What Happens When You Endow Your Gift?

Patrick O’Reilly’s $200 bequest in 1865 was the equivalent of $3,150 in 2019 dollars, and a $5,000 bequest received from the estate of Sara Dunham in 1912 is now worth $272,251.25 in endowment principal. Under ideal circumstances, a $100,000 gift to endowment today could, over the next hundred years, generate a cumulative year to year amount totaling approximately $1.2 million for the use of Hartford Hospital. Just think how far your gift could go, how much good it could do for so many others, and all for some thoughtful planning today.

Areas of Greatest Need Now

 

Our donors can be assured that any gift received which does not restrict its uses or purposes, will be applied to existing budgetary areas of greatest need for immediate funding. Just like David Watkinson’s transformative bequest, such unrestricted gifts can be critical to shaping the Hospital’s future.

Needs that Will Stand the Test of Time

 

We respectfully request that you give careful thought about your purposing for any gift, other than for the general uses and purposes of the Hospital. Will that program or area still be in existence when your gift is realized in the future?  How could your wording be crafted with possible obsolescence in mind?

Examples abound of gift plans realized long ago that endowed funds for horse troughs or defunct departments with outdated purposes.  One way to address that possibility is to state a preference for a specific purpose which, if no longer applicable, can be applied to an area similar or successive to your initial preference.

We hope that you or your advisor will want to include us in such discussions so we can help you plan your gift in the most effective and meaningful way.

Naming and Purposing

 

The Hospital currently has more than 200 endowed and current use funds supporting dozens of different budgets, departments, and areas with annual revenue totaling more than $2.5 million.  These funds are prudently managed and invested as part of a broadly-diversified investment pool which includes the segregated endowment assets for other Hartford HealthCare Affiliates.

Please contact a Philanthropy Department staff member, and we will be happy to work with you and your advisors to help you determine the most effective, enduring, and satisfying way to accomplish your objectives.

For more information, please follow these links to learn more about the endowment, current funding priorities, and contact information for our Philanthropy staff.

Sustain Your Lifetime Giving Through the Endowment

 

If you have given to Hartford Hospital’s Annual Campaign from year to year, you can make plans that will continue your annual giving long after you can no longer make that gift yourself.

Let’s say you have given $100 nearly every year for as long as you can remember.  Simply multiply that amount by 25 ($100 X 25 = $2,500), and you will arrive at the amount of endowment principal needed to generate that $100 sustainably for many years to come.

If your plans specify that your gift should be added to the Hospital’s endowment, your planned gift can perpetuate your lifetime giving. Before naming a specific area or program in your plans, please contact a Philanthropy Department staff member to make sure your wording is not only properly spelled but will be sure to accomplish your objective.  

Gift Agreements

 

Each endowed and current-use fund should be accompanied by a gift agreement that provides guidance to the Hospital for the application and use of a respective fund.  Ideally, such an agreement can be established when you make your plans, referred to in your gift plan, amended at your request before the funding event takes place, and funded with the minimum threshold amount required at any time in advance of the final funding event determined by your gift plan. 

Whenever you make an additional contribution to your fund, you may choose to allocate your gift to either the principal, the spendable (i.e., current-use) account for your fund, or both— by a proportion you select at the time of your gift.

Many gift planners, upon the establishment of their endowed fund, may want to increase the amount of their total contribution along with instructions to allocate enough to the principal of the fund to meet the minimum threshold requirement, applying the excess amount to the fund’s spendable account. This technique can ensure more immediate impact for the intended applications of the fund.

The Hospital’s Department of Philanthropy shall seek the advice of its legal and financial advisors in matters pertaining to its planned/deferred gift program and shall execute no agreement, contract, trust, or other legal document prior to receiving approval of competent legal/tax counsel.

Prospective donors are urged to seek the counsel of their attorneys and financial advisors in all aspects of their proposed gift particularly on matters related to the legal and tax effects of a gift and its effect on their estate planning.

Minimum Thresholds for Funding Principal

 

A gift in any amount may be made to an existing endowment fund.

$25,000 or more will create a named endowment fund. 

The spendable draw amount from the endowment must be unrestricted and will be directed by the Board of Directors to the greatest need.

$50,000 or more will establish a named endowment fund, the spendable draw amount of which may be donor-restricted to a broad purpose at Hartford Hospital (capital purpose or research or education). 

$100,000 will establish a named endowment fund, the spendable draw amount of which may be donor-restricted to a more specific ongoing purpose (such as educational programs for cancer patients, particularly ovarian cancer patients, or research in cardiology, preference for arrhythmia).

$1,500,000 will establish an endowed Chair (fund) in the area of the Hospital’s programs chosen by the donor and the Hospital.

$2,500,000 will establish an endowed Chair (fund) for a Clinical Chief.