A Legacy for the Life of the Mind:

 Making A Charitable Bequest

to the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center

A Distinguished Past: A Vital Future

The Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center and its forerunner organizations have been  helping local therapists to listen better for fifty years.  The Center carries out its mission of promoting the development and use of psychoanalysis for the benefit of the community through professional and community educational programs, referral and consultation services and collaborative work with other community organizations.  There have been many advances in medicine and in the treatment of emotional disorders in the half-century since psychoanalysis began in Cleveland, but one thing has not changed:  the commitment of the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center to keep the whole person at the center of health care and mental health treatment.  A gift to the Center via bequest can help ensure that psychoanalysis and related forms of therapy will be available to the people of northeast Ohio for generations to come. 

Preserving the Legacy by Supporting the Center in Your Will

The process of developing a will includes determining those persons and causes that you want to benefit from your estate.  You can use your will to transfer your assets to your surviving spouse, children and grandchildren and to designate special friends or charitable organizations that should receive the assets from your estate.  A bequest through your will allows you to make a gift to the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center after you have taken care of loved ones.  Assets left to the Center are removed from your taxable estate, thereby reducing the estate taxes that may be payable by your estate.

Why You Should Consider Including the Center in Your Will

Bequest income received from the Alva Bradley II Fund at the Cleveland Foundation has long been an important source of operating income for the Center and its predecessor organizations.  The Center has nearly $700,000 in reserve funds held for it by the Brian and Dora Bird Foundation.  As part of its $1.25 million Campaign for the Life of the Mind, the Center seeks to add another $600,000 in Endowment Funds. Interest from the combined fund will allow the organization to meet current and future operating needs.  Funds donated to an Endowment Fund are not spent.  Rather, the earnings are used to provide an ongoing source of financial support. 

Three Ways of Supporting the Center Through a Bequest

It is simple to add a charitable bequest to your will.  A codicil drafted by your attorney can be used to make simple changes or additions to your current will. 

• You can make a specific bequest of cash, stocks, bonds or real estate.

• You can make a residual or percentage bequest leaving  the Center a remainder or percentage of your estate.  This is an excellent method of providing assets to both charities and heirs.

• You can create a contingent bequest to the Center should your designated beneficiaries not survive you.

• Bequests can also be incorporated into any trusts you may establish to distribute the property in your estate. 

Other Ways to Support the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center

There are also ways you can support the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center without changing your will. 

Beneficiary Designations

People often have an individual retirement account (IRA) in a portfolio along with stocks, bonds and real estate.  Making the Center the beneficiary of an IRA can help you achieve your philanthropic goals while maintaining other assets to benefit your heirs.  The value of any distribution from an IRA to an heir will be reduced by income tax and sometimes estate tax.  However, because the Center is a 501(c)(3) charity, naming it as the beneficiary of your IRA will exempt the distribution from any tax. 

Life Insurance

You can 1) name the Center the beneficiary of your life insurance policy; 2) transfer actual ownership of your policy to the Center or 3) purchase a new policy for the Center’s benefit.  Your gift will be tax deductible and, if the Center owns the policy, your future premium payments may also be tax deductible.