Other Ways to Give


Estate Planning: Join the Sanders Society

Courtesy Jeffrey Toobin
Courtesy Jeffrey Toobin

In 2015, CPJ formed the “Sanders Society,” which honors the legacy of Marlene Sanders, one of TV’s first female journalists.

Sanders, who worked in broadcasting for ABC News, CBS News, and PBS, was the first anchorwoman of a primetime network show, the first woman to report for a broadcast network from Vietnam during the war, and the first woman to be named to higher management of a news network. Sanders, who passed away in 2015, is survived by her son, New Yorker writer and CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin, and her grandchildren.

“A pioneering television journalist—the first network newswoman to report from Vietnam, among many other firsts—she informed and inspired a generation,” Toobin wrote after Sanders’ death. “Above all, though, she was a great Mom.”

To date, nearly $750,000 has been received through such efforts. With your help, we can continue the fight to defend journalists around the world and ensure CPJ’s future.

(Photo courtesy Jeffrey Toobin)


Name CPJ in your will

Including CPJ in your estate plans is a wonderful way to help ensure the organization’s future, and it is easy to carry out. A charitable bequest to CPJ may be included in your will when it is written or revised. You may also add a bequest through a codicil, a separate document consisting of an amendment to an existing will. All charitable bequests are fully deductible from your gross estate.

The following examples are meant to illustrate a variety of bequest techniques. You should consult an attorney to adapt this language to your individual circumstances as part of an overall estate plan.

A specific bequest is a gift of a particular dollar amount or a particular piece of property. For example:

I bequeath (dollar amount or description of property) to the Committee to Protect Journalists (or its successor).

A residuary bequest is a gift of all or part of the property remaining in your estate after debts, expenses, and specific bequests have been paid. When you use a percentage instead of a specific amount, your gift will stay relatively the same in proportion to your entire estate, regardless of unexpected increases or decreases in its value. For example:

I give, bequeath, and devise (all, or XX percent) of the rest, residue, and remainder of the property, both real and personal, wherever situated, which I may own or be entitled to at my death, to the Committee to Protect Journalists (or its successor).

A contingent bequest is a gift that takes effect only if the primary beneficiary or beneficiaries of the bequest predecease you. For example:

If neither my husband nor any descendants of mine survive me, then I give, bequeath, and devise all of the rest, residue, and remainder of the property, both real and personal, wherever situated, which I may own or be entitled to at my death, to the Committee to Protect Journalists (or its successor).


Retirement Plans

One of the most cost-effective ways of including CPJ in your estate plans is to leave either the remainder or a portion of the remainder of your retirement plan to the Committee to Protect Journalists. If the unused portion of your pension fund, 401(k), or IRA is assigned to any individual(s) other than a spouse, it is subject to an estate tax at your death, as well as an income tax when received by the heirs (if your estate is $650,000 or more). The two combined could erode up to 80 percent of the remaining benefits. If bequeathed to the Committee to Protect Journalists, those funds would escape both income and estate taxes, thereby reducing your taxable estate.


Life Insurance

If you own a life insurance policy that is no longer needed for the protection of your family or for other purposes, you may use it to make a gift to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The simplest way is to make CPJ both owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy, which would entitle you to an income tax deduction based on either the total value of the premiums paid, or the cash surrender value, whichever is less. An alternative is to name CPJ the beneficiary of a policy you receive through your place of employment.

Thank you for your interest in CPJ, and for helping us to defend journalists and press freedom around the world.


Cryptocurrency

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Your tax-deductible gift helps make a difference to us and to the journalists who face reprisal in their pursuit of the truth.