American Council on Gift Annuities

Approved by the American Council on Gift Annuities on April 15, 2013

IMMEDIATE AND DEFERRED GIFT ANNUITY RATES WILL REMAIN THE SAME

The American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) board of directors held its semi-annual meeting on April 15. The board conducted its regular review of the assumptions underlying the rates schedule for charitable gift annuities and voted to make no changes to the suggested maximum rates that originally became effective January 1, 2012. The current rate schedule will remain in effect until further notice.  Click here for the rates effective January 1, 2012.

For Immediate Release

March 8, 2013

(Smyrna, GA)  Commenting on a recent high profile case where the SEC charged a Florida couple with fraud arising from the issuance of charitable gift annuities (CGAs), Lindsay L. Lapole, III, planned giving director for the Southern Territory of the Salvation Army and chairman of the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) Board of Directors, applauded the actions of the SEC.

"This is a case in which the system actually worked."  Lapole said. "ACGA relies on the vigilance of state and federal regulators as part of our mission to promote responsible philanthropy and consumer protection.  ACGA is always prepared to cooperate with these regulators, and actually initiates dialogue in order to serve as a resource to these agencies."

The American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) Board of Directors held its semi-annual meeting on November 5, 2012.   As part of an ongoing review process, the board examined the assumptions that underlie the gift annuity rate schedules and determined that it would make no changes to the suggested maximum rates originally published as of January 1, 2012.  The ACGA encourages charities to review carefully gift illustrations prepared for young annuitants (generally age 60 or below) to determine whether the suggested maximum rates need to be lowered to meet the minimum 10% residuum requirement under the Internal Revenue Code.

For more detailed information about ACGA rates, please visit our website to obtain a copy of the 2012 Rates Paper.

David A. Libengood
Chair
ACGA Rates Committe

Preparations are well underway for the next national survey of gift annuities: who makes these gifts, how they are administered and invested, how much is left over for the charity, and a wealth of other useful information for your marketing and administrative needs.  ACGA will send information next summer to help your organization prepare for the survey, which will begin in November.

Thank you in advance for your participation!

Ron A. Brown
Chair
ACGA Research Committee

When your organization renews its sponsorship of the American Council on Gift Annuities, it strengthens the programs and services the ACGA can provide back to your organization and to the community-at-large.  One of the best examples of this is the work of the ACGA’s state regulations committee.

Chaired by David Wheeler Newman, partner at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP, the state regulations committee monitors the law as it relates to charitable gift annuities and charitable giving.  Through the ACGA website, the committee provides up-to-date information on the regulations of each state as they relate, for example, to the licensing, reporting, reserves, and disclosure required of nonprofit organizations issuing charitable gift annuities.

By going to the website (www.acga-web.org), selecting the Resources tab, and then selecting State Regulations, you will find a map of the United States indicating the regulation status of each state.  Below the map, you will find a link to detailed information and important links for each state.  This valuable resource alone saves research time and provides an easy way for any organization to make a quick assessment of whether it is in compliance with state laws.

The State Regulations Committee is also working to improve regulatory issues for the nonprofit community.  At the moment, for example, the committee is working in New York State on the possibility of enabling licensed charities to include commercial annuities among the available tools for risk management and obtain corresponding reductions in their required reserves.  Watch for reports on this initiative in future issues of ACGA In Touch.

Dianne Armstrong
ACGA State Regulations Committee

Organizations issuing gift annuities recognize the value ACGA provides in suggesting sound charitable gift annuity rates; tracking state regulations; providing top-notch education sessions; and information for donors.  ACGA can only offer these services through support from annual sponsorship.  Make a statement about your organization’s belief in the value of ACGA.

The ACGA Board elected the following to membership on the board at its November 6, 2012 meeting:

Catherine Klima Gletherow, CPA, MBA, Director of Gift Planning, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.  Catherine has been involved in non-profit development work since 1994.  Prior to that she worked as senior accountant, tax return preparer and reviewer for three CPA firms.  As director of gift planning at Oberlin College, Catherine is a member of senior staff reporting directly to the VP for Development & Alumni Affairs.  She and her staff raise $5 -$8 million annually in life income, estate and outright gifts within a $25 million development operation.  She also oversees a $35 million life income gift asset endowment managed by an external asset manager and the administration of estates of which the college is a beneficiary.  During her 14 years at Oberlin she has been involved in a number of projects including the development of a comprehensive divisional gift acceptance policy; implementation of a deferred gift education program for all of the college’s development officers; state registration of Oberlin’s gift annuity program; divisional staff recruitment and orientation; and interim management of development records, gift processing and development technology.

John Pierce, Senior Planned Giving Officer, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota.  John began his work with Concordia College on October 1, 1969, as its Assistant Director of Alumni Affairs; ten months later he began working in development for Concordia and he has been doing that ever since with great success.  His first five years were as executive director of Concordia’s major gift club and then, in 1975, he became director of planning giving, the area where he still works today.  Over the years he has worked with hundreds of wealthy planned gift prospects/donors, many of whom have become close friends.  And, for the past 10 years, he has served as an important member of Conrad Teitell’s “IRA Rollover Rangers”.  Prior to beginning his career at Concordia, John managed his family’s 960-acre farm for six years, most of the time while attending college, and then worked for Northwestern Bell Telephone in various management capacities for three years.

Peter Witherell, Senior Director, Distinguished Giving Resources, American Cancer Society National Home Office.  Peter has worked for the American Cancer Society (ACS) since 1987.  He served in various development positions in their Florida Division from 1987 to 1999.  In 1999 he became National Director, Distinguished Giving Resources, in the National Home Office in Atlanta.  In his current position as Senior Director, Distinguished Giving Resources, which he has held since 2010, Peter supports the VP for Distinguished Giving; provides leadership and strategic direction, resources and support for ACS’ Planned Giving and Major Gift Initiatives; develops and refines communications, marketing and promotional campaign strategies based on market analysis, customer feedback and organizational positioning; and he has initiated a nationwide Gift Planning Advisory Council composed of key ACS volunteers from around the country.

Laurie Valentine
ACGA Nominating Committee

The fall board meeting of the American Council on Gift Annuities was extremely eventful as we conducted the business of the organization.

First and foremost was the election of three new board members.  Detailed information on each of them is contained elsewhere in this newsletter, but I want to take this opportunity to welcome Peter Witherell, Catherine Klima Gletherow, and John Pierce to the Board of Directors of the American Council.  We look forward to them becoming impactful members of our Board.

The Board also adopted the report of a Value Proposition Task Force under the leadership of Dan Garrett.  This task force has spent the last 18 months looking at the value of ACGA sponsorship.  Implications of that report have already been put in place, and will continue to be implemented over the next several months.  Our Planned Giving Events Calendar, which came into being in May of this year, was one of the results of that group and we hope that everyone is using that calendar and gaining some benefit from it.  Moving forward, we will make the report of the Rates Committee and the Gift Annuity Survey available online at no cost to all of those who seek to download it from the ACGA website.  We hope that this will expand its usefulness and availability to administrators and development staffs across the county who seek the value of those documents.  Those seeking hard copies of these reports will still need to pay a nominal fee so that we can recover the costs of printing and delivery.

Our Board will begin developing consistent communications through our website, and through email blasts and periodic news releases, to expand the availability of the information produced by ACGA to four primary constituent groups:  gift development officers, organizational administrators, donors, and allied professionals who seek to be involved in the area of Charitable Gift Annuities.  We will be working to create resources and periodically communicate the results of our research and the work of the Rates Committee to those groups in language that will be helpful to them.

Finally, were pleased to be a part of the Charitable Giving Coalition’s “Protect Giving - DC Days” on December 4-5, 2012.  This was a fly-in day where interested individuals went to Washington to visit with congressmen, representatives, and senators to discuss the implications of current considerations of modifying the use of the income tax charitable contribution deduction.  Two members of the ACGA Board participated in this two-day event, and we are looking forward to their reports and the success of this endeavor to come to an appropriate solution to this rather politically charged issue.

As always, we are here to serve our sponsors and those who are interested in Charitable Gift Annuities, and encourage you to call or be in touch with us through our website if we can provide additional information or support to you and your organization.

Lindsay L. Lapole, III, CFRE
President and
Chairman of the Board