Giving through assets... financial blessings earned over a lifetime.

Lindsey Wilson College has been blessed by many individuals who have chosen to make gifts through assets they have accumulated over a lifetime.  These are thoughtful gifts in the sense they are made in consultation with a person's attorney, accountant, or financial planner.  These gifts are made first and foremost because a donor wishes to help a charity, but through financial planning there may be tax and financial advantages to the donor.  Here are some examples of additional thoughtful gifts which can be made to LWC.

Bequests
To date, more than 160 individuals have remembered LWC with a simple bequest in their will.  This is an easy process to pass along assets to LWC when they are no longer needed by the donor.  An attorney can be most helpful in this process.  You may bequeath specific amounts of money, a specific piece of property, residuary estate (after debts and taxes and other bequests are satisfied), or a percentage of the residuary estate to LWC.  Lindsey Wilson College has benefitted from bequests from $1,000 to $3,000,000.

Gifts of Stock
A gift of appreciated marketable securities will help you save twice.  Stocks held for more than one year, and have increased in value, are subject to capital gains taxes when sold.  By making a gift to LWC, you avoid capital gains taxes.

Life Insurance Policies
You can make a gift of life insurance by designating LWC as the beneficiary of a new or paid-up policy.  Or name the college as a contingent beneficiary, should your primary beneficiary not survive you.

Charitable Gift Annuity
Would you like to make a gift to LWC, earn income for life, and receive a favorable tax advantage?  It may be to your advantage to request a no obligation Charitable Gift Annuity illustration.  This arrangement with LWC pays you a set income for life.  These annuity rates are highly competitive because the rates are based on the ages of the income beneficiaries.  And, each annuitant will be partially exempt from income tax for the life of the annuitant(s). If you are dissatisfied with low performing investments, you may be interested in this popular giving vehicle.

A named endowed scholarship     
Named endowed scholarships are a wonderful way to honor a friend, loved one, provide scholarship support for deserving students and help build the college's endowment.  With endowments, the principal remains intact and funds are invested with other college endowment funds for the purpose of earning a return on investment.

Once endowments reach the minimum level for endowing ($10,000), the practice is to allow one year for the purpose of investing funds so as to earn a return before awards are made.  Awards are typically made in the first full semester following a one year initial investment period.  Endowments can be funded over a period of time not to exceed five years.

Endowment funds are invested in such a way as to award five percent of the principal amount annually.  For example, a $50,000 endowed scholarship would provide an annual award of $2,500 annually.  Whatever is earned above the five percent is added each year to the endowment fund so it can grow.  Donors may choose the criteria for recipients, which can be, for example, geographic restrictions, grade point guidelines, gender or ethnic targets, and financial need.

Currently, LWC has 162 named endowed scholarships.