The planned giving program at Bethany College is donor-centered. It focuses on how a planned gift can be crafted to most effectively achieve donor goals in philanthropy.

Those who plan a gift to Bethany College may choose to be included in the Carl Aaron Swensson Society.

Planned gift options include:

A bequest through a person's will is a simple, yet effective way of providing a gift to Bethany after a person's death. A bequest is a transfer of cash, securities, or other property through a will or a living trust. A bequest to Bethany can be made for a specific amount, for a percentage of your estate, or even for all or a portion of what is left after you have made specific bequests to your family and others. 

•  Life insurance is an excellent and a very easy way to give a gift to Bethany College. A life insurance policy can be purchased by a donor with Bethany College as the owner and beneficiary. The premiums may be deducted as a charitable gift. Paid-up policies are also excellent donations. And it is very simple to change the beneficiary of a policy to Bethany College. 
  
  
• Living trusts are most useful if you don't know whether or not you will have enough assets to give to Bethany. You can set aside assets or income into a trust and name Bethany College as the ultimate beneficiary of the trust assets.
  
  
• Charitable remainder trusts are individual trusts that can be funded with cash, tax-exempt assets, or appreciated property. They distribute either a fixed dollar amount of income or a variable amount either for a set term of years or the lifetimes of the beneficiaries.
  
  
• Charitable gift annuities are made when a donor makes a gift to Bethany College and Bethany signs an agreement to guarantee to pay the donor a lifetime annuity. The payments received are a percentage (based upon age) of the value of the gift. The older the donor, the higher the rate of return. The donor receives an income tax charitable deduction in the year the gift annuity is set up and a portion of Bethany's annual payment to the donor is income tax free.
  
  
• Gifts of IRA assets, such as retirement or pension plan assets, are a way to keep the value of the asset intact because Bethany College is completely exempt from income and estate tax. If the same pension plan or retirement assets were to go to a descendant, income tax would have to be paid.
  
  
• Other Non-Cash Gifts might include real estate, securities, and/or securities.