Building Your New Mexico Legacy

Planning a gift through the Museum of New Mexico Foundation today will make a big difference for tomorrow. Gifts of any size are welcome.

Bequests of cash, stock, real estate and other assets

A bequest allows you to remain in control of your assets during your lifetime, it costs nothing and can reduce estate tax burdens. Bequests can be a specified dollar amount, a percentage of an estate, or tangible property.

Beneficiary designation

Designate a museum, division or the Foundation as the full or partial beneficiary of a retirement or life insurance plan, bank or brokerage account.

Charitable gift annuities

A charitable gift annuity provides you with a fixed guaranteed lifetime income and allows you to receive immediate tax benefits while making an irrevocable gift to the Foundation.

Charitable remainder trust

A charitable remainder trust can give you income during your lifetime or for a term of years. Any remaining assets from the trust will be distributed to the Foundation when the trust terminates.

Donations of art

A gift of art ensures that your collection (or individual works of art) will be in the best possible care, and enjoyed by New Mexicans and visitors alike for years to come.

Outright gift

Make an outright gift through your donor advised fund, as a qualified charitable distribution from your IRA or by transferring appreciated stock.

throughout the Museum of New Mexico system. When she died in 2020, she also left an unrestricted estate gift totaling $1.9 million to support Foundation operations.

“Charmay understood what it takes to support museums, so she left unrestricted funds to the Foundation so we, in turn, could support the vital work of our state museums,” says Clements. “Gifts like Charmay’s make it possible to bring even more time and talent to our efforts.”

Funding the Future

Foundation trustee John Duncan specializes in setting up private and corporate trusts for wealthy families. As chair of the Legacy Society since 2018, he also plays a key role inspiring cultural giving today that will fund the future.

For those with significant giving capacity who are already members of the Foundation, Duncan says, “We should be talking to them about what they’re interested in supporting long-term, educating them on the needs of the museums and what a meaningful gift is.”

Equally important is inspiring new planned gifts that connect to younger donors who haven’t found their philanthropic footing.

“We have to broaden our ideas about who a donor might be," Duncan says, "it's important that we reach out to people from diverse backgrounds.”

Contact Laura Sullivan at laura@museumfoundation.org or 505.216.0829 for more information about planned giving, or consult a qualified professional advisor. Please notify us about your gift so we can honor your intent and include you in our Legacy Society.