Estate Planning
Want to leave a legacy for our community? We work with you to make the process easy and ensure your wishes are fulfilled.
Steps for Estate Planning
Conversation
As part of working with your professional advisors as you establish your estate plan, we would like to have a conversation about your intentions to ensure (a) that we can effectively honor your plans in perpetuity and (b) that we have the appropriate documentation. If your estate plan will create a new fund at AAACF, we want to create fund agreements that will become part of your records as well as ours, in order to ensure that we can preserve your intentions.
Documentation
To qualify for the match, we will ask for simple relevant paperwork from your estate plan, such as a copy of the page of your will or trust where AAACF is named, or a copy of the beneficiary designation page of a retirement plan or life insurance policy naming AAACF.
Allocation
We will ask you to disclose the projected value of your gift, simply to determine the level of dollars for the new Community Impact Fund in your name. We are capping the value of this matching fund at $50,000 so that many people in the community can participate.
Please note: We are not asking for any of these planned gifts to be irrevocable or legally binding or to “prove” the projected value. We are entering a trust relationship with you and will establish the matching Community Impact Fund in good faith!
- If you have already provided for AAACF in your estate plan but have not notified us, please inform us so that we can plan and you can qualify for the match!
- If you have notified us of your legacy intentions but not a projected value, you can still secure a match by disclosing that information.
Stern Legacy Matching Fund
When you complete the estate planning steps, your legacy gift can be matched up to $50,000 by filling out our simple legacy form. The matching dollars, in recognition of Stern’s unrestricted example, will fund a new Community Impact Fund in your name (or the name of someone else you want to honor).
So, even if your gift is specific or won’t be realized for many years, by discussing and finalizing those plans with us, you can know that Washtenaw County is being helped currently and forever through unrestricted grants from a fund in your name!
AAACF has allocated $1.5 million for the Stern Legacy Match where 50% of a projected gift value, up to $50,000 per donor, will create a new Community Impact fund named by the donor. The Stern Challenge was designed to encourage others to follow Helmut’s examples of planning ahead and incorporating philanthropy into estate plans, while allowing more people to engage with AAACF’s current work in the community. So, in addition to qualifying for the match, you will be recognized as a member of the Helmut Stern Society for Community Legacy.
Do you need an estate plan?
Less than half of Americans even have a will, so we hope the Stern Legacy Match encourages others to make estate plans. Listen to Betsy Petoskey and Marie Deveney, local professional advisors, talk about the value of making plans.
For Community Impact
The Legacy of Helmut Stern
Helmut Stern loved the Ann Arbor area, and he chose to give back to his community in a powerful and lasting way. He lead a life of a true American success story and had a profound impact on the lives of many. He didn't give back for recognition, much of his giving was anonymous, but when Helmut agreed to be named it was only to inspire others. While we will not know the full extent of generosity during his lifetime, we do know that his generosity to the community will likely be unparalleled.