Ways to Give

Everyone deserves the opportunity to improve their life through education. The Foundation exists to help improve lives by making college affordable and accessible.

Below are some of the options available for giving to the Foundation.

You can designate how you would like to help the college. You can choose to give to the area of greatest need, specify departments, programs, or scholarships, or name your gift in honor of someone in particular.

The Legacy Society has been established by the Foundation to thank those who have remembered to include the Foundation in their future giving and estate plans.

To become a Legacy Society member, call or write the Foundation to tell them you have included the Foundation as a beneficiary in your estate planning.

Legacy Society members will be honored on a special plaque that hangs in a prominent place on the Centralia College campus. Additionally, you will receive a beautifully framed certificate and be invited as a special guest to Foundation events. 

The Foundation has a number of scholarship funds, endowments, and matching gift endowments. You can choose to give to the specific area or program of your choice.

Establishing a permanent endowment in your name or the name of a loved one is a wonderful way to create a legacy and provide ongoing funds to Centralia College. With this type of fund, a percentage of the earned income is used to carry out the purpose of the endowment while the principal remains intact.

One of the most popular forms of life income arrangement, a gift annuity offers many advantages. 

  • The payout rates for gift annuities typically range from 5-9 percent. Payout rates are determined by a person's age and, once established, are fixed for life.
  • The donor receives a generous income tax deduction for the year in which they create a gift annuity.  Often the tax deduction is 20-50% of the amount that they placed into the annuity.
  • The donor can enjoy a significant portion of the income they receive from a gift annuity on a tax-free basis.

Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) can be one of the most powerful planning tools available as you do retirement and estate planning. CRTs afford you potentially five favorable tax outcomes by virtue of one financial transaction. They are:  1) capital gain tax avoidance 2) income tax deduction, 3) tax-free compounding 4) income payments taxed favorably, and 5) estate tax elimination (for those people with larger estates).

If you have publicly traded stock that has appreciated in value, it is most advantageous to give the stock rather than cash. Why?  Because any capital gain tax that you would have incurred if you sold the stock will be avoided when you give it to the Foundation. Then, if you happen to like that particular stock, you can then use your available cash to repurchase the stock at a new, higher cost basis.

If you have rental apartments or commercial buildings, you can avoid capital gain tax and depreciation recapture tax by donating the property to the Foundation.  If you have farms or vacation homes, life-income arrangements such as CRTs or Gift Annuities can be equally rewarding. 

The Foundation is able to receive life insurance gifts in limited circumstances. (NOTE: The Foundation does not participate in start-up life insurance programs. 

For tax reasons, it can be beneficial for you to name the Foundation as the remainder beneficiary of your retirement plan. This can be easily done by calling the retirement plan administrator and filling out a new beneficiary designation form. Charitable organizations are not subject to estate or income tax, so the full value of the retirement plan can become a gift.

Often referred to as "bequests," you can name the Foundation as a beneficiary in your estate documents, regardless of whether you use a will or living trust. This is one of the most meaningful ways a charitable organization can be supported by those who have been touched in some way by the work the College is doing

CONTACT THE FOUNDATION

Centralia College Foundation
600 Centralia College Blvd
Centralia, WA 98531-4099
360-623-8942
ccfoundation@centralia.edu