“Planned giving is our opportunity to give the next generation the same outstanding legal education we had.”
– Thomas M. Lamberti ’57
A New Option to Make a Gift from your IRA and Receive an Income in Return
If you are 70.5 years+, you can use up to $55,000 from your IRA as a one-time gift to HLS for a charitable gift annuity, which will pay you and another if included, an income for your lifetimes.
How does planned giving work?
Planned giving allows you to make a significant contribution to Harvard Law School while also addressing some of your own financial and estate planning needs.
Types of Planned Gifts
- Securities and mutual funds that may reduce your capital gains taxes.
- Life income gifts, such as charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts, pay you an income during your lifetime while generating a current income tax deduction.
- Testamentary gifts that preserve access to the principal while enabling you to make a lasting gift to Harvard Law School.
- Gifts from retirement plan assets can reduce your income tax and the taxes your heirs may eventually have to pay.
- Charitable lead trusts that pay an annual amount to Harvard Law School and then distribute to heirs at a reduced transfer tax cost.
What Does Planned Giving Support?
A planned gift can be directed to the area of Harvard Law School that is most meaningful to you, including:
- The HLS Annual Fund, providing flexible support that enables the Dean to respond to the School’s highest priorities and emerging opportunities.
- Scholarship funds, expanding access to an HLS education and helping exceptional students pursue their ambitions regardless of financial circumstances.
- Professorships and Clinical Chairs, supporting outstanding faculty whose teaching, scholarship, and mentorship shape the HLS experience.
- Unrestricted funds, creating lasting resources that allow the Law School to innovate, adapt, and meet the evolving needs of legal education.