Gift Planning

Create Your Legacy

Whether it is a gift through your will or retirement plan or one that provides income and tax savings to you, a planned gift is one of the most meaningful ways to make a substantial impact on Duke. Explore this site for giving options, as well as the links immediately below for useful information.

Plan for Your Future

Including Duke in your estate plan may allow you to do more than you thought possible while achieving your own personal and financial goals. Gain potential tax savings and maintain control of your assets during your lifetime.

• Will or Trust is a popular way to leave your legacy at Duke. Your gift can support any area of Duke, augment your current giving, and even establish an endowed fund.
• Retirement Plans is one of the most efficient ways to support Duke’s future. You have the flexibility to take withdrawals during your lifetime and adjust beneficiary designations during your lifetime. This also results in favorable tax results for your heirs.

Receive Income as You Give

A life income gift provides future support for Duke while also providing a tax deduction and payments to you or your loved ones.  Payments can be fixed, variable or deferred.

These gift vehicles can provide income benefits comparable to — or in some cases exceeding — those that might be earned in non-charitable vehicles. Many donors establish life income gifts with assets that are producing a small amount of income, such as cash or appreciated stocks that do not earn dividends.

Duke offers four basic types of life income gifts that will provide income to you or a loved one:

• Charitable gift annuity provides a fixed income for life in exchange for a gift of cash or stock of $25,000 or more.
• Charitable remainder unitrust is a trust that pays you and/or other recipients an income for life or designated years for a gift of $100,000 or more, and ultimately benefits your designated purpose at Duke.
• Charitable remainder annuity trust provides a fixed income like a charitable gift annuity but the tax treatment of the payout may be preferable for gifts of highly appreciated assets of $100,000 or more.

Make an Immediate Impact

Gifts of appreciated stocks, mutual funds or real estate held for more than one year may provide special tax advantages. Donate these assets outright or use them to establish a gift that pays you income.

Real estate, tangible property and securities can be turned into gifts with unique tax benefits. Your gift may be used to make an immediate impact at Duke University and support the programs you care about most.

• Gifts of securities including appreciated stocks, bonds or mutual funds, may provide special tax advantages. By donating appreciated securities that you have owned for longer than one year, you receive the same income tax savings as you would by making a gift of cash or by check, but you also avoid tax on the capital gains built up in donated securities.
• Gifts of real estate may be a principal residence or vacation home, a farm, a commercial building, a subdivision lot, or unimproved land. The gift may be the entire property or a fractional interest in the property. 
• Gifts-in-kind may include personal property and other goods. If property has been held for more than a year and can be put to a use related to the "charitable purpose" of the university, you may be eligible for a deduction based on the asset's full fair market value. Please note that some gifts require an appraisal or advance approval in order to be accepted.
• Charitable IRA rollover is a simple and effective way to make a gift to Duke. Eligible IRA owners can directly transfer funds from their individual retirement account to achieve multiple charitable purposes.

Download the Legacy Gift to Duke Health form

Gift Documentation

If you make a gift using any of these assets, you may need to complete an IRS Form 8283 for your personal income tax return.

Contact Us

Have a question about any aspect of planning your gift to Duke?

Email us at: giftplanning-dukehealth@duke.edu

Call Us:  919-385-3100

Related Video

Grateful Alumnus Establishes Trust and Scholarship for MD/PhD Students
Fred Sanfilippo, MD, PhD, of Atlanta, who earned his medical degree at Duke and was a faculty member here as well, wanted to show his gratitude for his education and the life-saving care that his wife received here. The couple established a trust fund and scholarship to benefit MD/PhD students.