Shoreline Elite Education Stewardship

A family's love of learning is one of the most durable legacies a shore household can leave. This course turns that love into an enduring structure — a named scholarship, a mentorship network, and a family charter for learning — and shows how it fits cleanly with New Jersey's inheritance-tax system and the 2026 federal estate-tax framework. It is written for the families of Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver, Colts Neck, Holmdel, Middletown, Deal, Sea Girt, and Spring Lake who have sent their children to Monmouth's independent and Catholic schools.

What You'll Learn

Six guided modules, moving from the "why" of family education stewardship to a concrete, dated action plan.

1. Why Family + Education Stewardship Matters on the Shore — the ripple effect, cultural continuity, and the stewardship mindset.
2. The Stewardship Toolkit — six levers: named scholarships, endowed seats, mentorship networks, class/legacy giving, education DAFs, and charitable lead trusts.
3. Designing a Scholarship — governance, criteria, and funding model (annual fund vs. endowment).
4. Integrating with Your Estate Plan — NJ inheritance-tax classes A/C/D/E, the 2026 federal framework (post-OBBBA $15M permanent exemption), and how to structure the gift.
5. Mentorship & In-School Giving — alumni-family alliances, skill-based volunteering, shadow days, classroom partnerships, and service-learning.
6. Your Stewardship Action Plan — a six-step roadmap with an annual accountability checklist.

Module 4 in Brief — Where Giving Meets the Estate Plan

This is the module most families ask us about. New Jersey's estate tax was repealed in 2018, but the inheritance tax remains — and it is paid by the beneficiary, not the estate. Gifts to qualified charities, religious and educational institutions, and government entities are Class E and fully exempt. So a direct charitable bequest to a 501(c)(3) (or your family scholarship fund) rides the fully-exempt Class E, escaping the NJ inheritance tax entirely while also reducing the federal taxable estate. On the federal side, the 2026 basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 per individual (made permanent by the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, indexed for inflation from 2027); with portability, a married couple can shield up to $30 million. A direct charitable bequest sits comfortably inside that structure — always run the numbers with your own estate attorney, CPA, and financial planner.

Who This Is For

Affluent Monmouth families who have sent their children to the shore's independent and Catholic schools and want to move from passive tuition-payers to active stewards of the region's educational life. The course is editorial and educational — it is not tax or legal advice. You will work with your own advisors; this course gives you the framework and the vocabulary to make that conversation productive.

What's Included

• The full course in print-ready PDF (11 pages, ~1,900 words, serif typeset for screen or print)
• Six modules with per-module stewardship takeaways
• Implementation checklists and an annual accountability table
• Cover and thumbnail images (for sharing or for a Thinkific/Think-cell course shell)

Quick Tax Snapshot (as of 2026)

• NJ estate tax: no longer imposed for deaths on or after January 1, 2018.
• NJ inheritance tax — Class A: spouse, children, parents — exempt.
• NJ inheritance tax — Class C: siblings and a child's spouse — 11–16% above the $25,000 exemption.
• NJ inheritance tax — Class D: most other non-charitable beneficiaries — 15–16%.
• NJ inheritance tax — Class E: qualified charities, religious and educational institutions, government entities — fully exempt.
• Federal estate/gift tax exclusion (2026): $15,000,000 per individual (post-OBBBA, permanent, inflation-indexed from 2027); up to $30,000,000 for a married couple with portability.

How to Get Involved

• Download the course PDF above and work through the six modules with your family council.
• Talk to your estate attorney and CPA about embedding a scholarship in your will or a revocable living trust.
• Reach out to the scholarship or planned-giving office at your child's school about naming an endowed fund or an annual award.
• Consider a donor-advised fund for education — immediate deduction now, grant recommendations to the school over time.

How Love of Humanity supports this work

Love of Humanity (LOH) is a peer 501(c)(3) in Monmouth County. We build co-branded family education with the shore's institutions, translate the practical toolkit — scholarships, DAFs, charitable lead trusts, inheritance-tax planning — into warm, readable family content, and amplify the moments when a family legacy actually lands. We do not provide tax or legal advice, and we do not hold donor funds on your behalf. We help the broader educational-stewardship community reach the families who are ready to act.

Support Love of Humanity: lovehumanity.charity/#donate · Stripe buy.stripe.com/bJe00javHcLX43OgnncAo00

Board leader, foundation director, head of school, or family-office trustee reading this? We build co-branded family education with Monmouth institutions. partnerships@donatetoloveofhumanity.com

This course is editorial and educational. It is not tax or legal advice — please work with your own estate attorney, CPA, and financial planner. No fees were paid for this content. Love of Humanity is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.