This document discusses ways to leave a legacy donation to the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) through planned giving. It describes how SWE members Virginia Counts and Betty Irish established the Virginia Counts and Betty Irish "SWE for Life" Endowed Scholarship through donations of stock and cash. They encourage others to consider donating through employer matching programs, over multiple years, or through estate plans. The document also provides an overview of SWE's planned giving program, endowment fund, and ways donors can establish endowed scholarships or make planned gifts to support SWE programs.

1. The Society of
Women Engineers
Leaving a Legacy –
Donating to SWE & Inspiring the Future

2. Leaving a Legacy
Agenda:
Creating a Lasting Legacy - Betty Irish and
Virginia Counts
SWE’s Planned Giving Program – Honna George
SWE’s Endowment Fund – Marge Inden
Q&A - All

3. Leaving a Legacy
Objectives
Be inspired to provide legacy gifts to SWE
Understand how to donate endowed and non-
endowed gifts to SWE
Understand how to designate a gift to SWE
through estate planning

4. Creating a Lasting Legacy
SWEsters – Virginia Counts & Betty Irish
The Virginia Counts & Betty Irish
“SWE for Life” Endowed Scholarship

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Agenda
Who Are We
Why We Give
How We Give
Why Endow a Scholarship
How We Endowed
Parting Advice
Creating A Lasting Legacy

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• ME turned Program Manager (Med Devices)
• “Organizer Extraordinaire” & Planning Addict
– “My closet is beautifully organized”
• SWE Life Fellow & Active Leader
• Working on PhD to achieve Virginia 2.0 – Expert &
Consultant on how to “work smart”
SWEsters: Virginia and Betty – College Classmates
• ME turned Project Manager (Construction)
• Golfer & Corvette Driver (BTYS Z06)
• SWE Life Fellow & Active Leader
• Ready for Betty 2.0 – Soon to be an aspiring
University Professor, Semi-Retired & Virginia’s
ghost writer (Virginia needs a lot of help!)

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Why We Give to SWE
• Family experiences of “giving back”
• Both have spent years as SWE Leaders agonizing over budgets: “How to get the
funding to make SWE great” (or do great programs)
• We know so well that most budgets have very little discretionary allowance
• We know that many of our donations are restricted to specific activities
• We know SWE is stronger with strong infrastructure & staff. Donations are needed to
support administrative activities for consistency.
• SWE is where we feel comfortable to learn with low risk – SWEsters are “our people”
• We know every gift matters – no matter the size!
Developed Leadership Experience & Confidence Through SWE

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How We Give
• Time
• $$ through our roles
• Travel costs and event support (We love to host SWE parties)
• Estate Plans – SWE is in both our trusts
• Neither have children to leave our estates
• Cash donations
• Some times for specific programs; sometimes unrestricted
• Virginia takes advantage of Medtronic programs through matching
donations ($1 for $1) and donations for her time (e.g, she’ll get a
donation for the volunteer time to do this presentation)
Like Regular SWE Members; Like Many of You
Does Your Employer Match Donations? Ask!

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Why A Scholarship Endowment
endowment: noun en·dow·ment -mənt : a large amount of money that has
been given to a non-profit and that is used to pay for its creation and continuing
support
How endowments in SWE are managed: Financial endowments are typically
structured so the principal amount invested remains intact, while investment
income is available for immediate funding for use.
For SWE our Trustees manage investments of capital to provide
investment income for our use. Generally $25,000 in capital can provide
$1,000 annually. (forever!)
1st – What is an Endowment?
Endowment definition adapted from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/endowment
How managed definition adapted from: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/endowment-fund.asp

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Why We Chose A Scholarship Endowment
• We heard other SWE
members tell stories of
meeting their scholarship
recipients and we wanted
to support other women.
• We both worked our way
through school
• Since we are both
planners – we have
bucket lists.
Our Support for Future Students Will Live Beyond Us
Virginia’s Bucket List

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How We Funded The Endowment
• Medtronic purchased Covidien and became an Irish
company in January, 2015. When Virginia saw the tax
bill for her stock sale she realized, “I should have
donated some of that stock and avoided taxes”
• In March 2015, Betty’s husband passed away and left
her with some “disposable income”
• In June 2015 Medtronic’s Foundation announced a 2 for
1 dollar match for donations made in the month of June
only.
Virginia Thought She Would Do this In Retirement – “Silly Girl!”
Betty’s late husband rolled over in his urn!

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How We Funded The Endowment
• We had to act very quickly and with a one minute phone
call the decision was made.
• We jumped at the chance to do what we both had
thought about for years:
– Virginia donated $7.2K in stock; MDT doubled VA’s match
for $14.4K
– Betty donated $7.2K in cash (thank you Mike!)
– Total of $28.8K (This included additional funding for
administrative expenses – it costs money to give
scholarships away!)

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Setting Up the Scholarship
• In a few emails with the Trustees
• We settled on a name of our scholarship:
●
“Virginia Counts and Betty Irish SWE for Life Endowed Scholarship”
• We settled on the criteria
●
Mechanical Engineering student either from Arizona or attending an
Arizona school; preferably an active SWE member
●
Since neither one of us had stellar GPA’s, we wanted a GPA below 3.0, but
that wasn’t permitted.
• Signed the checks and mailed them to SWE. The Trustees did all the rest
• Deducted it from our 2015 taxes!
Once we had the money – the rest was easy!

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Advice or Our Ask of You
• Take advantage of your employers generosity (if they
have it)
• Don’t wait until you die or retire
• Consider funding over several years (with tax returns,
bonuses)
• Consider providing funding to administer your donation
• If you are expecting a “looming” tax bill, consider
donating stock.
Plan for your (SWE’s) future now, don’t wait for “someday”

15. The Society of
Women Engineers
Planned Giving Program
SWE-HQ
Honna Eichler George

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What is Planned Giving?
• Including SWE-HQ and/or the SWE Board of Trustees as
part of your estate plan may be a personally valuable way
to further your own legacy.
• There are multiple ways you can support the Society
through a planned gift:
– Endowed Scholarship through the Board of Trustees.
– Unrestricted or restricted general operation support for SWE-HQ.
– Unrestricted or restricted program support to fund SWE-HQ
programs.
SWE promotes a donor-centered approach to any planned giving event or conversation.

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What is Planned Giving?
Ada Pressman was an early member of SWE, who was a SWE
President, received the Distinguished Service Award, and also served
on the Board of Trustees. All individuals who commit to include SWE in
their estate plan (regardless of amount or designation) are recognized
in the following ways:
●
Ada Pressman Society Pin
●
Invite to Annual Conference Halo Reception
●
Name on lists for Ada Pressman Society (unless donor prefers to
remain anonymous)
In 2010, SWE created a Planned Giving Program that would recognize any donor who included
SWE in their bequest or will as a member of the Ada Pressman Society.

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How Does SWE’s Planned Giving Program Work?
Learn more about planned giving on swe.org/support
• The Planned Giving section on the swe.org website has
information and suggested language to:
• Endow a Scholarship
• Donate through a will, trust, retirement account, or insurance policy
• Join the Ada Pressman Society
• Make a general or restricted planned gift to the Society

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Next Steps to Make a Planned Gift
• SWE-HQ accepts the following giving
instruments as part of any planned gift:
– Bequests
– Loosely held stocks
– Retirement plans
– Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
– Direct gifts from Charitable Trusts
SWE-HQ does not provide legal or financial counsel and recommends you speak with
your adviser and/or attorney while establishing your estate plan or bequest priorities.

20. SWE Endowment Fund:
What is it to SWE?
What is it to me?
Marge Inden, Chair, SWE Board of Trustees

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SWE’s Endowment Fund
Formed in FY06 to merge:
Scholarship Fund
Various Awards Funds
Headquarters Fund
Separate corporation from SWE, controlled by SWE
The Directors of SWE-EFI are the BOT members

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Goal of an Endowment
• Create an increasing stream of income
• Maintain purchasing power after inflation
• Long term investment horizon: forever!

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Endowed Funds
• SWE-EFI now provides for four separate endowments:
• Scholarship
– Total of XX scholarships awarding $XXX,XXX
– XX separately named endowments
– Local or society selection option
• Awards
– Rodney D. Chipp Memorial
– Resnik Challenger Medal
– Motorola Foundation Multicultural
– Boeing Company Multicultural
– Suzanne Jenniches Upward Mobility
– Others at SWE’s discretion
• Headquarters
– General support to SWE
– Life member donations made to this endowment
• Designated Fund
– New option for sections, regions, and MALs

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Giving to our Endowed Funds
• Designated gift
• Donor has requested a specific use
• Undesignated gift
• Can be for a specific fund (Scholarship, Awards, etc.)
• Trustees and/or SWE decide specific use

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Giving to our Endowed Funds
• Your own scholarship
• A gift of $27,500 is recommended for a $1,000 scholarship
– First scholarship would be a year later
– Increases are at BOT discretion
– You can add in any amount once established
• You can give over time by signing a contract
• Bequests are welcome
• BOT will work with you on criteria
• Life membership
• 20 years dues
• Can be paid over time
• Consider gifts of appreciated securities
• Outstanding tax benefits!

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Resources
Endowment Fund Donations
Marge Inden, SWE Board of Trustees
m.inden@gmail.com
Planned Giving Program
Honna George, SWE Development
Honna.George@swe.org
Leaving a Legacy to SWE