For Professional Advisors
If you are working with a professional advisor, or advising a donor, here's a practical guide for including UT Health San Antonio in a charitable estate plan.
Template Types
Planning to Make a Difference
Now and in the Future
More than sixty years ago, forward-thinking community members had a vision for a medical school in San Antonio. What began with a gift of a 100 acre dairy farm has become the internationally renowned UT Health Science Center San Antonio- a thriving health sciences university with exceptional schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions, and graduate biomedical sciences. Gifts may be designated to support an area meaningful to you, such as scholarships for students, crucial research to discover cures for diseases that may have touched your own family, improvements in community health, or recruitment of exceptional faculty.
Every gift has a meaningful impact, improving the lives of others and the health of generations to come. Join us by including UT Health San Antonio in your plans. Together, we will continue to make lives better.
Laureate Society
Members of the Laureate Society share a strong common bond of generosity and visionary leadership, nourishing the university's continued success. We welcome the opportunity to recognize and honor your generosity that will have a lasting impact helping to make lives better for future generations. You may direct your gift to the programs and initiatives that are the most meaningful to you.
Benefits of Membership
As a member, you will receive:
- An invitation to the Laureate Society annual membership event along with invitations to other special University events.
- Recognition in Laureate Society membership rosters printed in various University publications. (We only print your name with your permission.)
- A subscription to the Mission magazine.
- A specially designed Laureate Society lapel pin.
How to become a member
You receive membership in the Laureate Society when you indicate that you have made an estate gift to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Download Estate Intention LetterWhat Matters Most
ACADEMICS
Educating the next generation of health care professionals
ACADEMICS
Providing scholarships to outstanding students
RESEARCH
Conducting innovative, lifesaving research
RESEARCH
Transforming breakthrough discoveries into improved patient care
PATIENT CARE
Providing advanced services and compassionate care
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Improving the health of residents locally and globally
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Annabelle Jones has a simple answer when asked why she made a bequest in her will to the Mays Cancer Center, the newly named home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center: "It makes me proud to have the ability to support the doctors who saved my life."
Annabelle Jones lives to improve the future of the next generations. Retired after 33 years of serving children as an elementary schoolteacher, she continues to make a difference in children's lives by reading with them at her local library and working on projects in her community to help create a healthy future. Annabelle's spirit was tested when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in (what year?). Fueled by her inherent courage and devotion to her health, her job and her family in her hometown of San Angelo, Annabelle sought the expertise and a second opinion from physicians at the Mays Cancer Center where she decided to undergo treatment.
"At the Mays Cancer Center I felt I received kind, generous and professional care that fit my needs." Annabelle beat breast cancer and believes research played a major role in her survival. "Research is the key to unlocking life's mysteries. There have been so many advances in breast cancer treatment since I was diagnosed."
She knows that each contribution to vital research can make the dream of curing cancer a reality. So Annabelle made the decision to leave a gift in her will to the Mays Cancer Center to be used for breast cancer research.
"I am just a retired schoolteacher, but I believe we are all in the same boat, and each of us needs to do what we can to help row the boat. I strongly believe we all should get behind the innovative research efforts at the Mays Cancer Center to defeat cancer. I want my legacy to be that in the future, our children and grandchildren will not have to deal with the pain and fear of cancer. I hope my contribution creates a domino effect so others give what they can."
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The future is now: Creating a 'future legacy'
When she was a faculty member in the School of Nursing, Carol Reineck, Ph.D., RN, MSN '82 passed the names of donors displayed on the walls more times than she could count.
"When I walked by those names every day, I would think of how appreciative we were of the support from our alumni and community. When I lost a family member, those names suddenly had so much more significance. I decided then that I wanted to join that family of donors to the School of Nursing," Dr. Reineck said.
Dr. Reineck knows of the three stages of life – survival, success, and significance – and said she considers making a difference now and in the future an important part of every stage of her life.
For many, the last phase, significance, is when most look to make a difference beyond their physical presence. This is exactly what Dr. Reineck hoped to achieve by joining the list of names she had seen every day. Thus, she immediately began planning her legacy – her "future legacy."
To create her "future legacy," Dr. Reineck decided that a deferred gift annuity was the right gift for her. This allowed her to make a current gift, receive an income tax deduction, and ensure guaranteed annuity payments for life beginning at a time in the future that she determined.
"Life is uncertain," Dr. Reineck said. "For me, this gift option was perfect. I can help the School of Nursing and create a future income stream for myself that may help with unexpected expenses.
"The needs of our School of Nursing in the future are going to be great. As our university becomes less reliant on state support, we will be looking to private philanthropy to help us achieve our mission of educating the future generations of nurses. I am so honored to be a part of that future, and I hope that others will join me by creating their own future legacy."
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A gift for now and for the future
Deborah Heritage will never forget the day her husband, John, awoke after his liver transplant surgery in San Antonio. "He was like a new person," Deborah said. "It was like a switch had turned on transporting him from death's door to life again."
Just two months earlier, while living in Chicago, the Heritages had been told by physicians there that John's rare AB blood type would most likely prevent him from undergoing transplant surgery.
Deborah's determination to help her husband led her to the University Transplant Center, a partnership of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and University Health System. Upon her first phone interview with the Center staff, Deborah said she felt an immediate connection. From then on, Deborah said the encouragement and support they received from the staff made them feel like part of the UT Health San Antonio family.
John received a new liver and a new lease on life in San Antonio. "Not only did the surgery save his life, the excellent post-op care John received prolonged and enhanced his quality of life for years after his transplant."
To celebrate her husband's life, and to recognize the compassionate care received from the UT Health physicians, tailored to fit John's needs and his personality, Deborah established the John D. and Deborah Heritage Endowed Award for Excellence in Transplantation. The gift supports talented residents in the field of transplantation.
In addition to this current gift, Deborah has named the UT Health Science Center the partial beneficiary of several life insurance policies that will increase her endowment in the future.
How to Give
Not only do you have options for how your gift will be used, you also have options on what to give and how to give. There are gifts that cost you nothing now, gifts that pay you income, and gifts that allow you to decide what happens when.
Beneficiary Designations
Retirement Assets and other Funds
Naming UT Health San Antonio as the beneficiary of a retirement plan asset such as an IRA, 401(k), or 403(b), will accomplish a charitable goal while realizing a significant tax savings.
Gifts from Your Will
Bequests
Through a provision in your written and executed will or living trust you can make a gift to UT Health San Antonio in the form of cash, securities, real estate or personal property. There are many types of bequests. Consult with your attorney to choose the one that best fits your needs and intentions.
Life Income Gifts
Charitable Gift Annuities
You can turn underperforming assets (cash, stock, CDs, savings bonds, etc.) into a gift to UT Health San Antonio that provides income to you or you and a loved one. Your Charitable Gift Annuity will return fixed, quarterly payments for life and provide tax benefits, too.
Gifts of Appreciated Assets
Buy Low. Give High.
When you donate appreciated stocks, bonds, or mutual fund shares instead of cash, your gift costs you less than the amount UT Health San Antonio receives. You'll get a charitable deduction for the full amount of your gift and avoid the impact of capital gains taxes.
IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution
Make a Tax-Free Gift from Your IRA
If you're 70 ½ or older, each year, you can instruct your IRA administrator to transfer all or part of your required minimum distribution (up to $100,000) directly to UT Health San Antonio and avoid paying the tax had you taken it as income.
Gifts of Real Property
Real Estate and Other Valuables
Like stock, the fair market value of gifts of appreciated assets such as real estate, artwork, and other well curated collections can be deducted from your income tax today, avoid capital gains, and reduce estate taxes in the future. There are even ways to donate your home and live there as long as you'd like.
Donor Advised Funds
Name UT Health San Antonio as a beneficiary of your donor advised fund. Designate us to receive all or a portion of the balance of your fund through your fund administrator (you can also make a grant to us at any time from your donor-advised fund). The balance in your fund passes to UT Health San Antonio when the fund terminates.
Gifts Through Trusts
Other Life income gifts
Charitable Remainder Trusts provide you income from an asset that then passes to UT Health San Antonio as a gift. Charitable Lead Trusts provide income to UT Health before the asset passes to your heirs. For the savvy donor, charitable trusts can provide tax-advantaged income, eliminate capital gains, or preserve assets for your heirs.
Gifts of Life Insurance
Name UT Health San Antonio as the beneficiary of an existing life insurance policy; donate an existing, paid-up life insurance policy you no longer need; or purchase a new life insurance policy and name UT Health as the owner and beneficiary.
Can We Help?
Our Office of Gift Planning is available to assist you in refining your goals and objectives. We can work with you and your advisors to help you explore practical ways to meet your planning and philanthropic goals. Discussing your charitable intentions with the Office of Gift Planning will help ensure your gift makes the impact your desire.
In addition to the personal satisfaction of your gift benefitting the lives of others, charitable gifts may structured to provide tax benefits, supplement retirement income, or provide financial support for a loved one.
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Planned Giving Marketing and UT Health San Antonio.
This site is informational and educational in nature. It is not offering professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. For specific advice about the effect of any planning concept on your tax or financial situation or with your estate, please consult a qualified professional advisor.