Charitable Gift Annuities

How it works

  1. You transfer cash, securities, or other property to The Cooper Union.

  2. You receive an income tax deduction and may save capital gains tax. The Cooper Union pays a fixed amount each year to you or to anyone you name, for life.  Typically, a portion of these payments is tax-free.

  3. When the gift annuity ends, its remaining principal goes to The Cooper Union.

A Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA) is a simple agreement between you and The Cooper Union.  You can establish a Charitable Gift Annuity with a minimum gift of $10,000.  The annuitant must be at least 65 years of age when annuity payments begin.

Your Benefits may include:

 

 

 

 

 

  • Fixed annual payment at a favorable rate of return, for yourself and/or another person you choose, for life

  • Possible increased income if your gift is funded with low-yielding assets

  • Portion of your payments to be tax free

  • Charitable income tax deduction

  • Favorable capital gains tax treatment when you fund your gift with appreciated securities

  • Membership in The Society of 1859

Sample Charitable Gift Annuity Rates*

Immediate payments (One Life)

AGE: RATE

65:  4.7%
70:  5.1
75:  5.8
80:  6.8
85:  7.8
90+: 9.0

*Special rates apply for two-life annuities and for deferred payment gift annuities.

Deferred Charitable Gift Annuity
If you do not need the income now, you may want to create a Deferred Charitable Gift Annuity and receive annuity payments at a later date chosen by you.  The amount of the annuity payments will be higher than they would have been if you had chosen to begin receiving payments immediately.  The Deferred Gift Annuity arrangement allows you to take an income tax deduction now and generate additional income later.

To learn more about how a Charitable Gift Annuity could work in your particular case, try our Self-help Gift Calculator and contact Donna Lippman, Director of Planned Giving, at 212-353-4172 or dlippman@cooper.edu.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.