Ways to Give

To make a gift through your Donor Advised Fund (DAF), contact your fund administrator or use the tool below.

Make a gift of stock, bonds or securities.

Gifts of securities can provide you with valuable tax benefits while supporting the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston with a charitable donation. Shares can be transferred electronically by notifying your broker that you wish to make a gift of securities to the ICA. Your broker may need written authorization from you including the name of stock and the number of shares before the transfer can be made.

Click here for the ICA’s stock transfer notification form.

Notifying the ICA of an impending securities transfer helps avoid delays in receipt and recording of your gift.

Many employers sponsor matching gift programs and will match any charitable contributions made by their employees. If your company is eligible, the impact of your gift to the ICA may be doubled or even tripled!

Request a matching gift form from your employer, and send it completed and signed with your gift to development@icaboston.org or:

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
Attn: Development Office
25 Harbor Shore Drive
Boston MA 02210

Deferred or planned gifts support all of the ICA’s work and are a lasting legacy of those who have championed the institution. The museum honors supporters who have included the ICA in their estate plans through the James Sachs Plaut Society, whose members are recognized for their comprehensive generosity during their lifetimes and receive special benefits. If you have already made a provision for the ICA in your estate plans, contact the Development Department at jspsociety@icaboston.org so that you may be enrolled as a Society member.

There are many ways to include the ICA in your estate plans:

Bequest

A bequest made under one’s will is often the easiest way to make a meaningful gift to the Institute of Contemporary Art. You may write a new will or simply add a codicil to your existing will. Bequests may come in any form—cash, securities, and other personal property. Your charitable bequest is 100% deductible for estate tax purposes.
There are a number of ways to structure your bequest so that your gift benefits you and the ICA:

• Outright bequest: a gift by will of a specific sum of money or property
• Residuary bequest: a gift of a percentage or all of the remainder of a donor’s estate after specific bequests, debts, taxes, and estate expenses have been paid
• Contingent bequest: a gift that benefits the ICA only if other named beneficiaries predecease the person making the will

Retirement Plans

You may wish to designate the ICA as a beneficiary of all or part of your retirement plan assets and set aside other assets for your family and friends. As a tax-exempt organization, the ICA will generally receive the full amount of the plan’s value, and your estate will receive a charitable deduction for the value of the assets distributed to the ICA.

If you are 70½ or older, you can give a gift of any amount (up to a maximum of $105,000) per year from your IRA directly to the ICA without paying income tax. An IRA charitable rollover (also referred to as a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD) has a number of benefits:

• Your gift will be used at the ICA today, letting you see the difference your donation is making.
• Beginning in the year you turn 73, you can use your gift to satisfy all or part of your required minimum distribution (RMD).
• You pay no income taxes on the gift. The transfer generates neither taxable income nor a tax deduction, so you benefit even if you do not itemize your deductions.
• 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.

Life Insurance

You may name the ICA as a beneficiary of all or part of a new or existing life insurance policy. Depending on the type of policy donated, you may receive an immediate income tax deduction and be able to deduct any future premium payments on the policy.

Life Income Gifts

Life income gifts benefit you and the ICA. By making a life income gift, you may increase your income, receive an immediate income tax charitable deduction, eliminate or reduce capital gains taxes, and reduce estate taxes. In addition, you have the satisfaction of knowing that your gift will provide much-needed support for the ICA.

Charitable Remainder Trusts

When you establish a charitable remainder trust, you made an irrevocable gift which is placed in the trust. You determine the payout rate, structure, and who oversees your trust, as well as how your trust is managed. Income from the trust is paid to one or more beneficiaries designated by you for a period of years. At the end of the trust term, the trust principal is turned over the ICA to be used as you set forth in the trust document. When you fund a trust gift, you not only receive an income stream for the life of the trust, but you also qualify for an immediate income tax charitable deduction, avoid any capital gains tax on the transfer, and reduce your taxable estate.

Charitable Lead Trusts

With a lead trust, you donate assets to a trust that makes payments to the ICA for the term of the trust. When the trust terminates, the assets are transferred back to you or directly to your heirs, as pre-designated by you. If the trust assets revert to you are the end of the trust term, your gift entitles you to an immediate income tax charitable deduction. If the trust assets are transferred to someone other than you at the end of the trust term, you enjoy a substantial reduction in estate and gift taxes on the future transfer to your heirs.

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston recommends that you discuss your gift plans with your own legal and financial advisors. Members of the ICA staff will be happy to work with you and your advisers on ensure that your gift meets your goals and the ICA’s needs.

To provide our visitors with broader and more lasting experiences, the ICA established a permanent collection in 2006.

Each year, the ICA grows its collection through both purchases and gifts of art:

Acquisitions Circle

The Acquisitions Circle is a unique giving circle of art enthusiasts and collectors who meet with the museum’s curatorial team twice a year to discuss and vote on artworks for purchase.

Donating Artwork
Gifts of art often come from dedicated collectors who want to ensure that the art of our time be available to all. By donating a work of art to the Institute of Contemporary Art, you create a lasting legacy to both the museum and contemporary art. Artwork can be donated during your lifetime or as a promised gift.

For more information about making a gift of art or joining the Acquisitions Circle, please contact the Development Team at acquisitionscircle@icaboston.org.