Gifts by Will or Trust

A charitable gift from your estate is a favored method of giving that enables you to achieve your financial goals and benefit Washington National Cathedral. No other planned gift is as simple to make or as easy to change, should you ever need the assets during your lifetime.

A bequest may be right for you if:

You want to make a gift to Washington National Cathedral.
You want the flexibility to change your mind.
You want continued access to your wealth, should you need it.
You are concerned about outliving your resources.

How Your Gift Helps

Your planned gift to Washington National Cathedral helps us continue to be a house of prayer for all people. Among many things, your support will help us:

be a trusted voice of moral leadership and a scared space;

serve as a gathering place for the nation during moments of shared significance;

strive to serve God and our neighbors as agents of reconciliation.

More Information

Show more detailsHide details

Remembering Washington National Cathedral in your will is a wonderful way for you to make a lasting gift. Large or small, your bequest will make an important contribution to our long-term strength and our ability to carry on with our activities.

But what if you don't have a will or living trust? You are not alone. Most Americans don’t have a will.

Without a will, the laws of your state will decide how your estate is divided. Typically, the probate court will divide your estate among your closest surviving family members according to a formula, and none of your estate can go to Washington National Cathedral or any other charity. If you wish to have a say in how your estate is distributed, you must have a will or living trust. We encourage you to work with an experienced attorney to create a will or living trust that accomplishes your goals for your estate.

Ways You Can Define a Charitable Gift in Your Estate Plan

There are several ways that you can define the amount of your charitable gift to Washington National Cathedral. They are:

A gift from the remainder or residue of your estate. This gift occurs only after all specific bequests, debts, taxes and expenses have been paid. You can make a gift to the Cathedral of a percentage of whatever is left. This means that your gift will go up or down as your asset values change. It can ensure that loved ones will be taken care of first.

For example, you can make a gift of the full residue of your estate, such as 25% or other percentage. In most cases, there will be a remainder, but this is hard to predict. If you are making gifts to several individuals or trusted charities, this also allows you to choose the appropriate percentage for each.
A gift of a particular amount of money. For example, you can give $25,000, $50,000 or other amount.

Ways to Specify How We May Use Your Bequest

You have several options for telling Washington National Cathedral how we may use your bequest once we receive it. They are:

An Unrestricted Bequest: This is a gift for general purposes. This can be the most useful kind of bequest because it allows the Dean and Board to put the gift to the area of greatest need at the time we receive it. The earthquake of 2011 and the Covid epidemic showed just how things can arise unexpectedly.
Building and Preservation Endowment: Help preserve, restore and maintain Cathedral, building. This beautiful gothic structure requires constant work on everything from the limestone carvings to the stained glass windows over time.
Music Endowment: Few things are more central to the Cathedral and it’s religious services than music. It will always be a core aspect of what we do. The Cathedral uses music to reach people in ways that are most meaningful to them.
Worship Endowment
Program Endowment
Endowment for the Office of the vicar

Make Sure We Can Carry Out Your Wishes

It is very important that your bequest be accurately and clearly described in your estate plan so that we can carry out your wishes as you intended. We are pleased to consult with you regarding the terms of your bequest to make sure that we will be able to carry out your intentions. In order to avoid any possible question that your bequest is to our organization, be sure to include our full legal name and our federal tax identification number in your bequest.

Legal name: Washington National Cathedral

Current address: 3101 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20016

Tax identification number: 53-0196604

We are happy to provide you with sample bequest language to assist you and your attorney. You have complete flexibility to change your bequest at any time. If circumstances change in a way that makes you want to revise your gift to us, you can.

Tax Benefits

Because your bequest is revocable, you do not receive an income tax charitable deduction when you create it. Rather, your estate will receive an estate tax deduction for the full value of your bequest in the year it is made. Depending on a variety of factors, including the size of your estate and estate tax law at the time your estate is settled, this deduction may or may not save estate taxes.

Bequest Alternatives

In addition to adding bequest language to your will, here are a few other simple ways for you to make a bequest to us:

Make Washington National Cathedral a designated beneficiary of a life insurance policy.
Make Washington National Cathedral a designated beneficiary of an IRA or other retirement plan.
Make Washington National Cathedral a designated beneficiary of savings bonds.
Instruct your bank to "pay on death" to Washington National Cathedral some or all of a specific bank account.
Instruct your brokerage firm to "transfer on death" to Washington National Cathedral some or all of a specific brokerage or other financial account.

Please let us know if you have included Washington National Cathedral in your estate plans. We would welcome the opportunity to thank you for your thoughtful gift and to confirm that we can carry out your wishes.

Example

Kristie Mcneil, a widow, has been a supporter of Washington National Cathedral for many years. Kristie is in good health now, but does not want to be a financial burden to her children should she require expensive health care in the future.

Washington National Cathedral is one of two charities to which she has been most dedicated. She would like to make a lasting gift to each of them in memory of her husband. After discussing her options with her estate planning advisor, she decides to create a residuary bequest in her will for each of her two favorite charities. Each charity will receive 50% of the remainder of her estate after all other obligations, such as taxes and bequests to her children and grandchildren, have been taken care of.

Benefits

Kristie’s assets will remain available to her should she need them.
The revocable nature of her gift will minimize the possibility that she will ever need financial help from her children.
If her estate is worth what she expects when it is settled, she will be able to provide generous legacy gifts to the two charities that have meant the most to her and her late husband.