Planned Giving

Making a gift through your estate is a great way to express your passion for the performing arts and particularly for Cinnabar. It can cost little or nothing now, may help reduce a tax burden on your family later, and will help artistic excellence flourish in Sonoma County forever. You can learn more about legacy gifts here on our website:

• The Marvin Klebe Legacy Society, honoring our founder
• Bequests, including endowments and named funds
• Non-cash bequests, such as gifts of stock, real estate, life insurance, etc.
• Charitable remainder trusts, which may offer both tax benefits and income for life

Contact us today to discuss your estate plans: 707-763-8920 or info@cinnabartheater.org.

In the summer of 1970, Marvin and Jan Klebe bought a vintage 1908 schoolhouse. An international opera singer, Marvin had become disenchanted with the grand opera scene. So he turned his hand to carpentry and transformed the old building into a theater. His goal was to create a performance space for artists of many disciplines to join him in collaboration, exploration, and artistic expression.

Marvin died in 1999, but Cinnabar lives on – and you can help his dream survive. Join the Marvin Klebe Legacy Society. Its members are dedicated supporters of Cinnabar who have included the theater in their estate plans. As part of Cinnabar’s endowment, your gift will live on as an expression of your values – and you’ll ensure that theater, music, opera, and arts education continue to thrive in Petaluma.

If you’ve made a gift from your estate, please contact us so we can acknowledge your philanthropy. We may even be able to show you how to increase the impact of your gift! Rest assured that we will respect your wishes and your privacy. Conversations about your future plans will be kept strictly confidential unless you’d like us to list you as a member of the Society to encourage others to follow in your footsteps.

For more information, to discuss your options, or to inform us of your intentions, please contact Artistic Director Elly Lichenstein at (707) 763-8920 or elly@cinnabartheater.org.

Making a gift through your will or trust is the most popular form of planned gift – and it can be an easy, tax-efficient way to manage your estate. A bequest to Cinnabar may be made for a specific amount, for a percentage of your estate, or even for a portion of what remains of your estate once your wishes for family and friends have been fulfilled.

Your gift costs nothing now, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your support for Cinnabar will live on in the future. Consider these options when making a bequest:

• Restricted bequests: You can use your gift to support specific, ongoing needs such as artistic initiatives, youth programs, capital improvements, or staff development and retention. Please be sure to speak with us in advance to ensure that we can honor your intentions.

• Unrestricted bequests: We particularly appreciate unrestricted bequests that give us discretion to allocate the gift appropriately. These are the most valuable kinds of bequests, as they maximize our ability to respond flexibly and creatively to an uncertain future.

• Endowment funds: You can use your gift to enrich one of Cinnabar’s existing endowments, such as the Ron Mortimore Scholarship Fund.

• Named funds: With estate gifts of $100,000 or more, you may create a fund named for yourself or for someone you wish to honor. These named funds remain visible at Cinnabar because of the people they recognize and the activities they support, and their visibility can encourage others to give as well.

To make a gift to Cinnabar from your estate, you must add a codicil to your current will, make an amendment to your current trust, or sign a new will or living trust instrument. We encourage you to discuss your plans with us to ensure that your charitable goals will be met, and we recommend of course that you consult an attorney as well.

And remember: you can change your bequest at any time, for any reason.

For more information, to discuss your options, or to inform us of your intentions, please contact Artistic Director Elly Lichenstein at (707) 763-8920 or elly@cinnabartheater.org.

You can protect your estate and reduce the tax burden on your heirs by including Cinnabar in your estate plans, particularly when it comes to non-cash assets such as these:

• Retirement Plans: Retirement plans such as IRAs are usually funded with untaxed dollars, so they are subject to both income tax and estate tax. This double burden may leave your heirs with as little as 30% of the plan’s value, whereas Cinnabar would receive all of it tax-free. To make a gift from your IRA, simply request a form from your plan administrator and name Cinnabar Arts Corporation as a beneficiary.

• Life Insurance: Your beneficiaries may pay estate tax on insurance distributions, but qualified nonprofit organizations never do. To leave all or part of the proceeds of your policy to Cinnabar, simply request a form from your insurance company and name Cinnabar Arts Corporation as a beneficiary.

• Stocks: Publicly traded securities (stock) can be used to make any kind of charitable gift: outright donations in your lifetime, charitable remainder trusts, or bequests. This can be a particularly smart form of philanthropy, as you may be able to defer or reduce taxes on your capital gains, and you may receive a deduction on income or estate taxes for the full fair market value of your securities. Click here for more information about making a gift of stock while you’re alive. To make a deferred gift, please notify us of your intentions, including the corporate name or ticker symbol of the stock and the number of shares you intend to donate, so that we may accurately acknowledge your gift.

• Real Estate: You may donate real estate during your lifetime or as a bequest. You can even make a gift of your home to Cinnabar – and retain the right to live there for the rest of your life while you receive an ongoing tax deduction for a portion of your home’s value. Please contact us so we can discuss your options with you. (For real estate worth more than $5,000, you’ll need an independent appraisal to substantiate the value of the gift for tax purposes.)

• Personal Property: Cinnabar welcomes gifts of personal property that can be used toward our mission. Please contact us to determine if we can make proper use of your gift. (For personal property worth more than $5,000, you’ll need an independent appraisal to substantiate the value of the gift for tax purposes.)

For more information, to discuss your options, or to inform us of your intentions, please contact Artistic Director Elly Lichenstein at (707) 763-8920 or elly@cinnabartheater.org.

A charitable remainder unitrust allows you to make a gift to Cinnabar while providing yourself or others with income before we’re permitted to use your gift.

To create this trust, you irrevocably transfer securities, money, or other properties to a trustee, such as a bank or other fiduciary. It manages the assets and pays a fixed percentage of the value to you, your designated beneficiaries, or both.

Generally these payments are distributed annually (but they can be more frequent), and payments can continue for the beneficiary’s life or for a term of up to 20 years. After that period, the remaining assets go to Cinnabar to support the theater according to your instructions.

In addition to helping you support artistic excellence, your charitable remainder trust relieves you of the worry of managing your assets yourself – and it may provide you with a larger income than those assets are currently earning. Tax benefits may include an immediate charitable deduction, avoidance of capital-gains tax upon sale, and an eventual savings on estate tax.

For more information, to discuss your options, or to inform us of your intentions, please contact Artistic Director Elly Lichenstein at (707) 763-8920 or elly@cinnabartheater.org.