Charitable gifts provide a significant measure of support for Teachers College, funding a wide range of programs important to its mission. Donors to the Campaign for Teachers College can structure their gifts in a number of ways to yield favorable tax consequences and to suit individual income requirements. Indeed, there are ways of giving that benefit both donors and Teachers College.

Private philanthropy enables Teachers College to retain its leadership as one of the finest professional schools of education in the country. Gifts may be made by cash, marketable securities, and other property, allocated to a specific program by the donor or given unrestricted to be used by the College where the need is greatest. Below are several gift options:

Endowed Funds create a permanent fund in which only a portion of the income is used for a designated purpose and the principal is invested in perpetuity. Endowments can be designated primarily for scholarships and professorships.
Expendable funds may be designated for any purpose within Teachers College's mission and are spent as current funds.

Named Gift Opportunities allow Teachers College to recognize significant contributions by identifying a facility, a program, an endowed chair, a scholarship, a professorship or other specific entity by naming it after the donor or an honoree of the donor's choice.

Outright Gifts include contributions of cash, appreciated securities, other property or life insurance. Advantages include an income tax deduction in most gifts.

Gifts of Appreciated Securities may also enable the donor to avoid capital gains taxes while taking a deduction on their mean value on the day of the gift. Donors also can give stock of closely held corporations or family enterprises, with similar advantages.

Life Income Gifts enable donors to make significant gifts while ensuring a guaranteed life income. Such gifts include Pooled Income Funds which combine the gifts of many donors, with donors or their beneficiaries receiving a lifetime income. Gift Annuities are made in exchange for a fixed guaranteed payment for life which may begin immediately or be deferred. Annuity Trusts and Unitrusts are separately managed trusts that provide income to the donor or a beneficiary for life or for a term of years, after which the principal reverts to Teachers College.

Life Estate Gifts enable donors to give homes, farms or other property to Teachers College while retaining the right to use them for life.

Charitable Lead Trusts are individually managed trusts which pay an annuity or a fixed percentage of its assets annually to Teachers College for a specific number of years. Assets are then returned to the donor or passed on to his or her beneficiaries.

Bequests are gifts of any form or amount designated in a person's will. A bequest can be a specific dollar amount, a percentage of the estate, or specific property. These can be a vital part of an estate plan, and may allow a larger gift to Teachers College than might otherwise be possible.

Orrea F. Pye, Professor Emeritus at Teachers College, died recently at the age of 91, leaving a legacy as a pioneer in nutrition education creating the Mary Schwartz Rose Professorship in tribute to her mentor at Teachers College.

Over her lifetime, Professor Pye donated $861,182 for the Mary Schwartz Rose Professorship in the form of an annuity trust now endowed with growth at more than $1.5 million. Her high regard for Professor Schwartz Rose was expressed as well in a biography wherein she wrote that "colleagues have said of Mary Schwartz Rose that no other person contributed more to the advancement in every aspect of nutrition in this century."

Professor Pye herself received equally high accolades for her contributions to the field of nutrition.

She was also the author of numerous publications and articles, among them Foundations of Nutrition, considered to be her most significant work. When she assumed leadership of the nutrition program at Teachers College in 1963, Professor Pye introduced a new set of courses to help students recognize and incorporate psychological problems encountered in working with clients in clinics and communities activities. She also initiated a new Master of Education for students who already had a master's degree that focused on public health nutrition and such specialties as maternal and child health and clinical nutrition.

Indeed, so instrumental was her impact as a teacher that her students created the Orrea Pye Fellowship Fund now valued at more than $40,000 to which Professor Pye pledged an additional $150,000.

Additional information on the various ways of giving to Teachers College is available by contacting Joseph S. Brosnan, Vice President for Development and External Affairs at 212.678.3755 or Elaine Yaniv, Director of Major Gifts at 212.678.3722. Donors also should consult their financial planners, legal counsel or tax advisors on how giving to Teachers College can fit into their investment, retirement and estate plans.

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001