A Gift that Gives Back: Year-end giving to the BAA
By Claire Moncla
The holidays are about spending time with family and staying connected. And one way to connect with the Baylor family is to support the Baylor Alumni Association, an organization dedicated to keeping the Baylor family fully informed, engaged, and connected.
If you become a member—or just give an additional annual gift if you are already a member—the association will return a gift back to you next April 15. Your membership is important to us. Just this November, we received $149,179, the largest membership revenue total for a single month in the history of the BAA. Your membership also supports this monthly newsletter and allows the association to print and mail the Baylor Line.
But membership also benefits you. Besides supporting your alma mater and keeping in touch with alumni, it can also help you out at tax time. “One hundred percent of gifts and membership dues are tax deductable,” said Chad Wooten, director of finance and operations. If you are seventy-and-a-half years old or older, the recently extended IRA Charitable Rollover allows you to direct charitable transfers of up to $100,000 for an IRA to an approved charitable organization like the BAA, while excluding the transfer from taxable income. This rollover is available for 2009, and these direct transfers can be used for membership or as a gift to the association’s Sesquicentennial Endowment. For more information, contact Wooten at chad@BaylorAlumniAssociation.com or (254) 710-6428.
Also if you are already a member and would like to support the BAA in other ways, we would love for you to consider taking your membership to the next level as an annual giver at the bronze ($100-$249), silver ($250-$499), or gold ($500-$999) member, or as a member of the Torchbearers Society ($1,000 and up).
A strong foundation of members is vital to the future of the association—which directs programs like Homecoming reunions, Heritage Club, alumni awards, and student scholarships—and to the future of Baylor, which depends on the love and support of its alumni. What better way to end the BBA’s Sesquicentennial year, than by giving?
To join or give a gift, go to our secure online form. Checks to the BAA must be dated on or before December 31 in order for them to be considered a charitable donation for 2009.
