Creating a Legacy with Charitable Gift Annuities

Few things in life will cause a person to consider their own mortality quite like a cancer diagnosis. So, when Jim Wright '70 was diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest of skin cancers, he began to think about his final estate plans.

After his diagnosis, Wright underwent surgery and began an aggressive, yet successful, chemotherapy regimen. With the cancer in remission, Wright nevertheless felt compelled to get his estate in order. In doing so, he was drawn to the Shepherd University Foundation, saying, "I was so taken by the warm reception and friendliness of the Foundation staff that I could think of no better plan than to leave a large portion of my estate to a fine institution like Shepherd University."

Wright made his planned gift to Shepherd in the form of tax-deductible charitable gift annuities. In a gift annuity contract, Shepherd agrees to pay the donor specified amounts at a fixed annual rate over a specified time period in exchange for cash, securities, or other properties. Upon the death of the annuitant, Shepherd receives the remainder of the gift annuity, which is designated by the donor to endow a named scholarship, program, or faculty excellence fund.

"I believe so strongly in the value of a Shepherd education," says Wright. "These gift annuities not only provide income now, they will also fund a legacy scholarship for future Shepherd students."

With his gift, Wright joined the more than 100 members of the Joseph P. McMurran Society who have let Shepherd know they wish to provide for the future of the University with a planned gift or bequest. Alive and kicking at 74, the jovial Wright is happy to be a part of the McMurran Society and he and wife, Gladys, enjoy frequent fellowship with other members. "I feel complete," he says. "I feel as if my estate is in good order upon my passing and I like knowing Shepherd is a part of that."