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How do we want to be remembered by our friends and loved ones?
Making a legacy gift is an opportunity for you to ensure that you will be remembered and your beliefs and passions are sustained for the future.

Planned Giving

Leaving a legacy is one of the most important decisions we make during our life. How do we want to be remembered by our friends and loved ones? How do we make sure that our beliefs and passions continue to make an impact in the future?

Making a legacy gift is an opportunity for you to ensure that you will be remembered and your beliefs and passions are sustained for the future.

Additionally, if you identify your legacy gift in advance, we are able to provide benefits for you and your family to enjoy during your lifetime. In many cases, you may also receive tax benefits and income from your legacy gift.

Leaving a legacy is an important decision.  Selecting the Lane Victory Maritime Center as your 501(c)(3) of choice to leave a legacy will ensure that your wishes continue into the future. 

Your legacy gift will help support the SS Lane Victory’s programs and sustainability.

SS Lane Victory duotone Yellow SUNSET SHIP | Donate | Lane Victory Maritime Center
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NOTE:

This website is designed to give you general information about various ways of giving to the Museum, including some of the potential financial benefits. It is not intended to provide specific advice about the legal or tax implications of charitable giving.

BEFORE MAKING A GIFT TO THE MUSEUM:

You should consult with your financial, tax, and legal advisors for a thorough analysis of your individual situation and the tax consequences and to decide which of these ways of giving might work best for you.

Bequests

Bequests (specific, residuary, and contingent gifts made by will) are the most popular type of planned gift and have been crucial (along with remainders from charitable trusts) to the extraordinary growth and success of SS Lane Victory as a living historical museum since its founding.

Whether you wish to provide general operating income for the Museum to use wherever it is most needed or to support a specific department or program, your bequest expresses your lasting commitment to the SS Lane Victory.

A bequest to the Lane Victory Maritime Center may also help you meet your financial and estate-planning goals since an estate-tax charitable deduction for the entire amount of the gift is allowed.

Charitable Remainder Trusts

Charitable remainder trusts allow you to make a gift to the SS Lane Victory and at the same time retain a benefit from the assets you give.

These separately managed trusts can be tailored to meet your financial goals with respect to the payout rate, type of income stream (variable or fixed), and payment schedule.
The two most common types are:

Annuity trusts pay a fixed dollar amount each year based on a percentage (at least 5%) of the initial fair market value of the trust assets.

Unitrusts pay a variable income stream based on a percentage (again, at least 5%) of the fair market value of trust assets as revalued each year. A deferral feature is available for charitable remainder unitrusts.

To establish a remainder trust, you make an irrevocable contribution of cash, securities, or other property, which is placed in trust.

The trust pays an income stream to one or more named beneficiaries (which can include you) for life and/or for a set term of years (not to exceed 20), and the Lane Victory Maritime Center receives the right to principal as a remainder interest.

Because charitable remainder trusts (like an IRA or 401(k)) are tax-exempt, this deferral feature can make them a useful retirement planning tool if you are in a position to defer your receipt of an income stream.

Charitable remainder trusts are typically funded with assets worth $100K or more. Establishing such a trust generally entitles you to claim an immediate income-tax charitable deduction.

Charitable Lead Trusts

A charitable lead trust is the reverse of a charitable remainder trust. This means the gift to the SS Lane Victory is the income stream from the trust, not the remainder.

Charitable lead trusts enable you to provide an income stream to the Lane Victory Maritime Center immediately for a set term of years or for a term measured by one or more lifetimes after which the trust assets pass to you or your estate or to your heirs.

THIS BENEFITS YOU BECAUSE:

Leaving the asset to heirs can significantly reduce the gift or estate tax that would otherwise apply.

Retirement Plan Assets

Assets in qualified (tax-deferred) retirement plans may represent a large portion of your total assets and therefore may be an important factor in planning testamentary charitable gifts.

Retirement assets generally considered suitable for charitable gifts include plans such as IRAs, Keoghs, SEPs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and ESOPs.

AS A GENERAL RULE:

If you intend to make both noncharitable and charitable gifts at death, it makes sense to consider using your tax-deferred retirement plan assets for charity and other assets for heirs.

A wise and thoughtful way to protect your assets from double taxation!

Left to family members or friends, retirement plan assets are subject to income tax and may also be subject to estate tax and generation skipping transfer tax.

Because of this potential double layer of tax, these assets may be particularly attractive as an asset to leave to the Museum.

IN OTHER WORDS…

When you designate the Museum as a beneficiary upon your death of all or a specified percentage of a retirement plan, the portion of the plan payable to the Museum will generally escape estate taxes, and the Museum, as a tax-exempt institution, will not be required to pay income tax on the distributions.

Life Insurance Policies

Naming the Museum the beneficiary of an existing life insurance policy that is no longer needed to provide for dependents offers a simple way to support this institution.

Since you are the policy owner, the value of the policy will be included in your estate, but an offsetting estate-tax charitable deduction will generally be allowed.

You may also be able to assign an existing whole life policy to the Museum, irrevocably making us the owner and beneficiary, and claim an income-tax charitable deduction for the lesser of either your basis in the policy or its fair market value in that year.

If the policy is not paid up and additional premium payments are due, you may donate cash or the equivalent to the Museum to pay the annual premiums and claim a full tax deduction for the gift.

Lastly, you may be able to purchase a new policy naming the Museum as owner and beneficiary, pay the annual premiums (through us), and claim the premium amount as a charitable contribution.

General Tax Info

LEGAL NAME: Lane Victory Maritime Center

ADDRESS: PO BOX 629, SAN PEDRO, CA 90733

TAX ID: EIN 33-0083915

Please contact us if need for further information.

Artifact Donations

The SS Lane Victory collects items related to Merchant Mariner history, Merchant Vessel Operations and other items related to the service of the LANE VICTORY. Occasionally, the Museum Department will accept donations that may be significant with a limited connection.
SS LAne Victory Artifacts Donation Duotone Blue | Donate | Lane Victory Maritime Center
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We are currently seeking items to add to the collection related to SS LANE VICTORY’s service as follows:
Please note:

Artifacts and items accepted may include uniforms, clothing, bedding, linens, flags, medical items, printed materials, art, photographic mediums, models, and various military artifacts.

At the discretion of Museum staff, additional items with significant historical impact may be accepted. Unfortunately, because of limited museum storage space, we are unable to accept all artifacts.

Additionally, there is no guarantee that the item(s) will go on display. Artifacts that are accepted but not displayed are preserved and stored sometimes for future display but always accessible as reference items for researchers.

We are not accepting Japanese battle or “good luck” flags. Our museum staff supports the repatriation of these artifacts to the the families of the Japanese soldiers who carried them. You can find out more about this at the Obon Society, which has a program to return the flags to families.

Lane Victory Maritime Center policy requires that only Museum Collection Staff accept items. A receipt will be issued to you once the items are accepted.

Items that are left with volunteers or on the SS LANE VICTORY randomly will be treated as abandoned property.

For questions, please email our Museum Department at [email protected]