Impact

In the weeks leading to the end of the calendar year, the OSU Foundation especially promoted gift vehicles that allow donors to generously support the OSU programs they care about most while also gaining personal financial benefits. Three of these win-win gift options are bequests, the OSU Venture Development Fund, and IRA rollover gifts.

Here are examples of how donors are using these gift vehicles to make great things possible:

For students: Endowment Legacies

Harold Merryman was a 1937 graduate of the College of Engineering who later earned a master's degree in sanitary engineering from Harvard University. During his career, he worked for the Oregon State Board of Health, Sanitary Authority, and Air Pollution Authority, retiring from the Department of Environmental Quality. Harold also worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy SeaBees in the South Pacific.

To honor his memory, his widow, Christina Merryman, decided to designate OSU in her estate plans. Her Living Trust provides tax-wise bequests for her loved ones and favorite charities, including creating the Christina M. and Harold W. Merryman Endowed Scholarship, which will assist junior, senior, and graduate engineering students who exhibit integrity and a strong work ethic.

The scholarship exemplifies the impact of Benton Hall Society members, who have included OSU in their estate plans. During the last three fiscal years, OSU has had an average of 30 realized bequests per year, with an average value of $200,000.

For Oregon: University Venture Development Fund

So far this fiscal year 16 donors have made commitments totaling more than $267,000 to the OSU Venture Development Fund. By fast-tracking OSU research for commercialization, these gifts are significant investments in Oregon's economic growth. Among other early success stories, one OSU-based startup receiving venture fund support, Life Microsystems, produces pure chlorophyll from Oregon-grown spinach. The substance has the ability to bind with toxins in the human body, potentially preventing cancers caused by exposure to things like diesel fumes and cigarette smoke.

Venture fund gifts offer the bonus benefit to donors of an extraordinary 60 percent Oregon income tax credit in addition to the federal charitable gift deduction. Learn more about the University Venture Development Fund.

For the world: IRA Rollover Gifts

Individuals aged 70 1/2 or older may rollover up to $100,000 from an individual retirement account directly to OSU without increasing their taxable income. Since this option became available in 2006, donors have contributed just over $3 million to OSU in IRA rollovers, including $672,000 in the first half of this fiscal year. This total is encouraging, notes OSU Foundation Assistant Vice President for Gift Planning Dan Peterson, especially considering that most IRA owners were not required to take a distribution from their IRAs in 2009.

"Many advisors were recommending that their clients not take ANY distributions from their IRAs — including the charitable rollover gifts — so the IRAs could rebound in value," Dan says. "The amount of gifts received by OSUF clearly indicates that, despite a difficult economy, many OSU alumni and friends continue to have 'surplus' funds in their IRAs. For these folks, the IRA charitable rollover is a very tax-efficient way for them to support OSU priorities and programs."

In December Barbara Loomis '57 made a pledge payment from her IRA to the Barbara and Bob Loomis Fund for Optimal Health in the College of Health and Human Sciences. Read more about Barbara and Bob Loomis's "his and hers" gifts (page 17 of this PDF).

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