Methods Of Giving

Thank you for considering a charitable contribution to Champlain College. There are many methods available for making a gift to Champlain College.

Cash Gifts

Gifts of cash or its equivalent may be tax-deductible, up to 50% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) if you itemize. If the total of your charitable gifts in a given year exceed the 50% limit, the balance can be carried over for up to five years.

Gifts of cash can be put to use immediately and used for our various scholarship programs (Support-A-Student, New American, Vermont First Generation, Accounting Excellence, Single Parent, Yellow Ribbon, etc.) or other Champlain College needs, including building endowment. See our Where To Direct A Gift page for more options.

Stock Gifts

Gifts of stock or appreciated securities have the double benefit of providing an immediate tax deduction for the full market value of the stocks as well as avoiding capital gains taxes. For income tax purposes the value of such a gift may be deducted up to 30% of adjusted gross income (AGI), with an additional five-year carry over rule.

Example: Assume that you purchased 100 shares of ABC Corporation in 1982 at a cost of $2,000. Today the shares are worth $10,000 and pay less than 2% annual dividends. If you sold the stock, you would realize an $8,000 capital gain. If you gifted that stock to a charitable institution such as Champlain College, you would completely avoid the capital gains tax.

How to Make a Gift of Stock:

When Champlain College receives a stock gift, we sell the stock as soon as we receive it into our account to put it to immediate use for College programs. It is important that you not sell the securities in your name; as you would then be liable for capital gains taxes. Here are the steps that you should use:

If the stock is held in "street name" at a brokerage firm or bank other than Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, contact your representative to authorize the firm to transfer the shares to:
MORGAN STANLEY SMITH BARNEY
Account # 383-111854-042
DTC #0015
For the account of: Champlain College

If the stock is held in a MORGAN STANLEY SMITH BARNEY account, send written authorization to your account representative to journal the gift from your Smith Barney account to:
Account #383-111854-042
For the account of: Champlain College

For all other circumstances, please call the Advancement Office for instructions.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please inform us immediately when you make a stock transfer so we may acknowledge your gift, the value of which is determined by mean stock value on the day the securities are transferred from your ownership, and so we may make sure that your gift is directed according to your wishes. You can contact us at 866.421.7170 or 802.383.6620 or email us at Advancement@champlain.edu. This is important because your broker may not include your name in the transfer and in that case we won't know who the gift of stock is from. Donors making gifts at the end of the calendar year should personally contact their broker to confirm that the transfer will be completed on or before December 31.

Charitable Gift Annuities: Guaranteed Income and Tax Benefits

A Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA, with a minimum $10,000 investment) is a simple one-page contract between the College and you, the donor. We promise to pay a fixed, predetermined amount quarterly, semi-annually or annually to you, and/or one other beneficiary for life. If you own highly appreciated securities with low yields, or Certificates of Deposit, CGAs can provide: an immediate tax deduction, increased income, some of which is tax-free, reduction and spreading out of capital gains tax and reduced estate taxes. A Deferred Gift Annuity is similar to the CGA, except that payments can be deferred (typically with a greater return) until you might be in need of greater income, such as during retirement years.

Charitable Remainder Trusts: A Flexible Investment Plan

You may use a number of assets to establish a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT, with a minimum investment of $100,000), although most are funded with cash, appreciated securities or real estate. Unlike a Charitable Gift Annuity, you can make multiple gifts to a CRT. Your trustee invests the assets in the trust for growth and income and you and/or other named individuals receive income for life or a term of years. In addition, your receive a substantial income tax deduction in the year of the donation and estate tax benefits.

Life Insurance

Many people overlook the value of an insurance policy that they no longer need, but would be included in their estate. The large cash value resulting from a relatively small premium makes a life insurance policy an attractive planned gift. This is also a reminder to periodically review and update your beneficiary designation.

A donor may name Champlain College owner and beneficiary of a life insurance policy and receive an income tax deduction. When you name Champlain as the owner of a paid-up policy, the charitable deduction is generally for the policy's cash surrender value or net premiums paid on the policy. On a partially paid-up policy, contributions to the College for future premium payments may be deducted as charitable gifts.

Establish a Named Endowment

A gift of $50,000 or more to the Endowment Fund is a gift that grows in perpetuity. The principal of your gift is placed in a managed fund, which assures a maximum return on your important investment in the College. A portion of the interest is used to fund scholarships for deserving students or to maintain an area of the College, while the rest of the interest is reinvested to assure the growth of the fund. Named endowments are available for both corporate and individual gifts.

Real Estate

Consider supporting Champlain with a gift of real estate, often overlooked as a potential charitable gift. Real estate offers a variety of estate and tax planning possibilities.

Gifts of real estate can be especially helpful for people planning to move into a smaller home at retirement, or for those with vacation homes they are no longer using. Real estate can be expensive to maintain or difficult to sell - and if it has appreciated in value, its sale can lead to significant capital gains taxes. These gifts can convert a non-income asset into a life income arrangement for you and/or another beneficiary.

A gift of real estate, which can include residences, acreage, farms, and vacation properties, to Champlain College removes the burdens of maintenance, avoids all capital gains taxes and can provide a charitable deduction for the full value of the property, subject to the 30% limitation. You may deed some or all of the property outright to Champlain, or you may transfer ownership of the property to Champlain while retaining life tenancy rights, known as a gift of a remainder interest. Under this arrangement, you donate your home to Champlain and continue to live in it, receiving a charitable deduction for a portion of the appraised value in the year of donation.

Retirement Plans

Since their inception, Retirement Plans or IRA's and other qualified pension plans have become popular means of building wealth. Today, billions of dollars of assets are owned through these tax-advantaged savings vehicles.

These assets can be subject to multiple levels of taxation, potentially as high as 75%. The combination of federal and estate taxes can seriously erode the value of your retirement savings. The law requires that certain minimum distributions must be made after an individual reaches age 70 ^1/2. Failure to take the required amount could result in penalty tax on the undistributed amount.

With careful planning you can avoid undesirable tax costs and may be able to make a larger charitable gift than you thought possible, as well as care for your family. Charitable contributions of retirement plan assets offer significant opportunities for tax savings as part of an overall estate plan.

YOUR CHARITABLE OPTIONS:

Lifetime Transfers: Donors between the ages of 59 ^1/2 and 70 ^1/2 may withdraw funds from IRAs or other pension plans without penalty. These withdrawals will be considered taxable income, but will be offset by a charitable tax deduction, to the extent allowed by the Internal Revenue Code.

Legislation passed in October 2008 allowing for tax-free distributions for taxpayers over the age of 70 ^1/2 expired in December 2011, but most experts are hopeful that the House and Senate will reconsider the benefits of this bill and extend it into the foreseeable future.

Testamentary Transfers: When Champlain College is named as the beneficiary of an IRA or other pension asset, at the death of the IRA or pension plan participant, both income taxes and estate taxes are avoided and the full amount of the remaining assets is distributed to the designated organization. If you name someone other than your spouse or a charitable organization as the beneficiary of your retirement plan at your death, the assets may be subject to both income and estate taxes. Your heirs may be left with less than 25 cents on the dollar from your plan. In order to ensure that the assets in the plan are not subject to tax, the charitable designation must be made on the beneficiary designation form provided by the plan administrator.

Transfer the plan assets to a testamentary charitable remainder trust. Designating a charitable remainder trust as the beneficiary of your IRA or other qualified retirement plan assets at death allows you to support your family and Champlain. Assets at your death are distributed to a trust, which pays an income for life to the individuals you name. At the end of the last beneficiary's life, the remainder would pass to Champlain College. This provides a partial estate tax deduction, depending on the age of the individual beneficiary, eliminates income tax on distributions of the plan, and ensures a future gift to Champlain.

Wills & Legacy Gifts

The College has received some of its most significant support as a residual beneficiary in a will or bequest. It is an honor for Champlain College to be included in your financial and philanthropic plans. Bequests are exempt from federal or state inheritance taxes, and subject to an unlimited deduction. You might find that a provision for Champlain enables you to make a much larger gift than you might have thought possible.

You may choose to make an outright bequest, transferring specific property to Champlain, or you may donate a percentage of your estate. You can also bequeath the residue of your estate—the property that is available after other terms of the will have been satisfied.

An unrestricted bequest to Champlain can be made by including this simple provision in your will:

I give to Champlain College Incorporated in Burlington in the State of Vermont ________ percent of my estate for its general use and purposes.
OR
I give to Champlain College Incorporated in Burlington in the State of Vermont _______dollars ($___________), for its general use and purposes.

Please let us know if you are planning to remember Champlain College in your estate plan. We prefer to thank you now, not your executor. Your designation may also inspire others if your name is included on our lists of supporters. The Champlain College Legacy Society recognizes those who have included Champlain College in their estate plans or have entered into a life income arrangement with the College.

Thank you for helping to ensure a bright future for Champlain College.

More information can be found on our How To Make A Gift page.