Pooled Income Fund #III made it possible for me to do so. It provided the perfect combination of opportunities: I could make a sizable gift to Williams and have income coming in, too. It’s also provided a good tax deduction and a fine return. For someone who really loves the College and wants to do as much as possible for it, it’s a wonderful way to give.

My 25th Year Reunion gift was a wonderful opportunity to get back in touch with Williams in a very personal way. While considering the gift I would make to the College, I spent time learning about the recent and exciting additions to the campus, faculty and the curriculum, as well as the need for continuing investments in all of these areas. My rediscovery increased my interest in making a very meaningful gift to Williams.

50th reunion is a very special time for Williams alumni. It is a time to strengthen and renew friendships and reminisce fondly of our Williams days.

It is also an occasion to express gratitude for the excellent foundation we received. The opportunity for Val and me to receive an income for life enabled us to make a meaningful gift. We chose a Charitable Gift Annuity that begins payments to us in a few years. Deferring our income gave us a higher annuity rate and a larger charitable deduction. We also have the option of extending the time when payments begin and receiving an even higher rate. The options are plentiful, enough to meet almost every need. We recommend exploring the choices available to you.

We exchanged these shares with Williams for a Charitable Gift Annuity. By doing so we increased our income with payments to go to the survivor of the two of us, avoided a large capital gains tax, received a charitable deduction on our federal income tax and diversified our portfolio by creating a bond-like instrument.

Most important, we were able to help Williams. We directed our gift annuity principal to the Class of 1954 50th Reunion.

Our thanks go to the office of Gift Planning for their help and guidance in implementing this plan.

Oz Tower
'41

A few years ago I was contemplating moving from my house in Williamstown. I considered several options. Because the house was located close to the College, and since housing in the Williamstown area is in short supply, I wondered whether Williams might be interested.

The College now has a property they use for faculty housing. I received a generous charitable deduction that I used in the year of my gift and have been able to carry over the unused portion in subsequent years. I received the satisfaction of helping Williams in a meaningful way.

J. Sheppard Poor
'44

In the early 90's I found myself retired from investment banking (for the second time) but involved with helping raise funds for 1944's 50th Reunion gift and for the Third Century Campaign. I also needed to augment my investment income to replace the income from regular employment and continue to help educate children and grandchildren. Some years earlier I had been fortunate enough to have made a modest investment in a company called Flight Safety, which paid no dividends but which appreciated in market value in a most satisfactory manner. Once I learned about pooled income funds, it became obvious that donating my Flight Safety shares would enable me to contribute to our class gift and the Third Century Campaign, benefit from a charitable gift deduction, pay no capital gains tax, and augment my income, all at the same time. It was a happy solution that has enabled me to contribute a great deal more to Williams than I otherwise would have been able to. After a while, but when I still had a few shares of Flight Safety left, Warren Buffet took it over and I had non-dividend paying shares of Berkshire Hathaway, which I have donated, mostly to Williams, just as I did the Flight Safety. Then, a few years later, Buffet took over General Re, which renewed my stock of Berkshire Hathaway and has enabled me to continue to augment my income by donations to my Williams Pooled Income Fund. It just seems like a logical thing to do.

P.S. Shep Poor recently made his 11th addition to his Pooled Income Fund #III.

Frederic S. Nathan
'43

Most people who participate in pooled income funds or create charitable remainder trusts are so pleased with having substantially leveraged their charitable gift by wise tax planning that they fail to consider the continuing opportunity for a subsequent tax benefit: renouncing the retained income interest. If the donor and any secondary beneficiaries sign a simple document prepared by the college terminating their income interest, not only can Williams apply the 111 principal immediately to its intended purpose, but the donor(s) obtain another substantial income tax deduction, often greater than the original one. The amount of the second deduction depends primarily upon the current value of the principal and the combined life expectancies of the income beneficiaries. To the extent that the principal consists of common stocks, there may have been a very substantial appreciation in the value of the principal. New beneficiaries' financial circumstances may also have changed dramatically so that in some cases a substantial charitable deduction may be more attractive than a continuing income stream. The acceleration of the gift to Williams makes this a win/win opportunity.

I originally bought into Pooled Income Fund #2 in 1993 when our investment adviser recommended the sale of stock in which 1 had made a small investment many years earlier and which had increased enormously in value. My wife and I realized that this was an opportunity to make a larger and earlier gift to Williams than we had planned, at a lower cost to us, after taking into account the capital gains tax we would otherwise have had to pay. By renouncing our income interest in this fund recently, we have experienced the additional pleasures of seeing the principal added to a scholarship fund at Williams in memory of our nephew and achieving a second charitable deduction worth more than three times the first one. And Williams has now received a principal sum much larger than the value of the stock we originally placed in the Pooled Income Fund. The total of the (1) capital gains tax originally avoided, (2) the tax savings from the two charitable contributions, and (3) the eventual estate tax savings Neatly exceed the value of the original gift to the Pooled Income Fund. And we received a larger income from the Pooled Income Fund for the past seven years than we were receiving from the original investment.