24700 McBean Parkway
Valencia, California 91355
661.255.1050
Gifts of Life Insurance
When properly arranged, life insurance offers an attractive way to leverage relatively low premium payments to make a major gift to CalArts. If you no longer need all the life insurance that you own, you may want to name CalArts as a beneficiary or contingent beneficiary. Any benefit CalArts receives from your insurance will be excluded from your taxable estate.
Gifts That Pass Assets to Heirs
You can make a gift to CalArts that ultimately benefits your family and heirs with little or no tax penalty. This arrangement, the lead trust, is designed to pay income to CalArts over a number of years. At the end of the trust term, the remaining principal, including appreciation, passes to your children or to other designated heirs. Because the lead trust generates substantial estate tax savings, your heirs can receive a greater inheritance than if you gave or bequeathed the assets to them directly and fully subject to tax.
A Gift Through Your Will or Living Trust
Your bequest to CalArts, through your will or living trust, can take any of a number of forms. You can bequeath a specific dollar amount, or a portion of what remains after your obligations to others are fulfilled. You can designate your bequest to support CalArts as a whole, or you can establish a permanent named fund for scholarships, program support, professorships, or the like.
Gifts of Personal Property
You can make a gift to CalArts in the form of tangible personal property, such as artwork, antiques, books, furniture, etc. Your tax deduction will depend on the type of item you contribute and whether CalArts has an appropriate use for it.
If you have any further questions, please contact Bill Kramer, Executive Director of Development, at (661) 253-7740 or email bkramer@calarts.edu.
Gifts of Real Estate
Real estate can be contributed outright or through a life-income gift. You can contribute your entire property or a fractional interest of it. You can even contribute your personal residence but continue to reside there for the rest of your life. This type of gift allows you to continue to enjoy your home without diminishing your standard of living, while obtaining a substantial current income tax charitable deduction.
Gifts of Appreciated Assets/Securities
You can make your gift to CalArts by contributing appreciated assets, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or real estate. Your tax advantages are maximized if you donate appreciated assets that you've owned for more than one year. You obtain an income tax charitable deduction for the full current market value of the asset, and you avoid the capital gains tax that you would have paid if you sold the asset outright.
Corporate Matching Gifts
Matching gift programs are the most effective and valued initiatives created by corporations to help colleges and universities raise much-needed funds for educational purposes. CalArts has been a grateful beneficiary of these matching gift programs for many years.
After making a gift to CalArts, you can participate in a corporate matching gift program by obtaining a matching gift form from your (or your spouse's) employer's personnel office, and by following the directions for initiating a matching gift.
Gifts of Cash or Via Credit Card
A majority of donors find it most convenient to make their gifts of cash by sending a check to CalArts. Please send your check made payable to CalArts to the following mailing address:
CalArts Advancement Office
Attn: Laura Riggen
24700 McBean Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355-2397
Ways to Donate
CalArts is supported by alumni, parents and friends in many ways: