There are many types of assets that can be used to fund a charitable gift to Eastern. These include:

Gifts of Cash

The majority of the gifts to Eastern come in the form of cash.

Gifts of Appreciated Securities/Stocks

Giving appreciated securities is a possible tax-wise way to support Eastern.

Donors can use publicly traded securities to make outright contributions as well as income-retained gifts including charitable remainder trusts, charitable gift annuities and pooled income fund arrangements.

To make a stock gift, please give your broker the following information:

Wells Fargo Advisors for the account of Eastern University
Account #20725227
DTC #0141

Eastern University's contact for Wells Fargo Advisors is:
Robert Null
Senior Financial Advisor
610-989-3061

Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. Wells Fargo Advisors does not provide tax or legal advice.

If you have questions about making a gift of stock, or wish to establish a planned gift, please contact:

Office of Advancement
Phone: 610-341-5932
Email: advancement@eastern.edu

Gifts of IRAs/Retirement Plan Assets

You can designate Eastern as a beneficiary of part or all the remainder of your IRA or retirement plan.

Distributions from retirement plans at the death of the survivor of the account-holder can be subject to both income and estate taxes. In a large estate, these taxes can leave less than 30 cents on the dollar of the plan's balance for your children or other heirs.

By naming Eastern as the beneficiary of the remainder of your retirement plan, 100 percent of the plan's balance is available for Eastern's use, since the distribution avoids both income and estate taxes.

To Make This Gift:

  • You must notify your plan's administrator.
  • A "change of beneficiary" form will be required.

Sample Beneficiary Designation Language for a Spouse and Eastern:
The beneficiary is my spouse as long as he/she survives me. The beneficiary of any amount(s) remaining in the plan after the death of my spouse, or the entire amount in the plan upon my death if my spouse does not survive me, or of any portion thereof that my spouse may disclaim, is Eastern University, for its general charitable purposes or for the benefit of (name of school, department or purpose at Eastern).

If you have questions, please contact:

Office of Advancement
Phone: 610-341-5932
Email: advancement@eastern.edu 

Gifts of IRA Rollover

In December 2015, Congress passed the IRA charitable rollover provision of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, which included permanent reinstatement of the IRA charitable rollover opportunity.

Under the legislation, qualified donors may make outright gifts of up to $100,000 per year to Eastern from their IRA and avoid taxation on the distribution. For gifts to be counted toward the required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year, transfers must be made by December 31st.

To benefit from this gift opportunity, the following qualifications must be met:

  • Donor must be 70.5 or older at the time of the transfer.
  • The maximum amount a donor may transfer is $100,000 (per person).
  • The gift must be outright. Gifts to donor advised funds or to life income vehicles do not qualify.
  • The gift must be transferred directly from the IRA account by the IRA administrator to Eastern. Donors with check-writing ability for their IRAs may use this feature to complete their gift.

To assist donors interested in making a charitable gift from their IRA, we have provided the following sample letters:

The first letter contains specific transfer instructions from the donor to the IRA custody agent. The second letter is from the donor to Eastern notifying of the gift and how it should be used. This letter is particularly important for donors interested in splitting their gift between multiple designations.

If you have questions regarding a charitable IRA rollover, or how to make a planned gift to Eastern, please contact:

Office of Advancement
Phone: 610-341-5932
Email: advancement@eastern.edu