We hope that you will include the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in your estate or financial plans. There are several giving options available that can support you, the Food Bank, and the health of our community for generations to come.


What Can I Give?

There are many ways you can include the Food Bank in your long-range financial planning. We encourage you to consider the Food Bank by including a bequest in your will or by designating the Food Bank a beneficiary of your retirement plan, bank account or security, insurance policy or trust.


The simplest way to make a planned gift is by naming the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in your will. A bequest, whatever its size, is a meaningful way to support our mission without affecting your cash flow during your lifetime. Your attorney can include it when you prepare or revise your will, or you can add a codicil at any time.

A planned gift can be made to the Food Bank through your retirement plans. Simply designate the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts as the beneficiary of all or a portion of your retirement account. After your lifetime, it will pass to the Food Bank tax-free. You can continue to make withdrawals during your lifetime and even revise the beneficiaries if your circumstances change.

A no-cost way to make a planned gift to the Food Bank is by designating it as the beneficiary of a bank account or security. This will allow you to retain control of the asset during your lifetime and to contribute the remaining asset upon your passing.

Life insurance also can be used to make your gift. We encourage you to speak with your financial advisors about the many ways you can use life insurance to make a gift.

A charitable trust is funded by an irrevocable transfer of assets to a trust which would be invested and managed by a professional financial institution of your choice. The trust can produce income for you or a beneficiary until you or your beneficiary die. At the conclusion of the trust period, the remaining principal assets will be distributed to the Food Bank.

In this, as in all planned gifts including those not listed above, we encourage you to consult your tax, legal and financial advisors concerning the specific details and consequences of your gift to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.


How Can I Give?

To make a planned gift that reflects your philanthropic goals or for additional information, please call Donor Relations Manager Natasha Schott at (413) 203-4803 or email her at natashas@foodbankwma.org.


Your planned gift may provide you with financial or tax benefits, and it will have a meaningful impact as you change the lives of individuals in Western Massachusetts today and tomorrow, supporting and sustaining the essential mission of the Food Bank – to feed our neighbors in need and lead the community to end hunger.

Learn More About the Food Bank's Impact

Silas Kopf of Northampton explains why he supports the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, and the importance of planned giving.

Please let us know if you already included the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in your estate or financial plans. The information will not constitute a binding agreement and will remain confidential.