“Certainly as dean I came to understand the importance of scholarships for undergraduates,” says sociology professor Sam Preston. “They’re important from the point of view of enabling students to come to Penn who wouldn’t otherwise come but also from the viewpoint of the huge financial burden that undergraduate scholarships place on the budget of the School of Arts and Sciences.”
Samuel Preston, the Frederick J. Warren Professor of Demography, was dean of the School from 1998 to 2004. One of the world’s leading demographers, he joined Penn’s faculty in 1979. “I’ve spent most of my professional career at Penn,” he says, “and I wanted to support an institution that I respect and admire.”
“That’s the generous side,” he explains about a gift that he and his wife, Winnie, recently made to Penn. “There’s no question that many of the students I deal with – nearly all of whom are very promising and very resourceful and very capable –are on scholarships that can make a big difference in their lives.”
But Preston is also a practical planner. Early this year, he handed over stock to the University to establish a charitable gift annuity. The gift will ultimately benefit undergraduates when it goes into the endowment of the School’s Millennium Scholarship Fund, which provides aid to College students with financial need. In the meantime, the gifts will provide a source of income that is roughly equivalent in rate of return to what the standard faculty retirement plan provides.
“That’s the practical side,” he says of charitable gift annuity. “It turns out that you can support an institution you care about and at the same time, during your life and that of your spouse, continue to receive a very reasonable income stream from the gift – a significant part of which is tax deductible. It was a simple gift to give, and it’s become an attractive part of our anticipated retirement income.”
