Heritage Society

Plan Now to Impact the Future

Friends University has a long history of generous and creative people with the desire to see our mission achieved through their planned gifts. As a result, the distributions from our endowment fund are able to provide student scholarships, hire and retain superior faculty and staff, and maintain facilities that match our innovative programs of excellence.

Because every family and every household is different, there are many types of planned and deferred giving vehicles available in the market today.  And while this level of customization allows nearly everyone – regardless of circumstances – to make a huge difference for causes in which they believe, it also can create overwhelming confusion for investors.  The Friends University Office of Planned Giving exists in part to help our supporters sift through the noise in order to find the options most suited to their situation.  Some of the more common planned and deferred giving options are shown below, though this is by no means an exhaustive list.  Whether or not Friends University is included in your legacy plans, we would be honored to assist you in using your gifts to steward to future generations.

Including Friends University in your estate plan – through bequests, charitable trusts, insurance gifts, etc. – is the highest compliment that you can give, and it is an honor that we do not take lightly. Most important to us is the ability to honor your wishes with the gifts that you generously share. While we will always respect the anonymity of your gift if you would prefer, the knowledge that you are including Friends University in your planned or deferred giving allows us the opportunity to ensure that we understand how you would like your gift to be used. For instance:

  • Do you want to direct the funds to a particular school or program, or leave them undirected? If undirected, President Carey and our Board of Directors will have the ability to use the gift in our area of greatest need at that time.
  • If directed to a particular school or program, do you want the funds to be used for operating expenses? To provide scholarships? To purchase specific assets such as new sod for the football field or supplies for Fine Arts?
  • If your wish is to provide scholarships to assist other students in attending Friends University, do you want it to be an endowed scholarship or a current scholarship? How much should the scholarship be and to how many students each semester should it be awarded? What are the student requirements to receive the scholarships with regard to GPA, area of study, extracurricular activities, etc.?

To work though these questions and many more, contact the Office of Planned Giving at 316-295-5820.