Charitable Gift Annuity Guarantees Opportunity for Students
When Betty Jane Taylor started looking for a unique way to honor her husband, a Berry College scholarship seemed the natural choice. After all, Larry Taylor was a longtime member of the physical education faculty who coached baseball and basketball for 14 years in the 1960s and '70s, influencing countless lives in the process.
Equally natural was the decision to use a charitable gift annuity to help bring the Larry J. and Betty Jane Taylor Endowed Scholarship to fruition. This unique investment vehicle allowed the Taylors to transfer proceeds of an inheritance to Berry while ensuring the security of a fixed income stream.
Their interest rate of 6.9 percent was determined by Larry's age at the time the annuity was established in 2004. More than seven years later, in the midst of a struggling economy, Betty Jane continues to be pleased with the strength of their investment.
"The interest is far better than anything you're going to get anywhere else at the moment," she remarked. "You get a nice tax break on it too. It's a win-win situation."
According to Scott Breithaupt (91C, 96G), assistant vice president of campaign and leadership giving, charitable gift annuities are an increasingly popular giving option because of the higher rate of return they offer.
"Charitable gift annuities make it possible to support Berry students even for those who previously did not think they could," he said.
The Taylors will continue to receive income through Larry's lifetime. (They also could have opted to receive income throughout both of their lives.) When he dies, the balance will pass to Berry, guaranteeing the continuation of a legacy that began when the Taylors first fell in love with the college a half-century ago.
"It is a special place," Betty Jane said. "And unless you lived there, went to school there or were connected in some way, there's no way to explain how special it is."
For more information about charitable gift annuities, please contact Helen Lansing, senior planned giving officer, at 877-461-0039 (toll free) or [email protected].
