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 at Duke Health. Explore this site for giving options, as well as the links immediately below for useful information.

Plan for Your Future

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

• A Will or Trust is a popular way to leave your legacy at Duke Health. Your gift can support any area of Duke Health, augment your current giving, and even establish an endowed fund.
• A Retirement Plan is one of the most efficient ways to support Duke Health's future. You have the flexibility to make gifts during your lifetime and name a charitable beneficiary. This also results in favorable tax results for your heirs.

Receive Income as You Give

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

Make an Immediate Impact

Gifts of appreciated assets 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, personal property and securities can be turned into gifts with unique tax benefits. Your gift may be used to make an immediate impact at Duke Health 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. 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.
• Qualified Charitable Distributions are a simple and effective way to make a gift to Duke Health. Eligible IRA owners can directly transfer funds from their individual retirement account to achieve philanthropic goals.

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.

Share Your Plans

If you have already included Duke Health in your estate plans, please let us know so that we can gratefully recognize your future gift.

Notify Us

You may also complete a Confirmation of Legacy Gift Form and return it to our office.

Please note that we understand plans and circumstances may change over time. You are not making any promises or binding commitments by sharing this official for our confidential files. Should you wish to update your plans at anytime, you can simply do so with the Duke Health Office of Gift Planning.

Establish Your Legacy

The Duke Health Office of Gift Planning is available to answer any questions you or your advisors may have about fulfilling your personal and philanthropic goals. We will help you explore how to establish your legacy through strategic planned giving. 

Request Information

Email us: giftplanning-dukehealth@duke.edu
Call us: 919-385-1840

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.