Powerful Untapped Markets for Your Charitable Gift Annuities

Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs) can be an excellent gift vehicle for both your planned giving program and for your donors. That’s why it’s so important to let donors know how these gifts fit into their unique life circumstances—enabling them to satisfy both philanthropic and financial objectives. Is your organization making the most of this incredible gift giving tool?

Below are four significant market segments you don’t want to overlook when planning your charitable gift annuity program:

1. Grandparents Wanting to Help With College Expenses

With today’s high costs of attending college, families are seeking creative ways to fund future college expenses. With a deferred gift annuity, a donor can name a grandchild as the annuitant with life payments to begin at age 18; the annuity payments are converted to four annual installments with the student receiving large payments during the college years.  

2. Boomers or Gen X Who Want to Supplement Retirement Plans

More and more working Americans are taking the reins on their retirement planning. Using a flexible deferred gift annuity, a donor has the ability to select a payment starting date at some point in the future. Any amount can be contributed. Unlike traditional retirement plans, appreciated property can also be used to fund the charitable gift annuity and a portion of the annuitant’s payments are tax-free.

3. Older Individuals on Fixed Income

Gift annuities can be especially attractive for older individuals who like the security of fixed annuity payments and are unhappy with the current low interest rates on their investments. Immediate charitable gift annuities, with payments that are partially tax-free, have much to offer for those individuals on a fixed income.

4.   Adults Caring for Aging Parents

If an adult is providing financial support for an elderly parent or other relative, an immediate gift annuity can be set up naming that person as the annuitant. The donor receives a charitable tax deduction and the annuitant, who is likely in a lower tax bracket, receives partially tax-free payments.

These are just a few of the many wonderful marketing applications for charitable gift annuities. Be sure to check out our upcoming summer newsletter with helpful organizational pointers for administering your CGAs. Contact Pentera today to sign up to receive our company newsletter or to register for our training seminar lead by Frank Minton and André Donikian.  Or call us at 317.875.0910, ext. 251.