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Legacy Gifts

Leaving your climate legacy

Whether you have been involved with Citizens’ Climate Lobby for eighteen years or just attended your first meeting, your commitment to effective climate solutions is already making a lasting impact, and we thank you for that.

By choosing to make a legacy gift commitment, you are joining the Citizens’ Climate Legacy Club, a dedicated group of supporters extending their commitment to a livable planet for generations to come. Legacy giving offers flexible options that allow you to provide for your loved ones while sustaining the work of Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) and Citizens’ Climate Education (CCE) into the future.

Learn more about Citizens Climate Legacy Club and read profiles of featured members.

Remember us in your will

We encourage you to structure your will to provide for your family first, then consider including a gift to CCL or CCE.

If you don’t already have a will, we want to offer this free will-writing tool to help create this important legal document. In 20 minutes or less, you can protect your loved ones, plan for the future, and, if it’s right for you, include a lasting gift to CCL or CCE. The online resource is completely free and can also be used to document your wishes if you have a more complex estate or prefer to work with an attorney.

If you already have a will created, all it takes is a few simple sentences and a meeting with an estate planning attorney to add CCL or CCE.

Download sample bequest language

Give retirement plan assets

You can support our climate work while also providing for your loved ones by designating Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) or Citizens’ Climate Education (CCE) as a beneficiary of your retirement plan assets. There can also be significant tax advantages to donating retirement assets as part of an estate plan. When done properly, charitable donations of retirement assets can help minimize income taxes for both your individual heirs and your estate. To designate CCL or CCE as a beneficiary, contact your employer or plan administrator.

Use life insurance to make a gift

Life insurance offers several simple ways to leave a climate legacy to CCL or CCE:

  • Designate CCL or CCE as a beneficiary of your existing life insurance policy by contacting your policy provider.
  • Add a charitable rider to your life insurance policy, which typically donates an additional 1–2% of the policy to the organization without reducing the face value of the payout.
  • Donate a life insurance policy to CCL or CCE. If you give to CCE, every premium payment on the policy may be considered a tax-deductible gift.

Should I give to Citizens’ Climate Lobby or Citizens’ Climate Education?

We recommend discussing this decision with your attorney or financial planner to ensure you are maximizing any potential tax benefits associated with charitable bequests. For most individuals, claiming a tax deduction may not be necessary, as the federal estate tax does not apply to estates under $11.4 million. In situations where the choice has little or no impact on your heirs’ tax benefits, we respectfully suggest considering a gift to Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

Let us know of your gift

We greatly appreciate it when donors are willing to share a copy of the relevant sections of their will, retirement plan, or insurance policy. Doing so allows us to verify that our name, address, and tax ID numbers are correct, helping ensure your legacy gift can be successfully implemented.

We handle all notifications with the utmost confidentiality. Unless you explicitly give permission, we will not make any public announcement of your gift, out of respect for your privacy.

Please send a copy of the applicable sections of your will, retirement, or insurance policy to our Development Team via email or mail it to our home office at PO Box 181020, Coronado, CA 92178.

Contact us

For more information, please email our Development Team at or call our home office at (619) 437-7142.

*All estate planning decisions should be made with the assistance of an attorney and/or financial planner. Though we are here to help you learn more about your options, Citizens’ Climate Lobby and Citizens’ Climate Education cannot provide legal advice about the best way for you to give.

Board-approved legacy giving policies: