Giving to the College of Life Sciences

How Can I Help?

The College of Life Sciences at Brigham Young University depends on your generosity to support its many projects. Donations receive appropriate tax advantages that come from contributing to a qualified public charity.

There are several ways to financially help the College:

Outright donations
Cash
Securities
Real Estate
Life Income Charitable Trusts
These trusts provide the donors with a lifetime income while also making a deferred gift to the College of Life Sciences. Donors also avoid capital gain tax on the sale of property that is donated to a charitable trust.
Testamentary Gifts
Many donors choose to make a bequest to the College of Life Sciences through their will or trust.

Giving Opportunities / Gift making Options

To make a donation online now, click here.

For more information or to talk about how you might help, call (801) 422-1282 and ask for Rich Kotter, Assistant to the Dean, College Development.

E-mail: rich_kotter@byu.edu
Fax: (801) 422-0050

How to Join Us in this Great Cause

We invite you to discuss your charitable desires with us. We will be happy to discuss the methods and rewards of giving to help the College of Life Sciences. We will work with you and your professional advisors to assist you in any way you desire.

Free Gift-Planning Services Are Provided

Because of the wide variety of giving tools available, the College Development Office has assembled a staff of professionals to help you in satisfying your desires to make voluntary gifts. They will also assist your attorneys, accountants, financial planners, and other professionals in developing proposed gifts. These services are provided without cost.

Strict Confidentiality Is Honored

When you make a contribution to the College of Life Sciences, you can be certain that all conversations, transactions, and dealings are held in the strictest confidence.

100% of your Gift goes directly to the College of Life Sciences at BYU

Your entire gift goes to this great work. By sharing your means, you are blessing the lives of students and faculty who, in turn, will bless others.

When you make a significant gift to the College, you play a meaningful role in changing countless lives for the better.

In addition to an abundance of spiritual blessings that may come to you as a result of your generous giving, temporal benefits are also a possibility. They could be significant. For example, giving in support of the campaign might allow you to:

put your financial house in order;
turn your non-income-producing holdings into income-generating assets;
increase your disposable income;
avoid tax on capital gains;
reduce your income tax;
have your assets managed by a professional trustee;
receive a lifetime income;
secure financial peace of mind for your spouse and family;
ensure that your estate is settled the way you choose;
guide the use of your assets after death; and
reduce gift and estate taxes for your spouse and children.

Most important, giving in support of Life Sciences allows you to enjoy a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that only comes through sharing.

Gift-Making Options

All sharing options supply benefits, either immediate or at a later date, to both the benefactor and the beneficiary. Although outright gifts sometimes tend to be smaller than deferred-or planned-gifts, the impact for both the beneficiary and the benefactor is immediate.

Among your outright giving options are:

Cash/Negotiable Securities/Real Estate, Outright gifts of cash, real estate, and negotiable securities are the most common, direct, and simple types of gifts. Many people, even those of modest means, choose to become philanthropically involved and active through these opportunities.

Deferred or other planned giving options are available in several different forms, all of which allow long-term benefits for the benefactor as well as the beneficiary. With most, the donor can have the benefit of a lifetime income with significant tax advantages while making a considerable contribution to Biology and Agriculture.

Among your planned giving options are:

Wills : There are two general ways to benefit the College priorities and programs through wills:

A. Outright Specific Bequests assign a specified amount or percentage of cash or other assets to the university. The remainder goes to individuals or organizations you assign as a beneficiary or beneficiaries.

B. Residual Will Instructions allow you to specify that after certain payments have been made for your estate, the balance goes to Life Sciences in the manner, priority, or program you designate.

Although wills do not provide an income for the donor as a trust might, they do offer many other advantages, including the opportunity to make sure your wishes as to the distribution of your assets are satisfied.

Life Insurance Policies : Gifts of this type allow you to make a gift larger than your current circumstances might allow. All it takes is to name the College of Life Sciences as the beneficiary. This option also allows you to tender the gift without restriction or to designate the priority or program you wish to support.

Charitable Remainder Unitrust: This type of trust fund is rapidly becoming one of the most popular among people making planned, deferred gifts because of its inherent benefits to them and to the College. The trust might allow you to receive an income for your lifetime and also, if you desire, for the life of your spouse. Payments might vary depending on fluctuations in interest rates. At the end of the trust term, any remaining assets and income go to the College of Life Sciences as you designate.

Revocable Living Trust: This option allows you complete flexibility to administer your assets during your lifetime. At your death your trust results in a generous gift to the College and distributes the remaining assets according to your wishes.

Charitable Gift Annuity: This trust is similar to remainder trusts but differs in that payments are based on a predetermined earnings percentage that is guaranteed by the owner of the annuity, in this case Brigham Young University. Income payments can either begin when the annuity is established or in the future, as you request.

Charitable Lead Trust: Functioning in reverse of a charitable remainder trust, the income from assets you place in trust is directed to Biology and Agriculture at the beginning rather than at the end of the trust term. Using this trust, you have the option of choosing a specific term of years or the duration of your life for the income to be given to the College. At the end of the trust term, the asset reverts to you or goes to the beneficiary you have designated.

Remainder Interest Deed: If you have a mortgage-free home or farm, this plan allows you to make it a gift to Biology and Agriculture while retaining use of the property during your lifetime. At your death, the property passes on to the College. This type of deed allows an immediate tax deduction when the interest deed is executed.

Bargain Sale: This transaction permits the university to purchase a property or asset you elect to sell at a bargain price. The difference between the property's fair market value and the sale price constitutes the amount of your gift.

Gifts-in-Kind: These types of gifts are particularly appealing to corporations and small businesses, who elect to contribute gifts such as equipment, machinery, tools, hardware, and software, rather than cash, to specific colleges, departments, and programs. In this way they are able to substantially support students and faculty while creating awareness for their products, and at the same time receive charitable tax deductions equivalent to the fair market value of their gifts.

Contact Us

Thank you for your support of Brigham Young University. If you have further questions or would like additional information about the campaign or the ways you can give, please contact us at:

College of Life Sciences Development Office
Rich Kotter, 392 WIDB, Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602 -- (801) 422-1282
rich_kotter@byu.edu