Donor Stories
For Linda and Kenny Schmidt, a variable life insurance policy proved a unique way to leverage their relatively modest annual payments into a sizeable charitable gift.
Linda and Kenny Schmidt have a lifelong relationship with UAFS, and they were sure they wanted to include the University in their estate plan. For them, a variable life insurance policy proved the ideal solution, offering a unique way to leverage their relatively modest annual payments into a sizeable charitable gift. The Schmidts make quarterly premium payments, receive a charitable deduction for the payments, and have made UAFS the owner and beneficiary of the policy.
“Kenny and I have always wanted to make a significant gift,” says Linda, “and this tool allows us to do that. We can still make additional gifts during our lifetime and leave a legacy for our children and grandchildren." The Schmidts’ insurance policy will eventually fund the Kenny and Linda Schmidt Endowment.
The residual from Sherron and Charles Shuffield’s charitable gift annuity will fund the Sherron Shuffield Endowment to support the activities of an English honor society.
For Sherron Shuffield, who taught English at UAFS for 20 years, and her husband, Charles, giving to the University was an easy decision. The Sherron Shuffield Endowment will be funded with the residual of the couple’s charitable gift annuity, which also provides them with lifetime payments.
The Sherron Shuffield Endowment is unique in that it will support an honor society — Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society. For a teacher and scholar of English, the ability to specifically help upper-level English students attend conferences, pay tuition and fees and bring distinguished speakers to campus was a perfect fit.
To show its gratitude, the UAFS chapter of Sigma Tau Delta inducted Shuffield as an honorary member during a ceremony in February 2010.
Dr. Linda Tichenor, a UAFS biology professor, chose to create a future endowment through a designation in her individual retirement account.
Like many of her students at UAFS, biology professor Dr. Linda Tichenor was the first person in her family to attend college, so she knows firsthand how philanthropy — and education — can change lives. When she decided that she wanted to leave a legacy for the benefit of future students, she chose to name the UAFS Foundation the beneficiary of her retirement plan.
Naming the University as a beneficiary of a retirement plan is neither technical nor difficult. It requires, in fact, nothing more than notifying the holder of the plan of the new beneficiary. And yet the gift’s impact can be profound. Dr. Tichenor’s retirement plan funds will establish the Dr. Linda L. Tichenor Endowment, which will help students for generations to come.
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