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Your invitation to join the
Door County Land Trust Legacy Circle
Leave a legacy that sustains Door County’s
exceptional lands and waters forever!
“Because the Land Trust helps to preserve the quality of life in
Door County, we look for ways to help preserve the future of the
Land Trust. We do this through our annual giving as well as through
estate planning with a Charitable Remainder Trust that will distribute
assets to the Door County Land Trust upon
our death. We consider it a privilege to
support the protection of the lands we have
come to know and love.”
Lucy and Karl Klug
Door County Land Trust members
e Klugs are members of the Northern
White Cedar Society and the Land Trust
Legacy Circle.
Bay Shore Bluands Nature Preserve
ose of us who intimately know Door County have been fortunate
to experience its great and often undisturbed beauty. Our lives have
been enriched by this place with its stone fence-lined elds, quiet
cedar forests, miles of pristine lakeshore, and breathtaking views atop
majestic blus.
Photo by Julie Schartner
Door County Land Trust • Legacy Circle
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Leaving a Legacy
ere are fewer and fewer places like Door County in the world.
We have an opportunity and an obligation to future generations to
identify, protect and care for the special places that help to make
Door County one of the most inspiring places to live and visit.
Let’s meet this challenge together!
e inclusion of the Door County Land Trust in your estate
plan creates a lasting legacy, allowing you to continue to make a
dierence in protecting and caring for the lands and waters we love
for many years to come.
• You can make a gift in your will or trust of cash, real estate,
personal property, investments and other appreciated assets.
• You could name the Door County Land Trust as a beneciary
of your retirement plans and life insurance.
• You may choose from several options for directing your gift to
the Land Trust, all of which protect the places you love.
e Door County Land Trust assumes the responsibility of caring
for its protected lands and waters in perpetuity.Upholding this
promise is not a choice but a necessity. at is why your support is
so valued.
Leave a legacy that sustains Door County’s
exceptional lands and waters forever...
become a member of the Land Trust Legacy Circle!
Photo by Dan Eggert
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By making a planned gift to the Door County Land Trust through
your will or beneciary designation, you will be welcomed into the
Legacy Circle, a group of our benefactors who have indicated that
the Land Trust is included in their wills or estate plans.
Legacy Circle members are recognized in listings within Land
Trust reports and on our website. If you prefer, you may request
to be listed as an anonymous member. Also, as a Legacy Circle
member, you receive invitations to special Land Trust events.
For our records, the Door County Land Trust asks that you return
the “Note of Intent” envelope attached in this booklet to the
Land Trust. is is not a legally binding document, but is helpful
for our planning.
If you have already included the Door County
Land Trust in your estate plans, please let us know
by calling us at (920) 746-1359 or returning the
estate planning Note of Intent. We would love to
extend our sincere thanks and welcome you into the
Land Trust Legacy Circle!
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What Is the Legacy Circle?
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You may designate how your gift is to be used by the Land Trust
by directing your gift to any option as follows:
Option 1. Stewardship Endowment
e Stewardship Endowment Trust ensures funds will always
be available to fulll the obligation of caring for the lands long
into the future. Your gift directed to this fund will be invested
and managed by the Door County Land Trust Endowment
Board of Trustees. e principal of this fund remains
untouched and the interest or earnings generated by the Trust
investment will provide income year after year.
Option 2. Land Acquisition Fund
is special fund provides the Land Trust with a ready source
of dollars to respond to immediate opportunities to purchase
and protect properties of high ecological and scenic value.
Option 3. General Fund
Gifts directed to the General Fund will be used to accomplish
the Land Trust’s mission of protecting Door County’s
exceptional lands and waters forever. e Land Trust Board of
Directors will direct your gift towards land acquisition, special
projects, organizational development, Stewardship Endowment,
or any combination of these activities.
Directing Your Gift
“...the care of the earth is our most
ancient and most worthy and, after
all, our most pleasing responsibility.”
Wendell Berry
Author; environmental activist
Door County Land Trust • Legacy Circle
Making Your Gift to the Land Trust
Bequest language may vary from state to state so it is advisable to
use an attorney who understands local estate laws. With that in
mind, we suggest that you provide the following information to
your attorney:
Ocial name: Door County Land Trust, Inc.
Federal ID: 39-1561423
Principal place of business: P.O. Box 65 (23 N. 5th Avenue)
Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin 54235
Fund Designation Options: Option 1. Stewardship Endowment
Option 2. Land Acquisition Fund
Option 3. General Fund
e information in this booklet is not intended as legal advice.
All examples used within are for illustrative purposes only and
are based on IRS regulations in eect at the time of this printing
(2016). Please consult with your nancial planner, tax advisor
or attorney when making your giving arrangements to the
Door County Land Trust.
e following pages suggest several customary ways for you to
consider.
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Photo by Dan Eggert
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Ways to Give
Bequest Provision of Cash
An outright gift of cash is the simplest way to give. When
bequeathing cash, decide how much you wish to donate and have
your attorney include your bequest to the Door County Land Trust
in your will or trust.
Designation of Retirement Plan or IRA
You can name the Door County Land Trust as a beneciary of
your retirement accounts, including pension plans, prot sharing
plans, stock bonus plans, Keogh Plans, 401(k) plans, and Individual
Retirement Accounts (IRAs). You can decide whether to leave a
percentage or the entire amount of your retirement account to the
Land Trust. If your retirement accounts are “tax deferred” accounts,
this means that income taxes will eventually be paid by you or your
beneciaries. ese accounts will also be subject to estate tax if the
estate is large enough.
By naming the Land Trust as the beneciary of your retirement
accounts, you not only avoid estate tax, but also avoid income tax
on all amounts passing to the Land Trust. is means that, in
many cases, a beneciary of a retirement account would receive less
than forty percent of the amount after tax, while the Land Trust
would receive the entire amount. Contact your IRA or retirement
plan representative to make the appropriate changes to your
beneciary listings. Check with your attorney to see if you need to
adjust your estate plan to reect the changes made to your IRA or
retirement plan.
Insurance Beneciary Designation
Many donors choose to name charities as beneciaries of their life
insurance policies. At death of the insured owner, proceeds are
transferred, the owner’s estate gets a charitable deduction, and no
federal estate tax is assessed on the transfer. You can name the Door
County Land Trust as the primary or secondary beneciary of your
life insurance policy by simply contacting your insurance agent.
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Gift of Real Estate
If you intend to make any gift of land, please contact us so we may
discuss your intentions. e Land Trust determines if the property
meets the eligibility criteria for the land to be managed as one of our
protected areas. Land or property not meeting those criteria could
be sold with the proceeds used to further conservation eorts. e
“retained life estate” gift of a residence or a farm allows you or others
to continue living in or using the property, knowing that the Land
Trust will eventually take possession of the property and sell it to
generate cash to support the work of the Land Trust.
Charitable Remainder Trust
Your attorney can help you create a trust using IRS-approved
procedures. e trust is funded with cash or more typically with
appreciated assets like stocks, bonds or mutual funds. With
appreciated assets, you may authorize the trust to sell the assets and
invest the proceeds. From this investment, the trust will pay you an
annual income (ve percent or more of the value of the trust assets)
until the end of your life or other designated time period.
Upon death or termination of the time period, the remaining assets
of the trust are transferred to the Door County Land Trust. You
will benet by receiving an income tax deduction for a charitable
contribution at the time the charitable remainder trust is established.
You will also eliminate the capital gains tax on the sale of the
appreciated assets. It is important to note that with a charitable
remainder trust, you are able to retain control over the management
of the trust until the time of your death.
Ways to Give
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Contact Us
We hope you will call or visit us if you have any questions about
estate planning and the Door County Land Trust. We welcome
a conversation about the use of your gift to help the Land Trust
protect Door County’s exceptional lands and waters forever.
Susan Gould, Development Director
Door County Land Trust phone: (920)746-1359
Email: info@doorcountylandtrust.org
Website: www.DoorCountyLandTrust.org
Giving to the Door County Land Trust through your estate plan
is a wonderful way for you to continue making a lasting, positive
impact in Door County’s future by preserving the ecological
integrity and scenic beauty of this special place.
ank you for your partnership in this most worthy endeavor.
Thank you!
Photo by Nancy Aten
Cinnamon Rossman, Development Director
“It is up to us to live up to the legacy that was left
for us and to leave a legacy that is worthy of our
children and of future generations.”
Christine Gregoire
Former Governor of Washington
Photo by Zak LaCrosse
Door County Land Trust
PO Box 65 • Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
