Many friends and alumni have a genuine desire to support OSU with a major gift but feel that they cannot give up the income from the cash or property they would contribute. A charitable gift annuity may be the answer.

A donor can establish a gift annuity by contributing cash or marketable securities to the OSU Foundation. In return, the Foundation agrees to pay the donor (and to a surviving beneficiary, if desired) a fixed annual income for life. In many cases, a portion of this income will be tax-exempt. When the lifetime income interests terminate, the gift will benefit programs of the donor's choice at Oklahoma State.

The gift annuity is not a trust, but rather a contract. All assets of the Foundation stand behind the commitment to make the annual payment to the donor.

Even though the donor retains lifetime benefits from the gift annuity, this arrangement also offers the advantage of a current outright gift--an income tax charitable contribution deduction.

EXAMPLE: Bill and Edna Wilson are both retired with a comfortable income. They are very interested in establishing a scholarship to help deserving OSU students, but are concerned that an outright cash gift might threaten their financial security. The Wilsons have a $20,000 certificate of deposit maturing and are very distressed at the current low interest rates. If they use that $20,000 to fund a charitable gift annuity instead, the Foundation will pay them $1,200 annually for as long as either of them lives--a 6% rate of return. Of that $1,200 in annual income, $481 will be tax exempt, and the balance taxed as ordinary income. As an added bonus, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, who are both 65 years old, can claim a charitable contribution deduction of $8,025 on their next tax return. They are especially pleased that their gift will be used after their deaths to provide scholarships for worthy students.