A charitable gift from your estate is a favored method of giving that enables you to achieve your financial goals, maintain control of your assets, and benefit the American Air Museum in Britain.
When you think about your legacy, is charitable giving part of the plan? Estate planning is more than logistics—it's a reflection of your values and a way to protect what matters most to you. By including the American Air Museum in Britain in your plans, you ensure that your passion for history and aviation bridges generations, keeping the stories of transatlantic courage, innovation, and shared sacrifice alive for those who come after us.
Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) and Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD)
The ability to make this gift directly from IRA accounts is now a permanent part of the U.S. tax code. The gift amount counts toward your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD), and your taxable income is lowered by the amount of your qualified charitable distribution (QCD). Gifts must be completed before December 31 to be eligible in the current tax year.
You must be at least age 70½, and the gift should come directly from your IRA account, in the form of a check. The gift may come from a Traditional or a Roth IRA (special exclusions may apply to other types of IRA accounts).
IRA charitable gifts benefit AAMB’s work in a meaningful way immediately and you are able to see the direct impact. Additionally, IRA gifts allow you to meet all or part of your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD). You pay no income tax on the amount withdrawn for your gift. Since the gift doesn’t count as income, it can reduce your annual income level. This may help lower your Medicare premiums and decrease the amount of Social Security that is subject to tax.
Please have your IRA plan administrator send a check to:
American Air Museum in Britain
1455 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20004
AAMB’s Tax ID # is 52-1326048
No matter your age, you can designate the American Air Museum in Britain as the beneficiary of all or a percentage of your IRA and it will pass to us tax-free after your lifetime. It’s simple, just requiring that you contact your IRA administrator for a change-of-beneficiary form or download a form from your provider’s website. Important Note: It is critical to let us know of your gift because many popular retirement plan administrators assume no obligation to notify a charity of your designation. The administrator also will not monitor whether your gift designations are followed. We would love to talk to you about your intentions to ensure that they are followed. We would also like to thank you for your generosity. Please contact us at [email protected] or call 888-859-9550.
If you want to make an impact for the American Air Museum in Britain now and also provide for your family later, consider setting up a charitable lead trust. You transfer cash or other assets to a trust that makes payments to AAMB for a period of time. When the term is up, the remaining trust passes to your family or other beneficiaries you select. Lead trusts are most commonly used to decrease taxes on sizable estates, and/or protect assets that you want to pass down to heirs. There are two ways that charitable lead trusts make payments to your charity of choice: A charitable lead annuity trust pays a specified, fixed amount each year to the American Air Museum in Britain. A charitable lead unitrust pays a variable amount each year to AAMB based on the value of the assets in the trust. With a unitrust, if the trust’s assets go up in value, for example, the payments to the AAMB go up as well.
Wills and Trusts (Bequests)
Planning for the future and creating the legacy you wish to leave is one of the most effective ways to ensure a lasting impact. Making a gift in your will or living trust, known as a bequest, can guarantee that your legacy endures. With a bequest, you retain control of your assets during your lifetime and can change your beneficiaries at any time. You can complete your gift with just a few sentences. Your gift may be a specific dollar amount, a percentage of your estate, or the remainder after all other provisions are specified.
A donor advised fund (DAF), which is like a charitable savings account, gives you the flexibility to recommend how much and how often money is granted to the American Air Museum in Britain. You can recommend a grant or recurring grants now to make an immediate impact or use your fund as a tool for future charitable gifts.
You can also create a lasting legacy by naming the American Air Museum in Britain the beneficiary of the entire account or a percentage of the fund. Contact your fund administrator for a beneficiary form or download one from your fund administrator’s website.
Your DAF administrator will typically mail the check to the primary address they have on file for the American Air Museum in Britain, or they may send your gift electronically. In either case, please let us know about your forthcoming gift so that we may ensure it is properly designated by emailing [email protected] with the following information:
Find information that may be necessary for leaving your legacy.
Please contact us at:
52-1326048
Sample Language
For an unrestricted gift that allows the American Air Museum in Britain to determine how to use the funds based on the most pressing needs, please consider the following sample language for a will and/or trust:
"I hereby give, devise, and bequeath to the American Air Museum in Britain, a District of Columbia non-profit corporation, [the sum of $_______ ] OR [___ percent of all the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate] to be used by AAMB in support of its mission connecting generations to stories of heroism and aircraft that shaped history."
To designate a bequest for a particular purpose, please consider the following sample language:
"I hereby give, devise, and bequeath to the American Air Museum in Britain, a District of Columbia non-profit corporation, [the sum of $_______ ] OR [___ percent of all the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate] with preference it be used in support of [name of project or program______]."
Your donation helps us preserve the personal histories of American airmen and women who served from Britain during the Second World War. Through digitization, research, and public access, we ensure their courage and sacrifice remain accessible to families, scholars, and future generations.
