Roughriders Society

The Boone and Crockett Club's Roughriders Society recognizes those individuals who have included the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation in their estate plans.

The Boone and Crockett Club was founded by Theodore Roosevelt at a time when it was the only organization in America dedicated to the conservation of our nation’s natural resources. Roosevelt, who was deeply concerned over the plight of America’s wildlife, hosted a dinner in December of 1887 for ten like-minded sportsmen friends. This influential group recognized that what had happened in the preceding decade to the vast bison herds and the millions of passenger pigeons could easily happen to other species unless efforts were made to control market hunting and provide wildlife the ability to coexist with man. That evening the Boone and Crockett Club was founded with the mission to promote two major goals: the conservation of critical wildlife habitat and the principle of hunting in fair chase.

You can help further the work and vision of these leaders by becoming a member of the Roughriders Society. The Boone and Crockett Club's Roughriders Society is a planned giving program designed for Club members and friends who wish to leave a lasting legacy by including the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation in their financial estate plans. Funds contributed to the Foundation are held in a permanently restricted fund, which supports the Club’s key conservation leadership programs. This recognized group of the Club’s special friends serves as a partnership, which encourages like- minded individuals to participate through a variety of planned giving vehicles.

Roughrider Society Bequest Form

Planned giving is not about death. It is about what is best for you and your family. It lets you plan while you are alive and choose where you want to leave your legacy. Careful planning can ensure that your property is distributed in the manner you choose. It can also significantly reduce administrative costs and estate tax liability. 

Your answers to the following three questions will help lead you in the direction of which planned gift may be the best for you and your family.

1. Do you have assets that you need to retain total use of during the rest of your life, but would like to see them used by a favorite charity after you are “gone”? Consider a testamentary gift through your will, life insurance policy, or retirement funds.
2. Do you have assets from which you need to retain benefits or income from now, but want those assets to go to charity in the future? Consider a gift that will pay you (and/or other beneficiaries) income now or beginning at some predetermined date in the future. These life income producing planned giving instruments include charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts.
3. Do you have substantial assets that you want to pass to your children or other heirs and do not need the asset or income from that asset now? Consider a charitable lead trust.

PROGRAMS AND INSTRUMENTS FOR GIVING

Wills

A will represents perhaps the simplest way to leave a wildlife legacy. A specific bequest or a residual portion of your estate could result in meaningful estate tax savings and could establish a permanent endowment in the donor’s name or someone else as designated. Such a testamentary gift can also be designated for a specific approved use.

Life Insurance

Making the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation the owner or beneficiary of a life insurance policy is a good way to make a gift without an upfront transfer of funds.

Retirement Funds

Millions of Americans own a Qualified Retirement Plan (e.g. IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, Keogh Plans, Mutual Funds). Naming the Foundation as one of the beneficiaries or sole beneficiary of your retirement plan is a simple way to support the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation. In addition, the proceeds would be tax-free for the Foundation, where as the income would be taxable to your heirs.

Charitable Gift Annuity

One of our most popular programs, the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation Charitable Gift Annuity, enables you to exchange assets for an immediate or future fixed, guaranteed income. For those who are still in their earning years, Boone and Crockett Club Foundation annuities can offer large income tax deductions now and generous income later.

Charitable Remainder Trust

A Charitable Remainder Trust enables you to place low-basis, low-yielding, highly appreciated assets in trust for a subsequent sale without incurring the capital gains tax! You retain an income and also generate immediate income tax deductions. As the name implies, when the trust term ends (Charitable Remainder Trusts can be structured for life or a term of years), the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation receives the assets remaining in the trust.

Charitable Lead Trust

This type of charitable trust pays the “lead interest” (i.e. the income) to the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation for a period of years with the “remaining interest” ultimately returning to the donors or passing to other family members. As such, it is essentially the opposite of the Charitable Remainder Trust described above. Charitable Lead Trusts are used primarily to pass substantial assets to heirs with minimal gift and estate tax exposure or to generate a large income-tax deduction in a year when a significant taxable event, such as the sale of a business or the realization of a large capital gain, has occurred for the donor.

Real Estate

Real estate, such as a farm, business, primary residence, or vacation home, can be transferred to the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation to provide an immediate tax deduction. Or, if you were planning to sell the real estate, but can’t afford to give the entire asset, consider gifting an undivided interest in the property to the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation just prior to the sale. Such a maneuver will generate an income-tax benefit for you to help offset the gain realized on the portion you retained! And certain real estate can be given to the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation for future sale, thus avoiding capital gains, with the after sale proceeds paying you an income for life.

For more information about the Roughriders Society, please contact B&C's Planned Giving Representative, Winton Smith, at 901-301-9275 or visit www.bclegacy.org.

 

Boone and Crockett Club Earns Coveted 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator

Boone and Crockett Club's strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency have earned it a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator.  

Boone and Crockett Club's exceptional 4-star rating sets it apart from its peers and demonstrates its trustworthiness to the public,” according to Michael Thatcher, President & CEO of Charity Navigator. “Only a quarter of charities rated by Charity Navigator receive the distinction of our 4-star rating. This adds the Boone and Crockett Club to a preeminent group of charities working to overcome our world’s most pressing challenges. Based on its 4-star rating, people can trust that their donations are going to a financially responsible and ethical charity when they decide to support IBoone and Crockett Club.” 
  
Boone and Crockett Club’s rating and other information about charitable giving are available free of charge on www.charitynavigator.org. 

TESTIMONIAL

William B. Ruger — Honorary Life Member

“I have always been proud of my membership in Boone and Crockett, and felt that I was one of the luckiest of men to be associated with a group I genuinely liked, and which was devoted to the same interests that have stimulated me for a lifetime. Not only that, but Boone and Crockett over its long history, has acquired immense prestige, initially because of the character of the people who make up the Club.”

Bill’s belief in the Club and the depth of his convictions are fully apparent in his passing. Through his Charitable Remainder Trust the Boone and Crockett Club Foundation received a generous gift that added greatly to the Foundation’s endowment and assisted the Club in continuing its Conservation Legacy, which, in Bill’s words, “is devoted to the same interests that have stimulated me for a lifetime.”