Alumni and Development
Planned Giving and Legacy Society
Visit the Planned Giving Website:
For Donors: http://www.gsu.edu/giving/plannedgiving/
For Advisors: http://www.gsu.edu/giving/advisors/
Overview of Planned Giving
Charitable gifts to the Georgia State University College of Law are vital to broadening the programs, faculty, students and stature of the law school. Funds to attract and retain the best and brightest students, faculty; expand and improve facilities; provide scholarships; enhance program offerings and additional centers and institutes come to the college through the generosity of charitable gifts from our graduates and friends.
Gifts to the College of Law can be given to any one of numerous areas of need, depending upon where you want to create the most impact.
- Annual fund
- Endowment
- Named gifts
- Capital improvement gifts
The annual fund gifts provide additional support to the law school for its students, faculty, programs and facilities. These are yearly donations that are immediately available to spend. Annual funds may be designated for a specific area, or for the unrestricted area of law excellence.
Endowments are established with gifts in perpetuity. The minimum level to establish an endowment is $25,000. The assets are invested and the income that is produced is used for the purpose that is specified by the donor.
Named gifts may be given from immediately expendable donations or endowments, in honor or to memorialize a friend or loved one. They may be restricted or unrestricted and given in any of the forms discussed here.
Capital improvement gifts are generally restricted to meet a specific capital need within the college's long-range plan. These gifts are used to improve existing facilities or for example, to fund a new building for the College of Law.
There are many ways to give to the College of Law, through either outright or deferred gifts of:
- Cash
- Appreciated securities
- Personal property
- Real estate
- Life insurance
Each giving vehicle has financial and tax considerations and advantages that you must think about and decide. There is no one single method that is right for everyone.
We ask that you consult with your attorney, accountant or other estate and financial planner before making a gift to the law school. We development staff at the College of Law or the GSU Foundation are available to assist you in any way possible to assure that your experience is rewarding and creates the optimum advantages to you, your family and the College of Law.
Outright gifts
These are immediate gifts of cash or long-term assets such as appreciated securities, real estate or personal property.
Deferred gifts
These are gifts that will benefit the law school at a further date. Some deferred gifts, such as bequests or life insurance, are revocable at any time. Others, such are trusts and annuity arrangements, are permanent once established. Donors of deferred and testamentary gifts are eligible for membership in the College of Law's Legacy Society. The several forms of deferred gifts include:
- Bequests
- Qualified retirement plans
- Life insurance
- Life estate in home, farm or vacation property
- Life income gifts
- Charitable lead trusts
- Closely held business interests
Bequests provide support in your will beyond your lifetime. The law school can be named as a beneficiary in your will in several ways, including a specific sum or dollar amount; a specific property; a percentage of your estate; a residual bequest that provides for the law school after providing for your loved ones; a life income bequest, providing income to your heir during their life, with the principle becoming a gift to the college.
If your estate has grown to the level of providing sufficient retirement income, you may be advantaged with a charitable gift of your qualified retirement plan to the College of Law. The College of Law can also be named co-beneficiary or sole beneficiary of the balance of your retirement account at your death.
The College of Law can be named co-beneficiary, sole beneficiary, or both the beneficiary and owner of a life insurance policy. The irrevocable last option, offers certain tax advantages.
Life estate gifts of remainder interest in home, vacation home or farm enables you to make a major gift and benefit from a charitable tax deduction and reserve the right to use the property throughout your lifetime.
Life income gifts include a variety of trust, annuity and investment arrangements that provide income for you or someone you designate, while leaving the remainder to the College of Law. Gift annuities, charitable remainder annuity trusts, charitable remainder unitrusts and pooled income funds all provide vehicles for you or your designate to receive life income, while providing remaining assets to the law school for the purpose you designate.
Charitable lead trusts enable income to flow first to your designated gift in the law school over a period of time, with the remainder of the trust passing to other beneficiaries.
Gifts of closely held business interests allow donors to create a current income tax deduction without using cash.
Your gift to the Georgia State University College of Law may be structured from a variety of outright and deferred gifts in order to provide the maximum benefits to you and your family. Please consult with your attorney, tax advisor, accountant or other financial planner before making a gift to the law school. The staff at the College of Law are available to assist you in any way to assure that you have the most rewarding experience possible.
Visit the Planned Giving Website:
For Donors: http://www.gsu.edu/giving/plannedgiving/
For Advisors: http://www.gsu.edu/giving/advisors/
Legacy Society
The Legacy Society honors graduates and friends of the College of Law who have made plans to leave a gift to the college through a deferred or testamentary gift. We wish to know if our graduates or friends are thinking about or have planned a gift which will benefit the College of Law, you and your heirs, so that we may thank and recognize your generosity. Your commitment is an inspiration and model for all of the college's generous benefactors and friends.
In order to recognize your planning, we require a letter from you or your attorney that affirms your commitment and states that the Georgia State University College of Law will be informed of any changes in the will that might be made in the future.
In order to value the gift, we require a specified amount or percentage of the estate, based upon a credible estimate of the future value of the estate at the time the commitment is made, as well as the designated area to which your gift will apply.
