Partners in Excellence: A Celebration of Gratitude

On April 20, 2024, amid the excitement of Reunion at ThurtenE Carnival, the Office of Planned Giving was honored to welcome many of our Brookings Partners on the Danforth Campus for Partners in Excellence: A Celebration of Gratitude. In person for the first time since 2019, Partners in Excellence is a celebration of those individuals […]

Unlocking Generosity: How donating real property can make a lasting impact

A gift of real estate can be a charitable strategy with many benefits to you as the donor and to the receiving organization. Gifting real property to a charitable organization, whether it be a primary residence, second or vacation home, a commercial building or rental property, or even unimproved land, can provide numerous tax advantages […]

Partner Profile: Kevyn Schroeder

By Matt Hampton | May 9, 2024 For financial advisor Kevyn Schroeder, her first career as a nurse at St. Louis Children’s Hospital may not have lasted a lifetime, but it did make an enduring impression on her life. One of the most meaningful takeaways was a friendship she built with Penny Shackelford, MD ’68, […]

SECURE Act 2.0 Makes IRA Charitable Rollover Distributions Even Better

In 2015, Congress made IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions permanent, and now SECURE Act 2.0 makes them even better.  A little background:  The IRA qualified charitable distribution (“QCD”) allows an individual who has attained age 70 ½ to direct distributions of up to $100,000 from his or her IRA ($105,000 beginning in 2024) directly to one […]

Partner Profile: Dan Viehmann

In late 1996, Dan Viehmann was exploring ways to help his mother Alice reduce her taxable estate. Dan’s neighbor, an alumnus of the School of Law, suggested making a charitable gift to Washington University.  From that suggestion emerged a philanthropic legacy that promises to provide lasting impact on research in the School of Medicine. After […]

a woman reviews a document in a study

August is Make a Will Month

According to a recent study, 67% of Americans don’t have an estate plan. While the pandemic increased awareness of the need for having a will, many of those without estate plans cite “not getting around to it” as the reason. August is National Make a Will Month, an annual reminder of the importance of having […]

Partner Profile: Jim Harris

For Professor Emeritus and alum James R. Harris, BSArch ’63, BArch ’66, MArch ’71, giving to Washington University has been a way to pay tribute to a place he credits with changing his life, and where he has spent most of his adult years. Originally from Columbia, Missouri, Jim discovered he wanted to pursue a […]

Living the WUMED mission: A commitment to humanistic medicine

A 20-year-old with a brand-new bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami, Gordon Miller, MD ’60, knew he would be a doctor. What remained to be determined was less straightforward: where to attend medical school? To answer this question, Miller turned to every physician whom he knew in his Miami hometown. The responses—apparently invariably—were the same: […]

SECURE Act 2.0: How it can benefit you (and WashU)

Building on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019, the SECURE Act 2.0 passed by Congress in December 2022 contains many positive changes for those nearing or in retirement. Here’s how you may be able to utilize some of the new law’s provisions: *Income from CGAs funded by IRA rollovers […]

Implications of inherited IRAs

Since the passing of the SECURE Act in 2019, lingering questions remain around its implementation. Earlier this year, the IRS proposed regulations to guide the interpretation of the SECURE Act, and when finalized, these regulations could affect the decisions you make in your retirement and estate planning, particularly regarding your individual retirement accounts (IRAs). A […]