Planned Giving

Preparing for the Next 50 Years

In the 2024-2025 Season, Virginia Opera will celebrate 50 years of presenting opera and enriching our communities across the state. In our first 50 years’ history, the Opera has benefited from generous donors who have consistently supported our mission. As we look to the next 50 years, we are actively working to enhance our financial footing, and are seeking direct support for the Virginia Opera Foundation – Virginia Opera’s permanently restricted endowment fund.

The Virginia Opera Foundation is a separately incorporated charity with its own separate Board of Trustees. The purpose of the Virginia Opera Foundation is to develop, receive, maintain, and disburse funds specifically for the benefit of the Virginia Opera Association. The Foundation has set a strict spending policy designed to preserve your gift over time, while generating income for Virginia Opera’s ongoing mission and programs. We invite you to become a contributor toward these efforts.

In addition to accepting current gifts of cash and other property, the Virginia Opera Foundation is renewing the Encore Society – a group of donors who have provided for the Foundation in their estate plans or through planned gifts. For many, this is simply a matter of advising Virginia Opera of existing plans that would contribute to the Virginia Opera Foundation. For others, we offer a variety of ways to participate.

Bequests

A bequest is the simplest and most common form of planned giving. A testamentary gift, made by will or trust, allows you to contribute to the Virginia Opera Foundation without diminishing the assets available to you during your lifetime.

There are several ways to make a bequest to the Virginia Opera Foundation.

  • Name Virginia Opera Foundation as a specific beneficiary, stating a fixed dollar amount or percentage of your estate that you wish to donate.
  • Name Virginia Opera Foundation as a remainder beneficiary, providing for the Foundation to receive assets from your estate after all specific beneficiaries have received their legacies.
  • Name Virginia Opera Foundation as a contingent beneficiary, transferring the assets to the Foundation only if someone named as a beneficiary does not survive you.

If you have already prepared a will, you can add the Virginia Opera Foundation as a beneficiary through an amendment called a “codicil.” This very simple document can easily be prepared by your attorney or estate consultant. In addition to gifts of cash, your bequest can also be securities, real estate, or other forms of personal property. All donations to the Foundation are subject to the Foundation’s gift acceptance policies.

Gifts that Give Back

Charitable Lead Trust

A charitable lead trust is an irrevocable trust that generates financial support for the Virginia Opera Foundation over a period of time, with the remaining assets eventually going to family members or other beneficiaries. Depending on its structure, a lead trust may offer you a current income tax deduction, as well as allow for the transfer or your assets to your heirs at a reduced tax cost.

Charitable Remainder Trust

A charitable remainder trust is an irrevocable trust that generates a potential income stream for you or other beneficiaries, with the remainder of the donated assets going to the Virginia Opera Foundation. 

Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust

A charitable remainder annuity trust provides you and/or other beneficiaries with a fixed income for life or for a specified period of time. After this period, remaining assets pass to Virginia Opera Foundation. An immediate partial charitable tax deduction is available upon creation of the trust. Charitable remainder trusts offer flexibility to select the beneficiaries, the trustees and the distribution rate.

Charitable Remainder Unitrusts

Charitable remainder unitrusts operate in the same manner as charitable remainder annuity trusts, except that instead of providing a fixed payout, payments from a unitrust vary annually depending on a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust’s assets. The exact amount of your annual payment is calculated annually.

Other Ways to Give

Retirement Plans

A qualified retirement plan is an effective way to save for retirement, but is typically not the best way to pass assets to your heirs. Naming the Virginia Opera Foundation as the beneficiary or the contingent beneficiary for all or a portion of your retirement plan allows you to leave other, less-taxed assets to your heirs.

In addition to being a great opportunity for a planned gift, minimum required distributions (MRD) from qualified retirement accounts are an excellent option to make gifts to the Virginia Opera Foundation during your lifetime.

Real Estate

Gifts of real estate can include a house, vacation home, apartment building, commercial building, farm, or undeveloped land. Real estate can be contributed during your lifetime as an outright gift or as a bequest. It can also be used to fund a charitable remainder trust to provide income to you or others.

Life Insurance

Life insurance offers an attractive way to make a planned gift to the Virginia Opera Foundation. If you have an existing policy that is no longer needed, you may name the Foundation as a beneficiary or contingent beneficiary. Any benefit the Foundation receives from your insurance proceeds would be deductible from your taxable estate.

By naming the Virginia Opera Foundation as both owner and beneficiary of your life insurance policy, you obtain an immediate charitable tax deduction equivalent to either the policy’s cash surrender value or replacement value. If additional premiums are due, you may also deduct as a charitable contribution any premiums you choose to pay.

Joining the Encore Society

Joining the Encore Society is as simple as informing us of your intention to make a planned gift, and we invite you to contact us directly with any questions or to notify us of your gift plans.

If you are interested in investigating one or more of these planned giving options, please contact the Development Office at 757.627.9545 ext. 3319. We are happy to provide additional information for you to discuss with your attorney, accountant, or financial advisor. We are also available to meet with you and your legal and financial consultants.

The Virginia Opera Foundation is truly grateful for the generous support it receives for from the community. By making a planned gift, you ensure that future generations will enjoy our next 50 years!

This information is not intended as legal or tax advice. We recommend that you discuss the various types of trusts with your legal advisor, financial advisor, and estate planner to determine which option is best suited to your philanthropic intentions.