Planned Giving & Endowment

Giving

BALANCED ROCKS CIRCLE – WHY WE LEFT A LEGACY

Including North Country School in your estate or financial planning is vital to the future of our mission and program.

Annual gifts and capital gifts are, of course, essential and needed at all times. However, planned giving provides another avenue for forward-thinking donors to make a meaningful legacy gift that extends philanthropic influence beyond donors’ lifetimes.

Planned giving is essentially using a non-cash vehicle to make a gift. A planned gift can include the following:

Leaving a gift to NCS and/or Treetops in your will
Giving appreciated stock or real estate
Devising an annuity or remainder trust to provide you or your heirs income and make a gift to this institution
Making this institution a full or partial beneficiary of your retirement plan or a life insurance policy

Planned gifts are strategic ways to provide for organizations that reflect your values. These gifts can expand your capacity to give and can significantly reduce your tax obligations.

Your planned gift ultimately, unless otherwise directed by our Board of Trustees with the permission of your family after your death, is added to our endowment to strengthen our offerings for children and increase access to our programs.

By making your legacy gift, you become an honored member of our Balanced Rocks Circle (BRC), joining other visionary donors who wish to make an impact now and beyond their lifetimes.

If you have any questions or want more information about making a planned gift, please contact Christie Borden, Director of Advancement, at (518) 837-5402, or email her at .

We ask that you clear all decisions you make about planned and legacy gifts with your financial advisor.

WHY WE LEFT A LEGACY

I think, bottom line, NCS put me in touch with my potential. I left with a deep, visceral sense of myself and the world around me. I can’t thank the faculty enough for nurturing me and planting the seeds of so many important things in my life. The school cultivates mindful young citizens.

I recognize that my experience at NCS was supported by those who gave before me, and it makes me feel good to know that with our planned gift we are supporting the experience of those who come after me.

—Jessica Tuck, NCS 77, and husband Robert Koseff

As my husband, Sam, and I prepared to move from LA to the East Coast, we met with our estate lawyer to ensure we had the proper plans in place for our young daughter. We were advised to consider including a meaningful non-profit in our plans. Sam and I immediately knew Camp Treetops was our meaningful organization.

As a camper, I was encouraged to turn the water off while brushing my teeth, something that is part of my daily routine. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of Treetops. Treetops is unlike anything else in my life, which is why we are thrilled to have recently joined the Balanced Rocks Circle, a group of members who are preserving camp and school for future generations of children.

—Meredith Kovach, CTT 84-85, and husband Sam Eaton

Legacy Giving

INCLUDING NCS IN YOUR WILL WITH A SIMPLE BEQUEST

Your bequest can be added to your existing will as an amendment or codicil, so you don’t have to revise the entire document.

I hereby give to North Country School, Incorporated, a not-for-profit organization located in Lake Placid, NY that includes both North Country School and Camp Treetops (both having a Tax ID number of 14-1430542):

The sum of $__________ (amount)

AND/OR __________% of the reside of my estate

AND/OR the following described property __________ (description).

DONATING A PORTION OF YOUR RETIREMENT PLAN ASSETS

You can elect to donate part or all of a retirement plan’s assets to NCS, Inc. by filling out the plan’s beneficiary form. By naming NCS/ Treetops as the beneficiary of your IRA, 401 (k) or other qualified retirement plan, the residual that you designate from your plan passes to the institution tax-free after your death.

DONATING LIFE INSURANCE

You can either purchase a new policy or donate an existing policy you already own but no longer need. By designating NCS/Treetops as both the owner and beneficiary of the policy via the plan’s beneficiary forms, you will be eligible for a tax deduction.

DONATING REAL ESTATE AND APPRECIATED SECURITIES

A residence, vacation home, farm, acreage and securities may have appreciated in value over the years to the extent that the sale would result in a sizable capital gains tax. By donating these to NCS/Treetops, you avoid or minimize capital gains taxes and could receive a charitable deduction for full fair market value from one to five years. Donors can also mitigate their tax implications by using property or assets with appreciated value to create a trust.

ESTABLISHING AN ANNUITY OR TRUST FOR INCOME

NCS / Treetops is in discussion with our bank to create for our donors Charitable Gift Annuities (CGA). CGAs are created when you transfer to the institution cash or property and in exchange establish an annual fixed income from the institution at a rate dependent on your age, with the remainder donated to the institution after your lifetime. In doing this, you can receive an immediate tax deduction and can mitigate capital gains and estate taxes. As we need a minimum amount of funds to extend this annuity offering to our donors, we are seeking a core group to seed this option and initiate this opportunity.

We can help you initiate discussions with your financial planner to create a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) or Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust (CRAT). CRUTs offer you payments that change annually, based upon the market value of the assets. CRATs offer you annual fixed payments based on the initial value of the trust’s assets and your age at creation of the trust. After a set term—or your lifetime—the remainder of these trusts’ assets are donated to the institution.

ENDOWMENT

Our endowment is an investment in the future. It gives us the confidence to plan and make strategic, long-term decisions that will allow us to provide future generations with the unique programming that affords every child the opportunity for success.

To promote economic diversity, strong scholarship funding supports nearly 30 percent of campers and students in any given year. In recent years, scholarship assistance to students and campers has amounted to approximately 20 percent of our operating budget.

The generosity of donors makes this commitment possible. But as the demand for financial aid increases, endowment growth to support expanded scholarship funding will help ensure accessibility to the most promising students and campers, regardless of family income.

If our institution is to flourish, so must our children and the exceptional adults who guide them. Please consider donating to the general endowment or to any of the established named funds below.

If you have any questions or want more information about our endowment or any endowment fund, please contact Christie Borden, Director of Advancement, at (518) 837-5402, or email her at .

Endowment Funds

Milton and Liesa Allen Fund (for Faculty Salaries)

David and Peggy Bailey Fund (In honor of the founders of Woodstock Country School)

Beck Seider Family Fund (for CTT Scholarships)

Beyond the Mountains Fund (for Faculty Development)

Bob Bliss Fund (for Waterfront Improvements)

Bramwell Family Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Mildred Brooks Nature Program Fund (for CTT Salaries)

Leo and Walter Clark Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Brion Crowell Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Kitty and Carl (C.D.) Dennett Scholarship Fund (for NCS Scholarships)

Dumont Scholarship Fund (for CTT Scholarships)

Harry K. Eldridge Scholarship Fund (for NCS Scholarships)

Feather Foundation Fund (for Gardens and Greenhouse)

Eric Feldsberg Memorial Scholarship Fund (for CTT Scholarships)

Garden Fund (for Program Enhancement)

Reginald Gilliam Mountaineering Leadership and Scholarship Fund (for Mountaineering Program Support and CTT Scholarships)

Govan Family Fund (for CTT Scholarships)

Tsu Hansen Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Harlan Family Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Doug Haskell Fund (for CTT Scholarships)

Helen Haskell Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Kaye Clark Hoins Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Lindsay Johnson Fund (for NCS Scholarships)

Adlin and Sherman Loud Scholarship Fund (for NCS Scholarships)

Anne Martindell Gardening Fund (Restricted)

The Master Teacher Fund (for Faculty Salaries)

Peter W. Merle-Smith Fund (for CTT Scholarships)

Kate C. Moore Fund (for CTT Scholarships)

Christopher Nicholson Memorial Fund (for NCS Scholarships)

Diana E. Oehrli Fund (for CTT Scholarships)

Okin Fund (for Maintenance on Capital Improvements)

Olmstead Fund (for NCS & CTT Endowment)

Arthur W. Parker Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Susan Powell NCS 51 Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Prince de Ramel Fund (for Faculty Salaries)

Joyce Pearson Prock Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Richard Rockefeller Fresh Start Scholarship Fund (for NCS &CTT Scholarships)

Smith Family Foundation Fund (for NCS Scholarships)

Sylvia Pool Sperling Fund (for Visiting Artists Restricted Endowment)

Spiegelberg Fund (for Scholarships)

David A. Stein NCS 52 and Allison Stein Robbins NCS 74 Fund (for Riding Program, Farm, and NCS Scholarships)

Elizabeth Claire Stein Scholarship Fund (for CTT Scholarships)

Strong Roots, High Peaks Greening and Renewal Fund

Strong Roots, High Peaks Faculty Support Fund

Strong Roots, High Peaks Scholarship Fund (for NCS & CTT Scholarships)

Margaret and Randolph Thrower Fund (for Greening and Renewal)

Frank H. Wallace Fund (for Faculty Enrichment)

Jerry Webster Fund (for NCS & CTT)

Herbert and Maria West Fund (for NCS Intern Salaries)

Winter’s Children Fund (for NCS Scholarships)

John O. Zimmerman Fund (for NCS & CTT)

If you wish to create a special endowed fund, please contact the Advancement Office at 518-523-9329.