Planned Giving

Donations to our Annual Campaign, fundraising events, and special gifts and endowments provide essential support that allows the Library to maintain core areas of service. The Town of Westport funds 77% of the Library’s operating budget. The remaining 23% is raised through special events like BOOKED for the evening and private donations like you.

Planned giving can be an excellent way to support the Library and ensure that it maintains financial stability. As together, we advance a shared mission of education, entertainment, enrichment, and community-building through dedicated service for generations to come.

Below are examples of several ways that you can support the Library with a planned donation. Please note that the Library cannot offer financial or legal advice; we highly recommend speaking to an attorney or financial professional about your options.

You can arrange a bequest in your will or living trust, ensuring that the Library provides our community of users with free and open access to the best books, audiobooks, DVDs, research databases, technology, and public programming.

To make a charitable bequest to The Westport Library, you can simply include a statement in your will or trust agreement that makes specific reference to “The Westport Library Association, a charitable organization with offices in Westport, Connecticut.” Also be sure to reference the amount or percentage of the bequest.

A donor-advised fund is a dedicated account for charitable giving that can be established under a name chosen by the donor, similar to a foundation. When you make an irrevocable gift to a donor-advised fund, you are able to create a philanthropic legacy that offers grant-making flexibility, anonymity, and advantageous tax deductions. You can incorporate your donor-advised fund into estate planning by making a bequest in your will.

Information for Your Bequest
Full Legal Name: The Westport Library
Legal Address: 20 Jesup Rd Westport, CT 06880
Federal Tax Identification Number: 06-0672798

Making a gift to the Library by beneficiary designation from any or all of the following types of TOD (“Transfer on Death”) accounts is a simple and tax-efficient way to fund your legacy and avoid the time and expenses that result from having the assets subject to the probate process.

TOD Gifts may take the following forms:
Retirement Plans
Many people do not know that when retirement plans such as pension funds, 401ks, 403bs, and IRAs are left to an individual other than a spouse, they can be subject to income taxes and estate taxes. The two taxes combined could erode up to 80% of the remaining benefits.

If given to the Library, these funds would escape all income and estate taxes and reduce the size of your total taxable estate. The Library would receive 100% of the remaining benefit in your retirement plan, whereas your heirs may receive only a portion of the benefit.

Life Insurance
If you own a life insurance policy that is no longer needed for the protection of your family or for other purposes, you may use it to make a gift to the Library. One way to give a life insurance policy to the Library is to name the Library as the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy. In doing so, you qualify for an income tax deduction for the cash value of the policy. Alternatively, you could name the Library as the beneficiary of the policy. In this case, your estate would be entitled to an estate tax deduction equal to the value of the policy.

Financial Accounts
Many people’s primary assets are held in savings, checking, and brokerage accounts. Designation of these assets incurs no cost to you and allows whatever balance (or portion thereof) remaining to pass to the Library at your death.

Completing the Designation
To name the Library as beneficiary of any of the above mentioned gift types, contact a representative of the institution that manages your account or policy, and request a “change of beneficiary form."

Making a gift to the Library by beneficiary designation from any or all of the following types of TOD (“Transfer on Death”) accounts is a simple and tax-efficient way to fund your legacy and avoid the time and expenses that result from having the assets subject to the probate process.

TOD Gifts may take the following forms:
An unrestricted donation
These funds that may be used by the Library where they are needed most. These donations support core Library services and collections, such as the purchase of books, audiobooks, digital materials, technology, staff development, and public programming.

Restricted donations
These fall into one of two categories: temporary or permanent. The type of restriction is specified in the “gift instrument,” a document stipulating how the donated funds may be used.

Time-restricted donations
The funds must be used for a particular purpose, or they must support a specific program or campaign for a limited amount of time. For example, “I bequeath [dollar amount] to The Westport Library Association to be used for children’s programming over the next [number of months or years] or until the fund is exhausted.”

Permanently restricted donations
These funds never expire. The donor stipulates that the gift must be kept in perpetuity (forever), but the earnings may be used by the Library. Typically, this means that the gift is invested in the Library’s endowment fund. The interest earned on said funds are what the Library may spend each year or according to the endowment policies and/or stipulations of the gift instrument.