Through imagination and smart charitable planning, you can shape Converse’s future beyond what you thought possible and propel Converse University further forward.
Including Converse University in your long-term financial or estate plan is a decision that encompasses more than financial goals and tax benefits. It’s about harnessing your passion to make a lasting impact on the people and places important to you.
Planned gifts are as unique as the people whose passion and creativity inspire them to give.
Planned gifts are as unique as the people whose passion and creativity inspire them to give. Whether you want to endow a scholarship for future students or give a boost to a particular program, planned gifts provide meaningful support to Converse while helping you achieve your own personal and financial goals. Converse offers a range of imaginative giving strategies which allow you to unleash your inner philanthropist while maximizing tax advantages and financial flexibility.
By including Converse in your will or by making a planned gift you become part of the Miss Gee Legacy Society. The Society is comprised of individuals who, like Miss Gee, support the mission and traditions of Converse.
An easy way to get started!
We’ve partnered with FreeWill to help all of our supporters write a legally valid will online, for free! The process takes 25 minutes and will help you easily complete a gift to Converse University that will support generations of Valkyries. How it works:
- Use this free tool to create your legal will online, or document your wishes and find an attorney near you.
- Specify within your will the amount or percentage of your estate you’d like to leave (if any) to Converse and other charitable organizations. You can use FreeWill’s beneficiaries tool if you have an IRA, 401(k), life insurance or other non-probate assets.
- Go on with your life in the knowledge that you’ve taken care of the people and causes you care about.
Get started now. If you would prefer to finalize your will with an attorney, you can still use the tool to create a list of documented wishes to save you time and money with a lawyer.
Already planned a gift in your will or trust?
Please take a minute to fill out this form so we can thank you for your lasting commitment to Converse, and ensure our records are up-to-date!
Benefits of Planned Giving
Our Philanthropy Officers can help you find the best option to bring your love for Converse to life. Our Officers will assist you and your financial advisors in developing a gift plan that meets your financial and philanthropic goals. A properly planned gift may help you reduce or eliminate capital gains and gift and estate taxes. Additionally, you may realize immediate tax savings.
Other benefits of planned giving at Converse University include:
- Life Income Gifts can provide you and/or your loved ones with an income for the duration of your lives or for a specific number of years.
- Charitable Lead Trusts can be used to transfer assets to a loved one with a significantly reduced tax liability.
- Real estate, tangible property, and securities can be turned into gifts with immediate tax benefits.
- Bequests, retirement accounts, and other testamentary gift plans can allow you to make a more substantial gift than you imagined possible.
Ways to Give
Naming and Endowment Opportunities
Providing a named endowment to support Converse provides a perpetual source of income for scholarships, faculty support and programming. Endowment assets are invested and each year, a portion of the value of the fund is paid out to support the fund’s purpose with any earnings in excess of this distribution are used to build the fund’s market value. In this way, an endowment fund can grow and provide support for its designated purpose in perpetuity. It is the most important element in ensuring permanent financial stability for today’s students and for the generations of Converse students to come.
Converse also offers current-use naming opportunities to provide immediate impact.
Need-based Scholarship
An endowed, need-based scholarship can provide qualified, admitted students the opportunity to join the Converse community.
Merit-based Scholarship
An endowed, merit-based scholarship provides a student with distinctive academic, artistic and/or athletic abilities the opportunity to join the Converse community.
- Scholarship: Minimum $25,000
- Full Scholarship: Minimum $350,000
- Full Scholarship with room & board: Minimum $500,000
Faculty Support
Committed faculty members are core to Converse’s educational mission. Endowed funds for faculty support underwrite professors’ teaching and research projects and can offset start-up costs associated with new faculty appointments. Contributions of any amount may be added to an existing scholarship at any time.
- Faculty Support: Minimum $50,000
- Professorship: Minimum $1,250,000
- Academic Chair: Minimum $2,500,000
- Deanship: Minimum $3,000,000
Programming
Many ongoing special and innovative programs are funded by endowments. Research projects, lessons, lectures, guest artists and special series, campus-wide learning activities and more are funded through endowments created by specific ongoing programs.
- Programming: Minimum $25,000
Shaping Converse
Your philanthropy is an investment in the future for Converse students, researchers, and our global impact.
Every Gift Matters!
Your generosity fuels Converse’s momentum as we soar to new heights as an institution. You can make your gift in a variety of ways:
By Phone: 864.596.9390
Online: Online Giving Form
By Mail:
Converse University
Office of Philanthropy
580 E. Main Street
Spartanburg, SC 29302
Office of Philanthropy
864.596.9390
Wilson Hall
Hours:
Mon – Thu: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Fri: 8:00 am to 1:00 pm