Give More. Keep More.
Leave More Behind.
Most donors choose between generosity and financial security. The right strategy eliminates that tradeoff — turning charitable giving into tax-free retirement income, larger gifts, and a permanent legacy.
Generous People Are Giving in the Most Expensive Way Possible.
A check to the annual fund is the most common form of charitable giving — and the least efficient. Donors who write checks from after-tax income miss capital gains strategies, income tax deductions they could multiply, and tools that turn a one-time gift into a lifetime income stream.
Meanwhile, planned giving officers know these tools exist but rarely have a partner who can structure the insurance side. The result: billions in charitable intent that never converts to actual gifts.
The Write-a-Check Default
Donors give cash from checking accounts, missing the chance to donate appreciated assets and eliminate capital gains entirely.
The Planned Giving Gap
Fundraisers cultivate donor relationships for years but lack a partner who can design and fund the insurance-based strategies that make large gifts possible.
The Income vs. Generosity Tradeoff
Donors in or near retirement fear that large gifts will reduce the income they need to live on. They give less than they want to — or nothing at all.
The Estate Planning Disconnect
Charitable intent lives in the donor’s heart but not in their estate documents. Without a funded plan, the gift dies with the donor.
Six Charitable Giving Strategies That
Reward the Donor and the Cause.
Each charitable giving strategy is built around life insurance, annuities, or both — creating tax advantages, lifetime income, and a legacy that outlasts the donor.
CRT + IUL Strategy
Sell a highly appreciated asset into a Charitable Remainder Trust, eliminate capital gains, receive lifetime income, and use the tax savings to fund an Indexed Universal Life policy that replaces the donated asset for your heirs — tax-free.
Charitable Gift Annuities
Make an irrevocable gift to a charity and receive guaranteed fixed payments for life. Part of each payment is tax-free. The charity receives the remainder — and you receive an immediate income tax deduction.
Planned Giving Programs
We partner with fundraising professionals to build or strengthen their organization’s planned giving program — from bequest language and gift acceptance policies to donor cultivation tools and marketing materials.
Qualified Charitable Distributions
Donors over 70½ can direct up to $105,000 per year from their IRA directly to charity under IRS rules. It satisfies the Required Minimum Distribution, reduces taxable income, and the charity gets the full amount — no tax withheld.
Charitable Lead Trusts
The reverse of a CRT: the trust pays income to charity for a set term, then passes the remaining assets to heirs at a reduced gift or estate tax cost. Ideal for families who want to give now and transfer wealth later.
Donor-Advised Funds + Insurance
Contribute appreciated assets to a DAF for an immediate deduction, then recommend grants over time. Pair with a life insurance policy to replace the gifted assets in your estate — tax-free to your heirs.
The CRT-IUL Strategy in Action.
A real-world scenario showing how a donor can give more, keep more, and leave more behind — all from a single asset.
Donor Profile: Retired Executive, Age 65, With $1M in Appreciated Stock
Without the Strategy
Sells stock, pays ~$200K in capital gains tax, donates $100K to charity, invests the rest in a taxable account.
Net investable assets after taxes and gift.
With the CRT-IUL Strategy
Transfers stock to CRT, pays zero capital gains, receives ~$55K/yr lifetime income, funds IUL with tax savings.
Tax-advantaged income for life, plus charity receives full $1M remainder.
The Net Result
Capital gains eliminated. Lifetime income created. Charity receives a larger gift. Heirs receive a tax-free death benefit that replaces the donated asset.
Donor, charity, heirs, and the IRS gets less.
From Charitable Intent
to Funded Plan.
Most charitable giving strategies are designed, documented, and funded within 60–90 days.
Discovery
We review your charitable goals, asset types, income needs, and tax situation to find the highest-impact strategy.
Design
We model 2–3 giving strategies side by side — comparing tax benefit, income stream, gift size, and wealth replacement.
Coordination
We work with your CPA, attorney, and financial advisor to finalize trust documents, beneficiary designations, and compliance.
Funding
Policy placement, trust funding, and first-year review — plus ongoing monitoring of distributions and performance.
Built for Generous People and
the Professionals Who Guide Them.
Whether you’re the donor, the fundraiser, or the financial advisor — this is designed for your situation.
High-Net-Worth Donors & Philanthropic Families
You want to give meaningfully without sacrificing your retirement income or your family’s inheritance. These strategies make that possible.
CFRE Fundraising Professionals
You cultivate the donor relationships. We design and fund the insurance architecture that turns pledges into permanent gifts. Partner, not competitor.
CFP® Financial Planners & Estate Attorneys
Your clients have charitable intent baked into their plans. We bring the insurance-based funding strategies that make those plans executable.
Nonprofit Development Directors
Your organization needs a planned giving program that converts intent into funded gifts. We help you build one — or strengthen the one you have.
Find Out How Much More
You Could Give — and Keep.
A 30-minute conversation is enough to identify whether your current giving approach is leaving tax benefits, income, or legacy on the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Charitable Giving Questions, Answered
The CRT-IUL strategy combines a Charitable Remainder Trust with an Indexed Universal Life policy to create four simultaneous benefits: the donor sells appreciated assets and eliminates capital gains tax, receives lifetime income from the CRT, gets an immediate charitable income tax deduction, and uses the tax savings to fund an IUL policy in an ILIT that replaces the donated asset for heirs — tax-free. The charity receives the full remainder. The donor, charity, and heirs all win.
A charitable lead trust (CLT) is essentially the inverse of a charitable remainder trust (CRT). With a CLT, the charity receives income from the trust for a set term, and the remaining assets then pass to your family, often at a reduced gift or estate tax cost. With a CRT, the order is reversed: you (or another non-charitable beneficiary) receive income for life or a term of years, and the charity receives whatever remains at the end. CRTs are typically used to turn an appreciated asset into lifetime income plus a deduction; CLTs are typically used to pass assets to the next generation at a lower transfer-tax cost while supporting charity in the meantime.
A QCD allows individuals age 70½ or older to transfer funds directly from their IRA to a qualified charity, up to an annual limit that the IRS indexes for inflation. The distribution can satisfy the Required Minimum Distribution, is excluded from taxable income, and the charity receives the full amount with no tax withheld. QCDs are especially valuable for donors who don’t itemize deductions, since the tax benefit comes from income exclusion rather than a charitable deduction.
A charitable gift annuity is a contract where the donor makes an irrevocable gift and receives guaranteed fixed payments for life in return. The donor gets an immediate income tax deduction, a portion of each payment is tax-free (return of basis), and the charity retains the remaining assets at the donor’s death. CGAs are commonly used by donors age 65+ who want guaranteed income combined with charitable impact.
A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a flexible charitable account: you contribute assets, take the deduction, and then recommend grants to your chosen charities over time on your own schedule. Paired with life insurance, it becomes a way to multiply your eventual gift. In one common approach the donor names the DAF as the beneficiary of a guaranteed universal life (GUL) policy, retaining ownership during life; at death the proceeds flow into the DAF for distribution to charity. In another, the DAF itself owns a GUL policy funded by the donor’s tax-deductible contributions.
Because permanent life insurance can pay a death benefit several times larger than the premiums paid, this lets a relatively modest annual commitment create a substantial charitable endowment at death.
Not necessarily — that’s the point of the strategies NPPSS designs. With a charitable remainder trust, for example, you contribute an appreciated asset, avoid the immediate capital gains tax, and receive income from the trust for life. The tax savings can then fund a life insurance policy that replaces the donated asset’s value for your heirs. The goal is to let you give more and keep more at the same time, rather than choosing between generosity and your own retirement income.
The specific income figures depend on your assets, age, and how the plan is structured, so any numbers should be treated as illustrations until modeled for your situation.
It depends on the vehicle. Some strategies are irrevocable by design — with an irrevocable trust, once it’s established the grantor gives up the ability to amend its terms, reclaim the policy, change beneficiaries, or access the cash value directly. That irrevocability is what delivers the tax benefit. Other vehicles keep you involved: with a donor-advised fund you give up legal ownership of the contributed assets but retain the ability to recommend grants to charities over time, and can change which charities benefit. Part of NPPSS’s job is matching the right level of control to your goals.
Yes. NPPSS partners with fundraising professionals and development directors to build or strengthen planned giving programs. This includes designing bequest language, developing gift acceptance policies, creating donor cultivation tools, structuring insurance-based giving strategies, and training staff on planned giving conversations. We serve as the insurance architecture partner that turns donor intent into funded gifts.