Today

Making your gift or pledge right now is easy, secure, and rewarding. You can give online or through the mail, and you can make a one-time outright donation or arrange a recurring monthly gift.

• Online giving

Make a gift using your debit or credit card

• Automatic Monthly Deduction

Using debit or credit card or bank account

• Print and Mail Donation

Pay by check or credit using mail-in form

• Payroll Deduction

Make gifts through the BU payroll system

• Matching Gifts

Use your employer's matching gift option

For other gifts, including stock and securities, please contact the BU Foundation at (570) 389-4524 or by e-mail.

Tomorrow

Give a gift through your will, life insurance policy, or retirement plan

The most practical way to make significant gifts to the BU Foundation may be through your estate plan, your will, a living trust, or a beneficiary designation on a life insurance policy or retirement account. Such gifts are wholly revocable while you are alive and may save significant taxes for your estate. We will be happy to work with you and your attorney or financial advisor to insure that you are able to fulfill your charitable intentions.

• Bequests

A bequest is the most traditional way to provide significant help for BU students and academic programs. With a gift through your will or living trust, you maintain full use of your gift assets during your lifetime. You can structure a bequest in ways that will be both personally satisfying and tax advantageous.

• Life insurance

You can name the BU Foundation as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or a percentage of its proceeds. A better idea may be to transfer actual ownership of the policy to the Foundation, assuming it is a "surplus" policy is no longer needed for family security.

• Retirement accounts

Your estate can save both income taxes and estate taxes if you make a charitable organization the beneficiary of part or all of your IRA or other retirement accounts. Family members might keep only 30 cents on the dollar from these assets due to taxes. Recent changes in IRS regulations have made it simpler and more favorable to name worthwhile causes, such as Bloomsburg University, as beneficiaries of IRAs and other retirement accounts.

Give a gift that also provides income: Annuities and Trusts

A variety of gift options allow you to make a substantial charitable donation to the BU Foundation, while providing income to you during your lifetime. The best arrangement for each donor depends on multiple factors.

• Charitable Gift Annuity

You contribute cash or assets and the Foundation agrees to pay you a fixed annual payment quarterly for life. Charitable gift annuities can be established for an individual or for the lifetime of two individuals.

• Charitable Remainder Unitrust

You contribute cash or assets to a trust, and designate a percent of the annual value of the trust that you will receive as a quarterly income payment which fluctuates with the value of the trust. At the end of the trust (for one or more lifetimes or a set number of years), the Foundation receives the remainder.

Forever

Start a Scholarship

When you establish an endowed fund, you insure that your giving will continue forever. Your gift is invested, and each year, a percentage of the earnings is used to make a scholarship award to a student who qualifies. At a 4% payout rate, for example, a $25,000 fund would produce a $1,000 scholarship annually in perpetuity.