris Arts in your will with a Charitable Bequest, a gift by will to a charitable organization, is the most common form of planned gift and the easiest way to support the organization. Examples include cash, securities, personal property (art, collectibles, books, etc.) and real estate. Please note that if you’ve already made a will, it’s easy to add Morris Arts as a beneficiary by simply contacting your attorney and adding a codicil (amendment) to the existing will.

Gift or Name Morris Arts as the Beneficiary of Financial Assets
The financial assets listed below, by virtue of their contractual agreement, pass outside the will and probate process and therefore gifting these or naming/renaming a beneficiary is simple to do. Doing so can often minimize income and estate taxes.

Establishing Life Income Gifts
You can set up planned gifts that provide life income payments to the donor in exchange for a gift to a charitable organization. A Charitable Gift Annuity, a contractual agreement between the donor and charity, is the simplest way to do this. A Charitable Remainder Trust is a bit more involved as it is a legal, irrevocable trust. Both provide tax breaks to donors and substantially reduce estate and gift taxes.

A Charitable Lead Trust, on the other hand, leads off by providing income payments to the charity, with the remainder passing onto the heirs, usually avoiding or substantially reducing estate taxes.

Please Seek Legal and Financial Advice

Choosing the right planned gift requires careful thought and planning and depends on your personal circumstances and goals. Please note that the information featured here is intended for educational and informational purposes only and that these options are just a sampling of the planned giving vehicles that may be available to you. We encourage you to seek the advice of your financial planner and lawyer concerning your situation and tax benefits that may be available to you before making a charitable gift.

We would be delighted to meet with you to talk about Planned Giving at Morris Arts and how your gift can make a difference. If you are interested in finding out more information or need assistance finding financial and legal planning advice, please contact: Gina Moran, Director of Development at (973) 285 – 5115
ext. 13,
gmoran@morrisarts.org.

If you have already included a planned gift to Morris Arts or are considering doing so, please notify us so we can properly thank you and acknowledge your future gift. You can call Gina Moran at (973) 285 – 5115, ext. 13 or fill out the Morris Arts Planned Giving Intention Form.

To make a planned gift you will need the name of the organization, address and tax ID #:
Morris Arts
14 Maple Avenue – Suite 301
Morristown, New Jersey 07960
Tax ID #: 22-2012936 

From all of us at Morris Arts, thank you for considering us in your future plans and being thoughtful about the future of our community!