Getting Started

Discover a powerful way to make a gift to us last forever while realizing tax benefits for your kindness.

Each year we rely on your generous support, along with the gifts of many others, to help us carry out our work.

But have you ever thought about what will happen after you die? Without special measures, your support will die with you. To ensure our programs and funding do not suffer, please take time now to consider leaving an endowed gift—an enduring statement of your support.

How It Works

When you make an endowed gift, only a small portion of your gift will be spent, allowing the remaining amount to continue growing. That portion of your gift will supplement our programs forever.

You can give cash, securities or other assets to an endowment you create. Or, you can contribute to our organization's already established endowment.

Did you know?

You can set up an honorary endowment in your will so that your name, or the name of someone special, can live on forever.

Example

Let's say you would like to make sure a qualified charitable organization receives $1,000 every year after your lifetime, and the organization spends 4 percent of its endowment each year. This means that the organization spends that amount and any earnings over that are reinvested in the fund for future growth.

To calculate the amount needed to perpetuate your gift in this example, divide the annual gift amount, $1,000, by the amount called for in the spending policy, 4 percent, and you get $25,000. So, contributing just $25,000 can continue your $1,000 annual gift indefinitely!

Minimum gift sizes and spending levels vary by organization. Gifts to an endowment named after you or a loved one may require a higher minimum.