Life insurance is an excellent vehicle for making a charitable gift for several reasons. First, life insurance allows the donor to leverage a relatively small amount of money (the premium) to purchase a benefit that would not likely be available for the charity otherwise. The sizeable gift can be made without impairing or diluting the donor’s estate leaving assets earmarked for their heirs intact. Second, the gift can be self completing as the donor earmarks a portion of their annual contribution to pay the premium on the policy. The addition of a “disability waiver” or “waiver of premium” will keep the policy in force if the donor is disabled. Even if the donor passes away after only a few premium payments the charity is assured the full gift. There are a number of ways to use life insurance as a gift from: the assignment of existing life insurance to a charity, a beneficiary designation or purchasing life insurance inside an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT). In doing this you can replace assets you are giving to the charity with the death benefit passing to your family income and estate tax free.