To leave money to charity in your will, you add a clause that names the organization, describes the gift, and states whether it is a fixed dollar amount, a specific asset, a percentage of your estate, or whatever remains after other bequests are paid. The gift qualifies for an unlimited federal estate tax deduction1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 26 Section 2055, but the clause only works if the charity is identified precisely, the gift structure fits the rest of your estate plan, and the will itself is executed under your state’s rules. Get any of those wrong and the money can sit frozen in probate or go somewhere you never intended.
Pick the Gift Structure That Fits Your Estate
The wording you use decides how much the charity actually receives and what is left for everyone else. Four structures cover most situations.
- A specific bequest hands over a fixed dollar amount or a particular asset. “I give $50,000 to [Charity Name]” is the simplest version. You can also leave real estate, shares of stock, or other identifiable property. The charity knows exactly what to expect; your other beneficiaries know exactly what is left.
- A residuary bequest directs the charity to receive all or a share of what remains after debts, taxes, expenses, and specific bequests are paid. Useful when family members should get their gifts first and the charity benefits from the balance.
- A percentage bequest gives the charity a stated percentage of either the total estate or the residuary. Because the gift scales with the estate’s value, it adjusts on its own if your wealth grows or shrinks between the signing and your death.
- A contingent bequest sends the gift to the charity only if a condition is met, most often that a primary beneficiary dies before you do. It keeps assets from ending up in limbo.
These combine. You might leave $25,000 to one organization and 10 percent of the residuary to another. An estate planning attorney can layer them so the arithmetic still works if your estate turns out larger or smaller than you expect.
Decide How the Charity Can Use the Money
Your will can hand the money over with no conditions or lock it to a specific purpose, and the choice matters for both sides.
An unrestricted gift lets the charity direct the funds wherever the need is greatest, whether that is staffing, operations, or a program that did not exist when you wrote your will. Most charities prefer this, and if you trust the organization’s leadership, it is the simpler choice.
A restricted gift ties the money to a particular program, scholarship, or project. The charity is legally obligated to honor the restriction. The risk is that programs end or change shape, and if the charity can no longer use the money as you wrote it, the funds may sit frozen until a court permits them to be redirected. That process costs time and legal fees your estate pays.
If You Want the Gift to Last Forever
You can direct that your gift be held as a permanent endowment, where the charity invests the principal and spends only a portion of the returns each year. The will needs explicit language saying the gift is intended as an endowed fund. Without that language, the charity can spend the whole amount at once. Many community foundations and larger nonprofits set minimum thresholds for a named endowed fund, so check with the organization before locking in the wording.
Name a Backup Charity
Charities merge, rebrand, and sometimes close. If the one you named no longer exists when you die, a court can redirect your gift to a similar organization, but the result may not be the one you would have picked, and the process adds delay and expense. A single clause fixes this: “if [Primary Charity] has ceased operations, I direct this gift to [Backup Charity] instead.”
Identify the Charity Precisely
Sloppy identification is one of the easiest mistakes to make and one of the hardest to repair after you are gone. If your will says “the cancer society” and three organizations fit that description, your executor may need a court to decide which one you meant. For every charity you name, gather:
- The full legal name the organization is registered under, not a nickname or abbreviation. “American Cancer Society, Inc.” is different from “The Cancer Society” in a courtroom.
- The current mailing address, which helps your executor locate the organization and confirms whether you mean the national entity or a local chapter.
- The Employer Identification Number, the federal tax ID that removes almost all ambiguity about which entity you intended.2Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number
Before you finalize the will, confirm the organization qualifies as tax-exempt so your estate can claim the deduction. The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool shows current status, recent filings, and any revocation.3Internal Revenue Service. Tax Exempt Organization Search If the charity does not appear, ask it directly for documentation before writing it into your will.
Understand the Tax Picture
Under federal law, the full value of any bequest to a qualifying charity is deductible from your gross estate when the federal estate tax is calculated.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 26 Section 2055 There is no cap. An estate left entirely to charity owes no federal estate tax.
For 2026, the federal estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 per person.4Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax Estates below that number owe no federal estate tax to begin with, so the charitable deduction matters most for larger estates. Some states impose their own estate or inheritance tax with much lower thresholds, and the charitable deduction can still reduce those bills for more modest estates.
One point of confusion worth clearing up: a bequest does not produce an income tax deduction. Income tax deductions apply to gifts you make while alive. The benefit of a bequest is an estate tax deduction, which lowers the taxable value of the estate after death.
Fund the Charity With Your Retirement Account
If you plan to leave some assets to charity and some to family and you hold a traditional IRA or 401(k), the most tax-efficient move is usually to send the retirement account to the charity and leave other assets to your heirs. Non-spouse heirs who inherit a traditional IRA generally have to withdraw the entire balance within 10 years, and every dollar comes out as ordinary income.5Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics — Beneficiary Depending on the account size, that can push them into a higher bracket and shrink the inheritance.
A charity pays no income tax. Name it as the direct beneficiary of the retirement account and it receives the full balance tax-free, while your heirs inherit cash, real estate, or investments that do not carry the same built-in tax. Retirement account beneficiary designations are set through your account custodian, not through your will, so the two documents have to be coordinated.
Draft, Sign, and Keep the Will Valid
Charitable provisions can go into a new will or be added to one you already have. Either way, working with an estate planning attorney is the single best investment in this process. Charitable bequests interact with estate taxes, beneficiary designations, and your state’s probate rules in ways that generic online forms often handle poorly. An attorney who drafts estate plans regularly will catch problems like a residuary bequest that accidentally zeroes out a family member’s share, or restriction language so narrow the charity cannot use the money.
To be legally valid, the will has to be executed properly. Most states require you to sign in front of two disinterested witnesses, meaning people who do not inherit under the will, and those witnesses then sign themselves. Only one state requires notarization for the will itself, but in nearly every state you can add a notarized self-proving affidavit, which speeds up probate by removing the need to track down witnesses years later. Your attorney handles execution at the signing appointment.
Flat fees for a basic will with charitable provisions typically run from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of your estate and where you live. Notary fees are minimal. Compared to a court fight over ambiguous language, it is money well spent.
Review the Will Every Few Years
A will is not a set-it-and-forget-it document. Look at yours every few years and after any major life event: marriage, divorce, a birth, a significant change in your financial picture, or the death of a named beneficiary. Any of those can make existing provisions outdated or unworkable.
Changes on the charity’s side matter too. If the organization merges, changes its name, or shuts down, your bequest language may no longer point to a valid recipient. A backup clause solves this at the drafting stage; if yours does not have one, update the will before the issue becomes your executor’s problem. Small changes, like a new dollar amount or a swap between charities, can be done with a codicil, a short amendment signed and witnessed with the same formality as the original. For bigger overhauls, a new will is cleaner. Whichever route you take, keep the signed original somewhere secure and make sure your executor knows where to find it.