This April 2015, Duke’s Office of Gift Planning celebrated the Blueprints blog’s first anniversary! Over the past year, we have published more than 50 blog posts to provide gift planning information and inspiration to our alumni and friends. We are excited to reach this milestone together!

We began this blog as a way to provide helpful insights into charitable giving and offer creative strategies to satisfy your personal and philanthropic goals.  We wanted to dispel any common misconceptions about gift planning and demonstrate ways to be savvy and smart with your charitable giving—no matter what your age or where your passion lies.

With more than 75 years of combined experience in gift planning, our team leveraged its knowledge of giving trends and tips to offer ways to reach personal objectives, such as providing for a loved one or supplementing retirement income, while making a difference at a place you care about.  We hope you found the information on our blog to be helpful.

In case you missed them the first time, here’s of list of our top five most-read blog articles:

1. FAQ: I’m subject to Alternative Minimum Tax. Do charitable donations still give me a break?
2. Our Giving Story: The Tuckers
3. 5 Questions you should ask your CPA or financial advisor before making a charitable gift
4. 3 Biggest myths about giving to charity, taxes, and financial planning
5. My Giving Story: Blaine Paxton Hall

Here’s a sneak preview of what you can expect to see on Blueprints in the coming months:

1. More answers to your questions in our FAQ series.
2. Inspiring stories of fellow alumni and friends who have made a planned gift to Duke.
3. New informational videos from our Unwrapping Gifts video series.
4. Gift planning strategies that may be particularly helpful for gay and lesbian couples.
5. Outside expert tips on financial and charitable planning for women.

We hope you continue to find the information on Blueprints to be beneficial to you and your family, both now and the future.  There is a wide array of creative and tax-wise gift options available to consider.  Like many, you may discover that through gift planning you can make a bigger impact than you thought possible.  Your decision to include Duke in your longer-term plans allows you to honor the people, places, experiences, and memories you cherish most at Duke.

What gift planning questions do you have or gift planning topics interest you? We invite you to email us to share your questions or topics for consideration in future blog posts.

Sign up for our Blueprints blog e-newsletter to receive quarterly gift planning insights straight to your inbox.

Thank you for your readership and for your continued support of Duke.

The Gift Planning Team

About the author

Gift Planning

giftplanning@duke.edu

Duke University’s Office of Gift Planning specializes in charitable gift planning for estates, charitable trusts and annuities, and other complex current and future gift plans.

For more information, please contact the Duke University Office of Gift Planning.