Good Counsel
How to make a bequest that is meaningful to you
By Blake Grossman
Associate Director, Office of Planned Giving
Remembering Stanford in your estate plans can help sustain and strengthen the university in years to come. In the accompanying story, Loretta Thermenos named Stanford University as a beneficiary in her trust, designating her gift to make Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) more accessible to students with disabilities.
Her gift honors her late husband, Paris Thermenos, MBA ’83, who loved his time at Stanford GSB and lived most of his life in a wheelchair.
Depending on the value of the gift, you may choose whether your gift is “expendable,” meaning it can be fully spent after it is received, or “endowed.” Endowed gifts are invested for the long term to provide a permanent source of financial support for the university. Each year, a portion of the fund is paid out—usually about 5 percent—and used for the purposes designated. If you would like to establish an endowed fund through your estate plans, we encourage you to contact the Office of Planned Giving. Our staff would be happy to work with you to provide the language for the fund.
If you have already included or decide to include a future gift to Stanford through your estate plans, please let our office know so that we can welcome you to the Founding Grant Society, Stanford’s honorary society for donors whose gifts will sustain the university into the future. Please contact the Office of Planned Giving for help designing a gift that best meets your charitable objectives as well as your financial and tax goals.