South Carolina ETV

Planned Giving

For almost 40 years, South Carolina public broadcasting has provided quality programs that inform, inspire and entertain. South Carolinians have come to rely on ETV and Radio—through programs like Sesame Street, Great Performances, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition—to enrich their lives.

We want to continue this tradition of quality broadcasting far into the new millennium. Like a university, church or hospital, however, public broadcasting in South Carolina needs a stable source of long-term funding.

Planned gifts provide an opportunity both to realize your personal financial goals and to strengthen educational television and radio for the future. Through a planned gift, you may be able to increase your current income, or provide additional retirement income, while reducing income and estate taxes. The following summaries provide additional information on these opportunities.

Please note that our legal name is The ETV Endowment of South Carolina, Inc.

Bequests

You can make a gift to South Carolina public broadcasting through your will, or via a codicil to your will. This is a bequest. You can bequeath a specific sum, or a percentage of your estate or specific property. A bequest enables you to make a lasting gift to public broadcasting, while providing the security of knowing that you have complete access to your assets should you need them for medical or other expenses.  A bequest may also enable you to reduce estate taxes.

Charitable Gift Annuities

A charitable gift annuity is a contract between you and the ETV Endowment whereby you transfer cash or securities to the Endowment and, in exchange, the Endowment agrees to pay you (and/or another beneficiary) a guaranteed fixed income for life. You receive a current income tax deduction and a portion of the income you receive is a non-taxable return of principal. If the gift annuity is funded with long-term appreciated property, capital gains tax is avoided on part of the gift and deferred on the balance.

Charitable Trusts

If you need current income, or future income for your retirement years, a charitable remainder trust can provide income to you (and/or a loved one) for life or for a term of years. You may also qualify for an income tax deduction and avoid the capital gains tax on the property used to fund the trust. There are two types of charitable remainder trusts. In the unitrust, the annual income to the donor is variable, based on a fixed percentage of the value of the assets in the trust. In the annuity trust, the annual income is a fixed percentage of the trust’s initial value and provides income of a fixed dollar amount.

Another type of trust, the charitable lead trust, can be established to provide income to public broadcasting for a period of years, before passing the assets back to the donor or to the donor’s family.

Life Estates

When you make a gift of your home or farm now, you can receive a current tax deduction, while retaining the security of knowing that you can live there as long as you wish and having the satisfaction of making a significant gift to public broadcasting. You continue to care for the property, pay the taxes and even receive any income it generates. Upon your death (or that of a loved one), the property goes to the ETV Endowment without passing through your probated estate, thereby saving unnecessary expense and delay.

Gifts of Appreciated Stock

Many people have securities that have increased greatly in value since their purchase. By using these stocks for charitable giving, donors can conserve cash for other uses and maximize the value of their gifts. Donors can deduct the full fair market value of appreciated securities and pay no capital gains on their transfer to public broadcasting. This can reduce the cost of making a gift or increase the amount you can afford to give.

Life Insurance

A simple way to make a significant future gift is to name the ETV Endowment as the beneficiary to receive all or a portion of the proceeds of a life insurance policy no longer needed for its original purpose, or to purchase a new policy for the benefit of South Carolina public broadcasting. You should contact your insurance agent to discuss how best to make such a gift. He or she can work with ETV Endowment staff to meet your charitable giving goals.

Retirement Plan Gifts

You may have accumulated funds in your company pension plan, IRA or other private retirement account which are beyond your needs or potentially subject to the federal excise tax on over-funded retirement plans. It may be convenient and beneficial to make a current or future charitable gift to South Carolina public broadcasting from those accounts.

Memorial Gifts

Any of the planned giving ideas discussed here can become an enduring tribute to a family member or other loved one. A member of the ETV Endowment staff would be glad to assist you in choosing an appropriate commemoration for your gift in memory or honor of someone special.  In addition, you may want to celebrate a special event—a birthday, anniversary, graduation, bar mitzvah, holiday, etc.—by making a gift to public broadcasting in honor or memory of a loved one.  Such gifts bring pleasure to those who otherwise may not be able to contribute.

For further information on any of these giving plans, please contact:

Bill Meyers, Director of Planned Giving
ETV Endowment
Suite B-1
401 East Kennedy Street
Spartanburg, SC 29302

Phone: 803-737-9963
FAX: 803-737-3435
E-mail: bmeyers@scetv.org

Or click here to fill out the online form.
(All information is confidential!)