Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation
17 October 2010

Dear Friends,

Last week I was charmed by the simplicity of one donor's comment that he supports the Maharishi Vedic Pandits because of Maharishi's compact, singular expression of how to achieve heaven on earth.

Maharishi

Maharishi said,

“Yogic Flying and Yagyas are the only thing that will effectively uphold world consciousness on an eternal level of invincibility.

“I want to engage from now on as large numbers of Vedic Pandits as possible but I have to be careful that once I engage them, the funds will be there to continue to support them.

“The only wise thing to do now, is to establish homes of Vedic knowledge because the Vedic vibrations of the performances of the Vedic Pandits have been established to motivate life according to Natural Law for the whole world and to usher in a new golden destiny of the human race.”

Arlene and I believe our dear donors lead the world in recognizing what an opportunity Maharishi has given us.

This became particularly apparent when recently some donors expressed the noble desire to align their legacies with Maharishi's for creating large Vedic Pandit groups in India. As one such example, we thought you might enjoy this plan from a couple who recently name the Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation in their will.

“Maharishi gave us a huge gift by creating the Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation. We feel honored to be able to support Maharishi's Vedic Pandits in such a permanent way. Our legacy to the Foundation can continue to create happiness in the world and perpetuate Vedic civilization for thousands of years to come. And because a significant portion of our wealth has come to us in the form of inheritances from our parents, our bequest to the Foundation will bring benefits to them also, wherever in the universe they may be. It brought us a tremendous sense of satisfaction to sign our papers and create our legacy to the Foundation.”

G.L. & L.L

This offer along with several others inspired us to move ahead quickly on a global bequest program. Dr. Larry Chroman kindly consulted an experienced and highly knowledgeable attorney on how bequests and gifts to the Foundation could best be made. His advice, found below, covers general bequests as well as charitable gifts specifically from US taxpayers.

We hope that many of our dear family will look into this approach for the creation of the permanent endowment for the Pandits and we look forward to your comments and suggestions about this initiative and any other ideas you might have.

Thank you again for your care for this sublime and most powerful project.

With very best wishes

Jai Guru Dev

Raja Harris and Arlene Kaplan

Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation
Dr. Larry Chroman
Director of Planned Giving, Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation

Dear Friends,

Endowment funds like the one to support the Maharishi Vedic Pandits in India typically receive most of their funding from individuals and much of that through planned giving and bequests.

Bequests are gifts of personal property, such as money, land, retirement accounts, life insurance policies and jewelry given under the terms of a will.

An experienced attorney has provided some information on bequests and planned giving, which is relevant for people of every country who would like to remember the Foundation in their wills (Part 1), as well as some advice specifically for U.S. taxpayers about charitable gifts made during life (Part 2).

Part 1: General Bequest Information

A bequest may take the form of a specific amount or a percentage, or may leave the remainder of the estate after other bequests to the Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation.

Below is some sample language which can be given to your lawyer to help guide him or her in including your bequest in your will.

Unrestricted Bequests:

An unrestricted bequest is one intended for the general and best use by the Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation, at the discretion of its Board of Directors. Such a bequest might read:

“I hereby give, devise and bequeath to Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation, a Delaware USA nonprofit Corporation (EIN 26-2986750), the [(sum of $_______ ) or ( ____ percent of my estate) or (the following property) or (the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate)], for its general use in support of the programs for Maharishi Vedic Pandits.”

Some donors may like to donate specifically to the reserve fund, which endows the Maharishi Vedic Pandits at the Brahmasthan of India and other locations that Maharishi specified. In this case, the last phrase in the paragraph above could be amended to indicate this.

Part 2: For U.S. Taxpayers

Did you know you can donate assets like real estate, stocks or collectables, receive a tax write off for the full current market fair value - even if that is much more than you paid for your asset - and pay no tax on the growth of the asset from the time you purchased it? This is one of the many strategies the IRS allows to help donors support tax-exempt charities like the Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation (BSF).

These strategies can be done during life or under a will. When done under a will, the assets pass to the charity as a bequest without any income or estate tax. When done during life they are called charitable gifts. These types of gifts will be a very important part of helping the BSF build a large endowment for the Vedic Pandits.

Making a bequest is one of the many ways donors can give gifts to the BSF, provide certainty for their wishes for their estates and receive tax benefits.

Five of the many charitable gift programs the IRS allows are shown below. Some of these may be of interest and benefit to you and your family. If you are interested in any of these programs, please contact us at 641-209-5022.

1. Partnership Interest – You can give a partnership interest to BSF and receive an immediate tax deduction. If you would like to retain some of the income from the partnership BSF attorneys can work with you to create a trust to achieve this.

2. Retirement Plans – New legislation allows donors age 71 and over to direct distributions from their IRA to BSF in the amount of up to $100,000 per year and incur no tax liability. There are many other advantages to this plan. Please contact us if you would like to explore this option.

3. Charitable Gift Annuity – you transfer cash or securities to BSF. You receive an immediate tax deduction for your gift. Working with well-established pension and money-mangement funds, BSF pays you, or you and two others, guaranteed fixed payments for life, which are backed by this gift, and by the assets of BSF.

4. Donating a Home – If you have a home you are living in and would like to donate the home to BSF, but want to still live in the home, BSF can work with you to ensure that you have the full right to use this property for your lifetime and you can get an immediate tax deduction for your gift.

5. Real Estate – You can gift property held for over one year and receive a charitable tax donation for the appraised value. The deduction may apply to up to 30% of your gross income and you can carry this deduction forward for up to five years until you are able to use the entire deduction.

BSF is fortunate to work with experienced attorneys who are experts in this area. We welcome your questions and look forward to working with you.

In the coming months we will write about more of the strategies donors can use to help themselves and help BSF quickly fund the endowment necessary to fulfill Maharishi’s gifts to our world family now and for every generation to come.

With best wishes

Jai Guru Dev

Dr. Larry Chroman

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If you would like to support the Vedic Pandits at the Brahmasthan you can make an on-line donation here.

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