Naming a public charity as the beneficiary of your retirement account can be a wonderful and tax-efficient way to make a legacy gift to the organizations that are important to you. It is relatively simple to make a gift using the beneficiary designation form provided by the financial institution that serves as the retirement plan […]

Thoughtful estate planning is important if we want to provide for the people and causes we truly care about in life. The process includes terms – such as will, revocable (“living”) trust, and Beneficiary Designation/Payable on Death/Transfer on Death forms – that may not be familiar to everyone. In this article, we hope to help […]

Greetings, Class of 1970! We have been busy planning for our upcoming 50th Reunion at Duke, April 17-19, 2020. I hope to see you there for a beautiful spring weekend! Be sure to visit our website at dukereunions.com/1970 for more information and updates. In addition to Annual Fund and endowment support you may be considering, […]

Will your gift be endowed or expendable? It’s one of the most important questions you’ll be asked if you’re considering an estate gift to Duke. Understanding the differences between these types of gifts will help you determine the impact you want to have on the people and places at Duke that are most important to […]

Here’s a scenario: You’re enjoying retirement, and life is good. You’re taking your annual required minimum distribution (RMD) from your individual retirement account (IRA), but that money isn’t critical to your lifestyle. It would be great to have another option instead of paying taxes on that withdrawal. That’s where Duke comes in. A charitable IRA […]

When Tre’ Scott ’15 left Duke as a wide-eyed graduate he knew what he wanted in a career. But in order to make it real, as easy as it sounds, Tre’ needed to write it down. Tre’ created a list of the things he hoped for — and a separate list of the things he […]

Duke University is fortunate to have so many alumni and friends who want to have an impact on this remarkable institution through philanthropy. Many of them are interested in exploring creative and tax-efficient ways to support Duke, and we regularly receive gifts of all sorts of assets. Last month in Blueprints, my colleague Phil Buchanan […]

Charitable gifts of appreciated stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other securities can give you an extra bonus in terms of tax savings (as compared to a donation of cash). If you have owned publicly traded securities more than one year—which makes it a “long term capital gain” asset—you can claim a tax deduction for the […]

On Thursday, June 6th, the Office of Gift Planning hosted the 16th annual Duke Heritage Society luncheon at the Washington Duke Inn Hotel & Golf Club. Our team hosts this event each year as a way to thank local Duke alumni and friends who have included the university in their estate plans. It was a […]

Naming Duke as a beneficiary of my will or retirement account is a complicated process. Gifts made through a will or retirement account are among the simplest, most straightforward ways to leave a lasting legacy at Duke. With only a couple of sentences in your will, you can designate a percentage of your estate (or […]