Ways to Give

Planned Giving

Through planned giving, we have helped numerous Pasadena-area residents ensure that their values and philanthropic priorities extend beyond their lifetime. Their gifts help sustain nonprofits and community initiatives for future generations, ensuring that causes important to our donors’ continue to receive support.

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Home Ways to Give Planned Giving

Overview

About Planned Giving at PCF

Planned gifts, or bequests, are charitable gifts made from your estate after your death. Donors typically work with a financial advisor or estate planner to outline their wishes regarding planned gifts, identify the beneficiary organization or organizations, and determine an amount, which may be a specific dollar amount or asset, a percentage of your estate, or the balance or residue of your estate once other gifts are made.

You may make a provision in your estate plan for gifts to PCF or any of our component funds. Typically, a bequest made to PCF creates a named endowment fund that becomes a perpetual legacy for you or your loved ones. In partnership with your advisor, PCF helps you create a Statement of Purpose for the fund to be created in the future.

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A Flexible Tool

Memorandum of Charitable Intent

PCF works with you and your attorney to detail your charitable intentions via a Memorandum for Charitable Intent (MOCI). The MOCI specifies how you want PCF to handle your estate assets, is free to update at any time, and allows you to designate specific charity(ies) or cause(s) that align with your passions. The MOCI is held at PCF and when or if you want to update it you contact us and we make the changes for free. No need to contact your attorney.

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Honored Individuals

PCF’s Legacy Society

PCF has established the Legacy Society to recognize and honor individuals who have made planned gifts—such as bequests, trusts, life insurance, or other estate provisions—to the foundation. We celebrate people who have included the community foundation in their long-term charitable plans. We have an annual luncheon both to thank those donors during their lifetimes and to encourage others to consider making a similar lasting impact.

Here at PCF, the Legacy Society is especially important because it builds permanent endowments—ensuring that local charitable resources will continue to grow and support the Greater Pasadena area for generations to come.

2025 Legacy Society Members

01. Tax Benefits

02. Legacy and Impact

03. Community Support

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Charitable bequests can reduce estate taxes, making it a financially smart way to give.

Support causes you care about, ensuring your contributions continue to make a difference even after your passing.

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Know that your gift will sustain local initiatives, nonprofits, and social services for generations to come.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of planned gifts can I make?

Common options include bequests in a will, charitable remainder trusts, donor-advised funds, and gifts of appreciated assets like stocks or real estate.

Can I designate my gift for a specific purpose?

Yes. PCF allows donors to specify how their funds should be used, such as supporting education, healthcare, or local nonprofits. We are happy to guide you on your choices, or you can provide us with your list of causes or charitable organizations.Moreover, you may make a provision in your estate plan for gifts to PCF or any of our component funds.

Tell me more about PCF’s MOCI.

PCF’s Memorandum of Charitable Intent eases the administrative burden on your estate’s executor and can be modified at any time without the time and fees of revising an entire estate plan or trust. It may include pass-through gifts directly to charitable organizations, gifts to existing funds at PCF, or directions to create a new fund. The MOCI allows you to designate a specific charity or cause(s) that align with your passions [education, the arts, animal welfare, etc.] as beneficiary.

How can my family be involved?

You may create a fund in which your children become advisors to the charitable fund and recommend grant distributions to charities anywhere in the U.S.—much like a family foundation but without the administrative burden.