The office of Development and Alumni Affairs has hired Jan Kubik as its new director of Planned Giving. Kubik's position specializes in soliciting and structuring planned giving, in which donors defer their gift until some time in the future rather than giving a cash gift up front.
According to Kubik, planned giving is a way for an individual to donate assets to the College. For many, a structured gift of assets is more tax efficient than just an outright cash donation.
"Most everything I do refers to deferred giving," Kubik said.
Kubik said that a deferred gift is given to the College as an asset, but the College will not realize the full benefit of the donation for years. For example, a donor might deed the College his house but retain the right to live in it until he moves out or dies. The donor realizes the tax benefits of deeding the house immediately, but the College doesn't get the house until some time in the future.
Another example of a deferred gift is an annuity trust. The donor will give the College some securities that are underperforming and, in return, receive an annual payment for a fixed number of years that can even outperform safe investments like bonds. At the end of the fixed period, the College, not the donor, gets to keep the principal and use it for its own purposes.
While the College is always happy to receive cash gifts immediately, Kubik said that deferred gifts are an effective way for the College to receive more money by simply putting off the receipt of the gift.
The tax benefits that come from deferred giving effectively make it "cost" less for a donor to give a gift to the College. This, in turn, means that donors can give more than they thought they could.
Kubik said that as people age, they find they have more assets than they need to live comfortably in their retirement and they don't need to pass on all of their assets to their children. These "extra" assets are prime candidates for deferred giving.
"Deferred giving allows us to discuss needs of the College with people who can be more generous then they ever thought they could be," Kubik said.
Kubik, a Princeton resident, has been in the professional fundraising business for 15 years. He holds his undergraduate degree in literature and religion from Princeton University and his master's in educational administration from the University of Illinois.
Kubik said his immediate mission was to better identify and engage alumni and friends of the College who could make outright or deferred gifts to improve the school.
He is now identifying projects and areas of the College with which he can match potential donors. He said that the Outstanding Scholars Recruitment Program and Educational Opportunity Fund are perennial candidates for fundraising. He said that supporting new technology for the school is also a goal.
Kubik said funds allow the College to provide an excellent education for all students.
"We're a unique institution," Kubik said. "And money changes everything."
