Your support of the International Rescue Committee is of critical importance to the lives of refugees - at times, a matter of life or death. By planning your long-term support of the IRC, you commit to the freedom, dignity, and independence of future refugee families.

The IRC deeply values our supporters and knows that considering future giving to the IRC requires our envisioning together the future of you and your family and the future needs of the refugees we serve. Please call on the IRC's gift planning team to discuss your ideas and to find out how you can provide for your own welfare and the well-being of refugees.

E-mail plannedgiving@theIRC.org or contact Nora Benoliel, Senior National Officer for Gift Planning, at 212-551-3147 or at Nora.Benoliel@theIRC.org to have a personal conversation about how to deliver refugees from harm to home and secure your future.

Join Partners for Freedom

Partners for Freedom are IRC supporters who courageously offer a legacy of hope for future generations of refugees.

Gifts from Partners for Freedom - charitable gift annuities, bequests, trusts, gifts through retirement plans - bolster the IRC's Freedom Fund endowment. The IRC draws upon the Freedom Fund to swiftly deploy emergency responders within 72 hours of a humanitarian crisis. The Freedom Fund also underpins the IRC's core programs to save lives, provide health care and water to those most vulnerable, educate and protect refugee children, rebuild communities after conflict has abated, and assist families with no option of returning home to start anew in the United States.

With gratitude, the IRC recognizes Partners for Freedom for their generosity and invites Partners to experience their gifts in action through:

• - briefings from the field;
• - traveling to IRC's programs;
• - visits from IRC staff members to receive personal updates;
• - special updates from IRC's president and field teams; and
• - frank assessments of the challenges we face.

Together, the IRC and Partners for Freedom provide a beacon of hope for millions of refugees.

Create a Humanitarian Legacy through a Bequest
Bequests are a wonderful way to fulfill your humanitarian values and leave a meaningful legacy that will make a difference in the lives of refugees for years to come. A gift through your will or living trust is fully deductible from your estate and can significantly reduce taxes on the balance of your estate that benefits family and friends. Learn more about bequests.

Receive Payments for Life
Did you know that you can support the charities you care most about while also providing for yourself and your family? We call these creative gifts "living gifts," because they support you and your family while you are alive and provide for refugees in the future as well. Examples of living gifts are charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts. The most straightforward living gift is a charitable gift annuity. Were you 70 years old, for example, you could open a charitable gift annuity for $20,000 and receive 6.5% or $1300 each year for the rest of your life, regardless of fluctuations of the economy. (The exact rate can change and depends on your age and other factors.) When you are no longer with us, the IRC will deploy your funds to aid refugee families. Living gifts can also qualify for an immediate Federal income tax deduction and help you avoid or defer capital gains tax on gifts of appreciated securities. Learn more about living gifts.

Open a charitable gift annuity by June 30, 2008 to receive the best rates!

Provide for Loved Ones First, then the IRC
Charitable lead trusts allow you to provide payments to the IRC for a number of years, then after that term, transfer the income-producing assets to your heirs with greatly reduced gift and estate tax rates. Learn more about charitable lead trusts.

Create a Legacy with the Funds you Saved Diligently in your Retirement Plan

A gift to the IRC from your company's pension plan, an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or a Keogh Plan is a thoughtful and straightforward way to support the work of the IRC. Your gift through a retirement plan could come to the IRC either during your lifetime or thereafter. Learn more about giving through your retirement plan.

Deploy Life Insurance Policies to Give the Gift of Life to Refugees
If you are holding a life insurance policy, have paid the plan over many years, and find that a spouse or children no longer require the level of protection they once did, life insurance can be a valuable gift. Life insurance policies can be transferred to and benefit the IRC, so that we can save more refugee families. Learn more about gifts of life insurance.

Give Real Estate
An outright gift of real estate that has been held for more than one year qualifies you for an income tax deduction for the full market value of the property and allows you to avoid capital gains tax on the appreciated portion. Alternatively, you can give real estate and receive life income with a charitable remainder trust or give the property in the future and retain lifetime use for yourself. To request a personal conversation about real estate gifts, please e-mail plannedgiving@theIRC.org or call Nora Benoliel, Senior National Officer for Gift Planning, 212-551-3147.