Private philanthropy at Johns Hopkins is a tradition that dates back to the founding of the university and hospital that bear our founder and benefactor’s name. The Johns Hopkins Institutions are fortunate to have loyal benefactors; their continued and generous support is critical to the success of our mission. But charitable gifts can reward donors in many ways as well. There is the satisfaction of supporting an important cause, the excitement of seeing your gift lead to positive change, and, in many cases, tangible financial benefits to you and/or another beneficiary, through tax advantages and the receipt of a lifetime income stream from the donated asset. An overview of some of the ways to give is provided here. For more information, please contact us at the numbers listed below.

Charitable gifts made during your lifetime do double duty. The asset is removed from the donor’s estate for estate tax purposes and the gift generates an income tax charitable deduction for the donor. Donors who make leadership commitments may choose to make a pledge for payment over a period of years.

Cash gifts are deductible for federal income tax purposes up to a limit of 50 percent of your adjusted gross income if you itemize deductions. When cash gifts exceed this limit, you may carry over the excess deduction for up to five additional years.

New legislation, The Pension Protection Act of 2006, allows an individual age 70½ or older to make a cash gift from their Traditional or Roth IRA directly to a nonprofit organization, such as Johns Hopkins. The donor does not claim the distribution as income and is allowed to make distribution gifts up to $100,000 through December 31, 2007. Please see the attached information for more details.

Many donors to Johns Hopkins make outright gifts in the form of appreciated securities. Because you avoid paying a tax on capital gains that you would owe if you sold the securities, giving appreciated securities to Johns Hopkins creates additional tax advantages.

Gifts of securities are deductible for federal tax purposes up to a limit of 30 percent of your adjusted gross income each year. If you itemize, you are entitled to a charitable income-tax deduction for the full value of your gift, provided you have owned the securities for more than 12 months.

Owning these and other similar types of assets creates a unique gift planning opportunity. While special planning considerations are needed, under certain circumstances you can use such assets to make a valuable gift to Johns Hopkins.

You may wish to make a substantial gift to Johns Hopkins but feel you cannot afford to give up the annual income produced by the asset. Our life-income gift program offers several ways to help you make such a gift while providing an income for your lifetime or a term of years.

The benefits to the donor vary, but all life-income gifts have the following attractive features:

• Income for life or a term of years is paid to you and/or another beneficiary, such as your spouse or another family member;
• Increased income if a gift is made to a life income plan that produces a higher yield than the donated asset;
• An immediate federal income tax charitable deduction is available for a portion of the value of the gift; and
• Favorable treatment of capital gains if the asset given is in the form of securities or real estate that have appreciated in value.

Almost any kind of real property can be used to make a gift to Johns Hopkins: a primary residence, vacation home, farm, commercial building, or an undeveloped parcel of land. You can even contribute your residence now and reside in it for the rest of your life.

As with outright gifts of appreciated securities, no capital gains tax is due when you donate appreciated real estate. You are entitled to a federal income tax charitable deduction in the amount of the appreciated value of the real estate, and you avoid estate taxes on the appreciated asset.

Johns Hopkins has been the recipient of bequests, both large and small, from many alumni, friends, and grateful patients over the years. These bequests, no matter how modest, have been welcome and important to Johns Hopkins and are often structured to create a permanent legacy. The value of a bequest to Johns Hopkins is fully deductible for estate tax purposes. A bequest can be made through a Will, Trust, Retirement Account or Insurance Policy. We encourage benefactors to contact us for suggested bequest language and other pertinent information prior to finalizing your bequest plans.

We will be pleased to discuss the variety of options that you may wish to consider when creating your philanthropic planning. For more information visit www.plannedgifts.org/jhu or contact: