The Heritage Society extends the following privileges of membership:
* Recognition in the Murray State Honor Roll of Donors.
* Invitation to the Presidents Club dinner.
* Tickets to Murray State University Theatre on request.

By accepting membership in the Heritage Society, you are ensuring a future of educational excellence for Murray State University students.

Planned giving fits into a donor's overall financial and estate planning. The government encourages gifts of this nature with advantageous tax treatment of gifts under both state and federal law.

Through planned giving you can make a greater gift than you thought possible, while also benefitting yourself and your heirs. Some planned gifts are Income Producing Gifts which enable you to benefit the University while maintaining or increasing your current income. Certain gifts allow you, with careful planning, to eliminate or reduce estate, inheritance, or gift taxes, thereby resulting in a greater amount of wealth passed on to family.

The staff of the Office of Development is available to work with you and your financial advisers to ensure that your planned gift is designed to satisfy your specific needs as well as provide for the future of Murray State University.

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Bequests to Murray State will be used as you designate in your Last Will and Testament. You can establish new endowments for scholarships, library acquisitions, endowed professorships, programs, unrestricted or other purposes that interest you. There are numerous ways in which you can include the Murray State University Foundation in your estate plans. A few of the most commonly used ways are listed below. Anything you own can be left to the Murray State University Foundation in your will. You may designate a specific dollar amount or percentage of your estate. You may designate articles of property (real estate, art, collections, antiques, etc.) for the University. If you are one of the thousands of alumni and friends who make an annual contribution to the University, you can continue that contribution forever. For example, a bequest of $20,000, when invested with the MSU Foundation endowment at a return of five percent will provide an annual gift of $1,000. Any amount you give will be free of federal estate taxes. Percentage and Remainder Bequests You can specify that a percentage of your estate be designated for the Murray State University Foundation. That is, rather than designate a specific amount in your will for the University, you can specify that a percentage, such as ten percent or fifty percent, of your estate be willed to the Murray State University Foundation. Or you may specify that Murray State be the recipient of the remainder of your estate after all of your specific bequests have been honored. Contingent Bequest If some or all of your beneficiaries under your will are no longer living at the time of your death, the distribution of part or all of your estate may be determined by the state in which you live. If you would prefer that your estate be used to help future generations of Murray State students, you can name the Murray State University Foundation as contingent beneficiary. Of course, you can name Murray State as both a specific beneficiary and a contingent beneficiary if you wish. How to Include Murray State in Your Last Will and Testament Bequests made to Murray State through should be made to the "Murray State University Foundation, located in Murray, Kentucky." If you desire to specify a purpose for the bequest, that may be done in your will as well. For example you can state that fifty percent of your estate be left to the Murray State University Foundation, located in Murray, Kentucky, for the purpose of providing the "John Doe Endowment for the University Libraries."

The staff of the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs is available to work with you and your estate planner to assure that your bequest will best suit your preferences and the future needs of Murray State University.

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On the other hand, you may find that you already own insurance policies for which you no longer have need. For example, you may have purchased a policy when your children were younger for their protection. Now your children are grown and on their own, and you still own the policy. Possibly you are still paying premiums on the policy. Or maybe you purchased a policy years ago to protect a home mortgage that has since paid. Whatever the case, such policies are ideal gifts to Murray State. The cash value of the policy at the time you transfer it will be considered a charitable gift for income tax purposes. Should you decide to continue paying premiums on the policy, the premium payments also qualify for additional charitable gift deductions.

You may also name the Murray State University Foundation as a partial beneficiary of one of your existing policies -- or as a contingent (secondary) beneficiary if the primary beneficiary is not living at the time of your death. In these cases no deductions are allowed against current income taxes, but any proceeds paid to the University after your death will be considered a charitable deduction for purposes of determining your estate taxes.

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A charitable lead trust gives the income from assets placed in trust to Murray State for a specified period of years. At the end of the trust's term, the assets are returned to you or your family.

A lead trust can be one of the few ways to eliminate taxes that would otherwise be due on assets left to children or grandchildren. It is best used when, because of youth, estate and gift tax considerations, or other factors, it is judged that inheritance of property be delayed for a time. Murray State receives that benefit of those assets during that time.

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The satisfaction of making the gift, as well as the tax deduction (which, like that for other gifts, may be carried over for a period of five years) are enjoyed now rather than later. You continue to take care of the property, pay the taxes, and even receive any income it produces. However, because you have made a gift of the property, it does not pass through your probate estate at death, saving your heirs unnecessary expenses and delays.

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