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Make charity: water a beneficiary of your IRA and other non-probate assets

Plan your beneficiaries

Why beneficiary designations are so powerful

Assets not included in your will are called non-probate assets. Examples include 401(k)s, IRAs, life insurance policies, and other accounts. Designating charity: water as a beneficiary can have a big impact and may help your heirs avoid unwanted taxes.

Charitable benefits

Receive an estate tax charitable deduction
Reduce the burden of taxes on your family
Allow you to continue using assets or property during your lifetime
Leave a lasting legacy of clean water

Common gifted assets for beneficiaries

  • IRA
  • 401(k)
  • Life insurance
  • Joint real estate
  • Joint bank accounts
  • Joint property ownership

Designate charity: water as a beneficiary to one or more of your accounts

We’ve partnered with FreeWill, an online estate planning tool, to make setting up your beneficiaries free and easy. These gifts have a big impact and can often prevent unwanted taxation.


The Tributary – our legacy society

The Tributary is a community of givers who are making clean water part of their lasting legacy. By planning a future gift to charity: water, members of The Tributary help ensure that our work will continue until every person on the planet has access to clean water, and that the infrastructure exists to keep that water flowing for generations to come.

Let us know about your future gift

A few years ago, we learned just how many people — 703 million people! — are still waiting on clean water. We knew we had to do something. It was important to us to provide immediate support as well as the kind that would extend past our own lifetimes. With this in mind, we joined The Tributary, an incredible community of legacy supporters. We included clean water in our estate plans by designating charity: water as a beneficiary of our retirement accounts.

Ben and Meghan

Frequently Asked Questions

A non-probate asset is an account or other asset that won’t be governed by the decisions you make in a will. Instead, these accounts commonly have an assigned beneficiary that you choose. Types of non-probate assets include many retirement accounts, life insurance, some bank accounts and some assets (like a house or vehicle) that you jointly own with another person.

The most commonly gifted non-probate asset is an IRA or 401(k). This is because these accounts are always taxed (even for people below the estate tax threshold). Giving these accounts to charity keeps your heirs from having to pay unexpected taxes.

Yes! Even if you have a will in place you still need to designate beneficiaries for your non-probate assets.

Yes! Every gift, no matter the size, brings us one step closer to ending the water crisis. Many people choose to leave a percentage of their estate, which scales up or down with the size of your estate.

No. You can usually make these easily and at no cost to you. 

Yes. You are always free to revise or update your estate plans.

Get in touch

If you have any questions for our team, we want to provide the best support for you. We’d be happy to speak with you about your giving goals — with no obligation.

Name: Kees (Case) Groenewegen

Title :Senior Key Relationships Officer, Legacy Giving

Phone: 646-688-2323

Email: thetributary@charitywater.org

Already included us in your estate plan? Let us know.

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More ways to make an impact

Gifts in a will or trust

Donations in your will or trust are by far the most popular type of planned gift. We can help you add charity: water into your existing plans or, if you don’t have a will or trust, help you set one up at no cost to you.

Learn more

Popular tax-smart gifts

Giving non-cash assets — an increasingly popular choice — can allow you to have a bigger impact at a lower cost.

Learn more

Gifts that pay you back

Give assets while providing yourself or others with income for a period of time or distributions at a later date.

Learn more