With the help of an attorney, you can include language in your will or trust specifying a gift to be made to family, friends, or United Way of Horry County as part of your estate plan, or you can make a bequest using a beneficiary designation form. There are a number of ways you can make a bequest to United Way of Horry County:

Specific Bequest. A specific bequest involves making a gift of a specific asset such as real estate, a car, other property or a gift for a specific dollar amount. For example, you may wish to leave your home or $50,000 to United Way of Horry County.

Percentage Bequest. Another kind of specific bequest involves leaving a specific percentage of your overall estate to charity. For example, you may wish to leave 25% of your estate to United Way of Horry County.

Residual Bequest. A residual bequest is made from the balance of an estate after the will or trust has given away each of the specific bequests. A common residual bequest involves leaving a percentage of the residue of the estate to charity. For example, you may wish to leave 30% of the residue of your estate to United Way Horry County.

Contingent Bequest. A contingent bequest is made to charity only if the purpose of the primary bequest cannot be met. For example, you could leave specific property, such as a vacation home, to a relative, but the bequest language could provide that if the relative is not alive at the time of your death, the vacation home will go to United Way Horry County.

If a donor is 70.5 years or older, up to $105,000 annually can be gifted to United Way of Horry County from an IRA account, avoiding income tax on the withdrawl. This tax-free transfer satisfies Required Minimum Distributions without increasing taxable income.

Cash gifts are acceptable in any form, including by check, money order, credit card, or online.

Stock donations may enable you to increase your gift while realizing additional tax benefits for you. When donating stock, most people simply transfer the stock directly to United Way of Horry County rather than selling it. This allows you to claim a charitable contribution in the amount of the average of the high and low stock prices on the day of the transfer.

You can name the United Way of Horry County as a beneficiary or partial beneficiary of a life insurance policy that you already own or purchase a policy to donate.

The United Way of Horry County can be named as the primary or contingent beneficiary of a retirement plan.

You can gift real estate to United Way of Horry County upon review by the Finance Committee. Please see the UWHC Gift Acceptance Policy for details.