Planned Gifts

Beneficiary Designation

One of the easiest ways to make a deferred gift is to simply designate Franklin College, Inc. (for US donors) or Franklin College Switzerland (for all donors outside the US) as the beneficiary of an account. It could be an investment account, mutual fund, savings account or retirement account.

Bequest Gifts

Charitable bequests – A donor can make charitable bequests or legacy gifts to Franklin College through his or her last will and testament or through a living trust.

Sample language for Bequest Gifts

Retirement Plans

A smart investor who starts his or her retirement savings plan at an early age often finds (regardless of the country) that complicated regulations make it difficult to withdraw the funds without severe tax consequences. Someone already considering a gift to Franklin College may choose this type of asset for that reason. For more information on how to make a gift of a retirement plan, please contact the Office of Avancement

Life Estate

Donors can enter into a life estate agreement with Franklin College. In such agreements, the donor gifts certain properties (such as his or her house) to an organization like Franklin College and then retains the right to use the property during his or her lifetime. The maintenance, insurance, repairs, taxes and other expenses are retained by the donor but after death or a specified period of time the designated gift becomes the property of the organization. In the United States a donor is entitled to a current charitable tax deduction based on the present value of remainder interest in the gifted property. Donors from others countries should consult their tax advisors to see if a gift of a retained life estate would qualify for any tax advantages.

Gift Annuities

A charitable gift annuity is a contract between Franklin College and the donor whereby the donor makes an initial payment of cash or marketable securities to Franklin College and the College agrees to pay the donor an annuity for the rest of his or her lifetime. If you are interested in establishing a gift annuity, please contact the Office of Advancement.

Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRT) and Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts (CRAT)

A charitable remainder trust is established when a donor irrevocably transfers money or securities to a trustee who invests the assets to pay an income to the donor or others chosen by the donor for life or for a period of years. At the end of the beneficiaries’ life or lives or the designated term of years, the remaining trust assets are distributed to Franklin College. Annuity trusts provide US taxpayers the tax advantages of current contributions with the security of a fixed, lifetime income, generally for the donors and their spouses. The agreed-upon annual payments remain unchanged regardless of how the investments perform.

Minimum: Due to custodial and tax preparation fees, it generally is not feasible to create a CRT with less than $100,000. For more information regarding the creation of a CRAT please contact the Office of Advancement.

Charitable Remainder Unitrusts (CRUTs)

A Charitable Remainder Unitrust or CRUT is a legal trust designed to receive assets (usually appreciated investments or real property) from a donor. A designated trustee (usually a bank, investment firm or attorney) is responsible for investing the general assets of the trust in a manner that would be considered prudent by both the donor and the remainder organization. The trust is designed to make quarterly, semi-annual or annual payments to the donor or others. Payments are a fixed percentage (at least 5%) of the annually appraised value of the assets in the trust. Thus, if the value of the assets increases, so too does the payment—and vice-versa. Payments are usually made for life, lives or for a period of years. If paid for a period of years the maximum number of years cannot exceed 20. If a married couple is making the contribution the payments are usually established to pay until the last of the two is deceased. At the death of the last income beneficiary or at the end of the fixed term of years, the money remaining in the trust is distributed to Franklin College to fund the program or project specified in the trust document or through written gift agreements.

See Recent Gifts to see how one Franklin College Trustee utilized this gift method to make a gift to the College.