Endowments and Planned Gifts: What and Why?

* Permit additions at a later time. An endowment fund can be added to later. The donor, or the donor’s friends and family, can add to a named fund from time to time by simply identifying the fund as the object of the gift. It makes a handy vehicle for people, especially family members, who wish to make meaningful gifts to people who already have enough “stuff.”

Diana S. Newman is the author of Nonprofit Essentials: Endowment Building, Jossey-Bass, 2005. $37, www.josseybass.com. She can be reached via www.diananewman.com