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Generally, our donor stories use only the donors' names with no details about gift amounts. This story has to be told the other way around... with gift amount and not names. The reason will become clear as you read it.
This is a real story about real Hillcresters and a real gift.
"We would like to sit down with you and talk about a gift annuity," they said one day to the Chief Development Officer, as they met along the sidewalk near his office. We set an appointment and when the day came we sat in my office and talked about what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it.
A $30,000 charitable gift annuity.
I am never surprised when there is interest in gift annuities because of the tremendous benefits they provide donors, especially in today's uncertain market. The fixed lifetime income at a rate two, three, sometimes four times what they can get from a CD. The charitable tax deduction. The tax free income. The opportunity to bypass capital gains taxes, if there is any gain. And then there is the gift to Hillcrest. After both husband and wife are gone, what is left in the annuity will go to Hillcrest. It is generally less than the face value of the gift annuity, but still a major gift.
After I explained all of this they asked me, "How much will Hillcrest get?"
"Whatever is left in the annuity after you both are gone?" I explained.
"But how much?"
I told them that no one can say for sure. It depends on market conditions and how long the donors live. "I can only estimate."
"We want Hillcrest to get $30,000. How much do we have to put into the gift annuity to have $30,000 for Hillcrest when we are gone?"
After further discussion - and some arithmetic – they decided that a $50,000 gift annuity would better guarantee a $30,000 gift to Hillcrest.
Their number one priority was the gift. Even with all the other benefits, they recognized that a charitable gift annuity is first and foremost a gift.
Thank you to these donors for reminding us of that.
