Gift Planning Services Manager’s Minute
We hope the summer has treated you and yours well!
The Church’s four institutions of higher education have enjoyed a rich history of generosity shown through planned giving. Hundreds have blessed the schools through their generosity. Starting in 2000, Philanthropies organized legacy societies to recognize and thank these donors.
Here are the four legacy societies:
- Brigham Young University: Jesse and Amanda Knight Society
- BYU–Idaho Legacy Society
- BYU–Hawaii: Matthew Cowley Society
- LDS Business College: F.Y. and Anna Fox Society
Anyone who remembers one of the institutions in their estates qualifies for membership. This could be through a will, trust, retirement account, insurance policy, or payable-on-death account. There are no associated costs with membership, nor is there a minimum gift amount required. Documentation, while very helpful in meeting the donor’s philanthropic desires, is not necessary.
Members receive period correspondences (such as the institution’s respective President’s Report) and are invited to an annual gathering with the institutional president. These are always wonderful times to visit and associate with others who love and support the school.
If you know anyone – such as a client, family member or colleague – who has named one of the institutions in their planning, please let them know about the legacy societies. We would love to involve them, if they wish. This also applies to you if you have provisioned a Church school in your estate; we have several Gift Planning Council members who have done so.
For more information, please let me know at either davidj_smith@churchofjesuschrist.org or (801) 356-5251.
David Smith
Donor Liaison, Gift Planning Services
Discover BYU-Pathway Worldwide Fundraising Priorities
The newest member of the Church Education System family is BYU-Pathway Worldwide. BYU–Pathway Worldwide offers PathwayConnect, a low-cost, flexible way to start on a path to a university degree, as well as university certificates and degrees. To learn more about this exciting new educational opportunity, bringing low-cost, quality higher education options to a worldwide audience, and how donors can further this great work, visit the BYU-Pathway Worldwide page at philanthropies.churchofjesuschrist.org!
Endowed Scholarships and Mentorships at Church Schools
Many of your clients may appreciate the satisfaction that comes from creating an endowed scholarship and/or mentorship at one of the Church institutions of higher education to bless the lives of students and to recognize themselves or someone else they would like to honor. Endowed scholarships and mentorships provide continuing awards from available earnings. Awards are made beginning with the academic year following the first full calendar year that the endowment has been fully funded at the minimum amount. An endowment may be fully funded by an initial gift or by a series of gifts over a period of up to five years. Endowments may also be completely or primarily funded from an estate, trust, or beneficiary designation.
The minimum endowment amount at each of the institutions is subject to change in order to keep pace with tuition increases. The current minimum amounts needed to create endowed funds are as follows: BYU–$60,000; BYU–Hawaii–$50,000; BYU–Idaho–$45,000; LDS Business College–$20,000. Guidelines for endowed funds in excess of the required minimum (to provide earnings sufficient to pay the cost of a half-tuition scholarship or more based on 2018-2019 tuition amounts and the percent of principal each institution makes available for awards) at these institutions are as follows:
BYU
(undergraduate tuition for LDS students–$2,810 per semester)
Minimum (half tuition) endowment–$60,000 (for graduate, divide semester tuition by .05)
Fully-funded endowed athletic scholarship-$250,000
BYU-Hawaii
(undergraduate tuition for LDS students–$2,780 per semester)
Minimum endowment–$50,000 (less than half tuition)
Half tuition endowment-$69,500 ($2,780/.04)
BYU-Idaho
(undergraduate tuition for LDS students–$2,059 per semester)
Minimum endowment–$45,000 (less than half-tuition)
Half tuition endowment–$48,500 ($2,059/.0425; rounded up to next hundred)
LDSBC
(undergraduate tuition for LDS students–$1,720 per semester)
Minimum endowment–$20,000 (less than half-tuition)
Half tuition endowment--$34,400 ($1,720/.05)
Some donors may wish to restrict the award of scholarships to certain qualified students. Gifts may be restricted according to the following criteria:
- Financial need–may give preference to students with financial need (BYU-I treats as grant-in-aid)
- GPA–may specify a minimum GPA (e.g., 3.0 on 4.0 scale; however, BYU-I does not permit)
- Major–may specify a major, program, department, school, or college
- Status–may be for graduate students, undergraduate students, or both
- Geographic area–may restrict (with university approval) to students from a given geographic area (BYU-I does not permit this restriction except for graduates from certain high schools)
PG Calc Webinar Invitation
Philanthropies broadcasts monthly webinars from PG Calc. These webinars may qualify for continuing education credit. We extend the invitations for any interested GPC members to join us. We hold these at 11:00 a.m. and are often followed by a Q&A session with members of the Gift Planning Services team. We are located at 1450 N. University Avenue in Provo. Here are the upcoming webinars:
- Dec 20 - How to Inspire Your Donors Through Marketing
- Jan 31 - What, Me Worry? When to Say No (or Yes) to a Gift
- Feb 28 - Advanced Gift Annuities
- Mar 28 - The Do’s and (a few) Don’ts of Gifts from IRAs
- Apr 25 - Why Donor Advised Funds and Supporting Organizations are a Gift Planner’s Friend
- May 23 - Understanding Your Gift Annuity Program
Other restrictions may be included (with university approval), however, fewer restrictions enable the university to administer the scholarship with greater flexibility to meet changing public and university policies. Gifts may not be restricted based on a student’s gender, age, disability, race, color, ethnicity, or national origin.
Spotlight on Stan Leavitt
Having worked in the financial services industry since 1989, with a developed expertise in wealth planning strategies, Stan Leavitt knows a thing or two about the benefits of giving. Throughout his career and as a member of Philanthropies’ Gift Planning Council, Stan says, “I’ve seen the tremendous benefits of charitable giving and strongly believe we receive more when we give more.”
As a Private Wealth Advisor who has worked with some of the country’s largest financial services companies, Stan attributes one of his personal philosophies on charitable giving to a specific experience in his life. While attending a professional conference early in his career, the discussion revolved around the benefits of leaving ten percent of one’s estate to charity. As an active member of the Church, Stan had experienced the temporal and spiritual blessings from paying tithing. So, when he heard the discussion of leaving ten percent of one’s estate to charity in a secular gift planning conference, he adopted it as a defining philosophy of his financial and estate planning work. (Read more)
PG Calc Webinar Invitation
Philanthropies broadcasts monthly webinars from PG Calc. These webinars may qualify for continuing education credit. We extend the invitations for any interested GPC members to join us. We hold these at 11:00 a.m. and are often followed by a Q&A session with members of the Gift Planning Services team. We are located at 1450 N. University Avenue in Provo. Here are the upcoming webinars (as well as the entire 2018 schedule):
- Sep 27 - What Your Gift Administrator Can Do for You
- Oct 25 - Top 10 Planned Gift Marketing Strategies from Scientific Research
- Nov 15 - Building and Maintaining the Testamentary Gifts Pipeline
- Dec 20 - How to Inspire Your Donors Through Marketing
GPCC Presentations
In addition, our 2017 Gift Planning Council conference presentations have been added online, with the videos soon to follow. Please feel free to view these at the Gift Planning Council website.
New GPC Vice-Chair
We are pleased to announce Todd Hallock as our new Gift Planning Council Vice-Chair, effective immediately. Learn more about Todd here.
We’re on LinkedIn
For those of you active on social media, we invite you to join us on LinkedIn (Philanthropies Gift Planning Council)!
Contact Us
For a detailed discussion of the services we provide you and your advisors, please contact us at 1-877-650-5377 or by email.