Planned Giving

A bequest is a gift made by will or trust and can allow you to make an important contribution to HRM without diminishing your assets during your lifetime. The most useful bequest is unrestricted, which allows the Museum to use your gift wherever it is most needed at the time.

Bequests can take the form of a specific dollar amount, particular assets (such as publicly traded stock and securities, real estate, cryptocurrency or tangible personal property); all or a percentage of the remainder of your estate after all other obligations have been satisfied (a residuary bequest); or even a contingent bequest, naming HRM as the beneficiary only if the named beneficiary is unable to accept the bequest. An outright bequest to HRM is fully tax-deductible for estate tax purposes.

If you have already prepared a will, your attorney can add the Hudson River Museum as a beneficiary through a simple amendment called a codicil. If you wish to designate your gift for a specific purpose or bequeath an item for the collection, we strongly advise you to discuss your intentions with us to ensure we can fulfill your wishes. Please note, our policy is to accept objects only if we intend to accession them into the collections.

Your planned gift can establish the ultimate legacy—a named general operating endowment to provide funding for the Museum and its activities in perpetuity. Endowed opportunities are also available for designated areas of interest at the Museum.

Retirement plans such as IRAs and 401(k)s are subject to “double” taxation. The combination of estate and income taxes can seriously erode the value of retirement savings if left to an individual other than a spouse. Naming the Hudson River Museum as the beneficiary or contingent beneficiary of all or a portion of these assets is an option to consider: leaving other, less taxed assets to your heirs.

Life insurance can offer another way to make a major gift to the Hudson River Museum. By naming the Museum as the beneficiary (or contingent beneficiary) of an existing policy, you retain lifetime ownership of the policy, keeping the right to cash it in, borrow against it, and change the beneficiary.

This type of gift provides you and/or another beneficiary with fixed income for life in exchange for an irrevocable gift of cash or securities to the Hudson River Museum. The rates of return depend on your age at the time of the gift, but rates are generally higher than those available from money market accounts or CDs, for example. Income payments can be given to you on a monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual basis. You can start receiving income immediately or defer it until you retire. You will receive an income tax charitable deduction immediately upon making your gift, and a portion of each annuity payment is tax-free income.

There are a variety of charitable trusts that can offer a way to contribute to the Museum during your lifetime. Please speak with a qualified financial planner to discuss which one will best support your financial planning goals.

A Charitable Remainder Trust provides you with income for either life or a fixed term from the date the gift is made. When the trust terminates, the Hudson River Museum receives the trust’s principal. An immediate income tax charitable deduction is available for an amount equal to the present value of what the Museum can be expected to receive when the trust terminates. You select the beneficiaries, trustees, and the distribution rate.

A Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust provides a fixed payout.

A Charitable Remainder Unitrust provides a variable payment that fluctuates with the value of the underlying assets.

A Charitable Lead Trust allows assets to be transferred to a trust that pays an annual amount to the Hudson River Museum for a set number of years. The assets in the trust ultimately pass on to another beneficiary, such as your children. With proper planning, the trust may be able to help you pass assets to a younger generation with significantly reduced gift or estate taxes.