Major and Planned Giving Programs
Major Gifts
Fundraising for private support is now a fundamental part of the financial strategy for independent schools. A critical component of an independent school’s development strategy is Major Gift fundraising. Although Foundations—and Corporations, to a lesser extent—play an important role in Major Gift fundraising, it is individuals—primarily parents—contributing their own resources that are the most prominent source of Major Gifts for independent schools. Although the dollar amount of a Major Gift varies from school to school, all share a common characteristic: Major Gifts have a significant impact on the giving area or purpose to which they are directed.
A Major Gift at the French American International School is a gift of $5,000 or more, and may be unrestricted or restricted to a specific cause or mission. A Major Gift to establish an Endowment—that is, a permanent fund or corpus from which only investment income will be expended—is a gift of $25,000 or more. Examples of such Endowments would be for Faculty, Student or Programmatic Support, and are available for naming in perpetuity in recognition of the donor’s generosity.
The Major Gifts Program is ongoing at FAIS, but during a Capital Campaign also involves gifts for specific facilities projects. Naming opportunities in these cases are awarded when a donor makes a gift of at least half the cost of the facility’s construction or replacement value.
Planned Giving
Planned Giving is the process of designing charitable gifts so that the donor realizes philanthropic objectives while maximizing tax and other financial benefits. Such gifts tend to involve the transfer of accumulated assets which have been earned or acquired over a lifetime. For that reason, they require the donor's careful consideration of how the transfer of a gifted asset will affect his/her current financial planning and estate planning, so they are not spontaneous. Planned gifts may be deferred or outright.
The most common gift planning arrangement is the Bequest. Donors may also support the School through gifts of property, annuities, life insurance and charitable remainder trusts. The process necessarily involves consideration of the effect of various gift options on the donor's income and tax position, and therefore professional advice is required in most cases.
Brochures are available through the Development Office featuring information about giving options, preparing a will, etc.
For more information on Major and Planned giving, contact:
Tricia Blood, Acting Development Director, at
503-292-7776, Ext. 305, or E-mail at tblood@faispdx.org.
