Create a promising future and legacy by making a bequest or other planned gift to the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. Your support allows the museum to inspire creativity through engaging exhibitions; build community through gatherings and events; and participate in important initiatives - all while highlighting 13,000 years of maritime history – from Chumash culture to today’s surfing and environmental movements. Your planned gift will have a lasting impact on the community, and for future generations.
To honor those who have included SBMM in their estate plans, the museum:
- Features member names on a special display in the museum.
- Lists members in the museum's annual report and other publications.
- Invites members and their guests to unique receptions.
“I made a legacy gift to the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum because I believe the past affects our future, and I want to ensure that all children in Santa Barbara County have the opportunity to participate in the Maritime Museum’s Tall Ship programs. In order to protect our oceans, we have to know as much about them as possible. The museum provides that education, those experiences, and makes learning fun.”
– Geoie Writer
Planned Giving Options
To join the Flagship Society, an intended donation must include SBMM as the primary beneficiary. You may make an unrestricted planned gift, which will provide the museum with the flexibility to meet the most urgent needs. Or you might prefer to designate your estate or planned gift to the endowment, to benefit SBMM's youth programs, or to honor a loved one. While SBMM appreciates all planned gifts, only gifts of $10,000 or more qualify someone for the Flagship Society.
Maximizing your gift and participating in planned giving are strategic ways to leave a legacy while helping to secure SBMM's work into the future. Your Flagship Society gift may also provide you with significant tax advantages and can continue to provide income to you and your heirs. Individuals may join the Flagship Society by making contributions to SBMM through one or more of the following planned giving opportunities:
- In your living trust or will.
- Beneficiary of a life insurance policy.
- By gifting assets from a tax-deferred retirement plan, such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA.
- By establishing a charitable trust that can provide lifetime income to a loved one as well as a significant future gift to the Maritime Museum.
- As a final legacy in a donor advised fund.
- Already have a donor advised fund? Make a gift from your Fidelity Charitable or Schwab Charitable account.
Resources
- Learn more about our endowment policy.
- Downloadable Flagship Society membership form. Please complete and mail to SBMM.
- Learn more about charitable giving in this short video by Amanda Thomas, CFP and SBMM past board president.
- Naming a charity as beneficiary of your IRA. Article by Greg Smith.
- Do you have a donor advised fund? Make a gift to SBMM from your Fidelity Charitable or Schwab Charitable account.
For more information, please contact SBMM Executive Director Greg Gorga at (805) 456-8742 or by emailing ggorga@sbmm.org.
(All Flagship Society gifts are deeply appreciated and all inquiries are kept in the strictest confidence. Planned giving information provided by SBMM and its volunteer-based Planned Giving Committee is educational in nature and the museum cannot render any type of legal or tax advice.)