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Tips for Making a Smart Year End Gift

During times like these, your support is even more critical to fulfilling CSULB's mission. But since you have probably suffered from recent economic trends, this is the year to make the smartest gifts possible. Here are a few ways you can more easily support us in these uncertain times – we want the gift you make this year to help you as well as us.

Naturally, we always need cash gifts of any size. However, we’re also recommending some financially prudent options - ways to give, using other assets. These gifts can be made without impacting your cash flow:

1. If you own stock that is worth more now than when you purchased or inherited it, but you expect a decline in value, you could donate those assets, and “lock in the gains.” Remember to give us the actual appreciated asset (such as a stock that is worth more now than when you bought it ten years ago) rather than selling it and making a cash contribution. You may also want to consider real estate.
2. This year you probably hold some assets that have increased in value and others that have decreased in value since you purchased them. If the values of various assets have moved in different directions, you can follow a two-step process that may benefit you as it benefits us:
   1. Sell the depreciated assets and claim the resulting tax loss to offset your gains;
   2. Donate some of the sale proceeds to us. Depending on your tax situation, your donation will be eligible for a charitable income tax deduction, further offsetting taxable income for the year.
3. You can also receive stable, lifetime payments on the current value of assets you hold by contributing them to us in return for a charitable gift annuity. This gift is available for people who are already retired or those who need to supplement their retirement plans in the future. Your annuity will be based on the value of the securities at the time you donate them. Then when the annuity ends, its balance will be applied to the purposes you designate when you make your gift.
4. One hidden asset that you can give instead of cash is a paid-up life insurance policy, especially if you no longer need it. If you make California State University, Long Beach the owner and beneficiary, you’ll be able to claim a charitable deduction for the value of the policy and make a substantial year-end gift to us without affecting your cash-flow in any way.
5. Now through December 31, 2009, the IRS will allow a qualifying donor to make an outright gift to a qualifying charity from his or her traditional or Roth IRA account, without incurring income tax on the withdrawal. If you are over 70½ and need to take withdrawals from your IRA, this provision may provide a creative source of funds for your charitable giving.
6. Finally, a gift through your will, revocable trust, or retirement plan, doesn’t reduce your income in any way during your lifetime. Because these gifts are revocable, you can change your beneficiary designations if your needs or your family’s needs change over time.

We’ll be happy to give you all the details of these and other creative giving techniques that may best fit your priorities and circumstances. Thank you for your generosity, and thank you for considering a special gift during these challenging times.