Planned Giving
Sustain COCA's Future for Generations
Benefit COCA and create your legacy with a planned gift through the Becker Legacy Circle, COCA’s planned giving program. By making a planned gift, you are helping to sustain COCA’s future and advance our work with the community.
Bequests, deferred gifts, and other estate planning—or planned gifts—represent a unique and mutually beneficial way of giving. When you make a planned gift to COCA, you are supporting the work of a nationally recognized arts center, the expertise of a dedicated and talented faculty, and most importantly, the creative potential of all of our students.
Members of the Becker Legacy Circle receive invitations to exclusive Becker Legacy Circle events, onsite recognition, and recognition in publications showcasing COCA’s work in the community.
Becker Legacy Circle
The Becker Legacy Circle honors two dear friends of COCA, the late Janet and Bernard Becker, MD, who established COCA’s first-ever planned gift, and later provided significant investments to our endowment ensuring COCA’s work could be sustained for future generations. Bernie, the professor emeritus of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Washington University School of Medicine, and Janet, an activist and community organizer, were life-long philanthropists and cared deeply for our community. Bernie and Janet believed that art should be accessible to everyone.
Ways to Make a Planned Gift
- Will or Living Trust: COCA is named as a beneficiary in your will or trust
- Life Insurance Policy: COCA is the recipient or a named beneficiary of a policy
- Payable on Death Account: Any account where you name COCA as a beneficiary
- Charitable Gift Annuity: Transfer of property or cash to COCA in exchange for life-long annuity payments to you or a loved one while at the same time receiving potential tax benefits
- Charitable Remainder Trust: Cash or assets to a trust where beneficiaries are named and receive benefits with the remainder then benefitting COCA
If you have decided to include COCA in your estate plans, the following language may be helpful as you prepare your documents and will help make sure COCA receives your generous gift. Please consult your professional advisors for your tax, legal, and specific needs.
Sample Bequest Language
I, [name], of [city, state, ZIP], give, devise and bequeath COCA (Center of Creative Arts), located at 6880 Washington Avenue, in St. Louis, MO 63130 (EIN 43-1395056), the sum of $_____ [or all or ____% percentage of the residue of my estate] to be used for its unrestricted use and purpose.
If you have already included COCA in your estate plans, thank you for your generosity. We hope you will notify us of your decision.
COCA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to COCA are eligible for tax deduction to the limit allowable by law.