A gift in your will or estate plan costs nothing today — and keeps LGBTQ+ recovery in San Diego here for the next generation.
Since 1976, Stepping Stone has been a lifeline for LGBTQ+ people and others seeking addiction recovery, stability, and community. A planned gift — sometimes called a legacy gift — is a commitment you make in your will, trust, retirement plan, or life insurance policy today that sustains residential treatment, sober living, outpatient care, and mental health services long after.
Most planned gifts take a few minutes to set up, cost nothing during your lifetime, and can be changed at any point. You keep full control of your assets; Stepping Stone gains a future it can plan on.
Every option below works alongside the others, and your attorney or financial advisor can set most of them up in a single conversation.
Most common · Revocable any time
Leave a fixed amount, a percentage of your estate, or whatever remains after your loved ones are provided for. A bequest costs nothing today and can be updated whenever your circumstances change.
401(k) · IRA · 403(b)
Name Stepping Stone as a full or partial beneficiary of your retirement account. It takes one form from your plan administrator — no attorney required — and retirement assets pass to charity tax-free, where heirs may owe income tax on the same dollars.
Age 70½+ · Give now
If you are 70½ or older, you can give directly from your IRA to Stepping Stone. A QCD counts toward your required minimum distribution and is excluded from your taxable income — a legacy gift you get to see at work.
Beneficiary designation
Name Stepping Stone as a beneficiary of a policy you no longer need for its original purpose, and a modest premium becomes a major future gift.
Grant now · Successor later
Recommend a grant to Stepping Stone from your DAF today, or name us as the successor beneficiary so the remainder of your fund continues the work.
Tax-smart · Give now
Transfer appreciated stock held longer than a year and you may avoid capital gains tax while deducting the full fair-market value — often the most tax-efficient gift available.
If you are adding Stepping Stone to your will or trust, this single sentence is all your attorney needs:
"I give to Stepping Stone of San Diego, Inc., a California nonprofit corporation (Tax ID 95-3080619), located at 3767 Central Avenue, San Diego, CA 92105, [the sum of $______ / ______ percent of my residuary estate] to be used for its general charitable purposes."
Prefer to direct your gift to a specific program? Talk with us first so we can make sure the designation language will serve your intent for decades.
Donors who document a legacy commitment of $10,000 or more join the Legacy Circle. With your permission — anonymity is always honored — you will receive:
Your name, engraved and mounted at our residential facility alongside fifty years of community.
Invitations to small annual events with leadership, staff, and fellow legacy donors.
Your name in the Annual Report and on our website — or complete anonymity. Your call, always.
Impact updates from the Executive Director and a dedicated contact for you and your advisors.
You are never obligated to share your plans — but if you have named Stepping Stone in your estate, we would love the chance to thank you, welcome you to the Legacy Circle, and make sure we understand your intent. Telling us creates no commitment and can stay completely confidential.
Ethan Cloherty, our Development Manager, can walk you and your advisors through bequest language, beneficiary designations, QCDs, and stock transfers — and answer the questions you have not thought to ask yet.
This page is for information only and is not legal or tax advice. Please consult your attorney or financial advisor about your individual situation.