Planned Giving

Planned giving makes it easy to leave a lasting legacy to Yale Law School. Whether you are planning for retirement, looking to provide for a loved one, or seeking to maximize your gift, you can support Yale Law School while meeting your goals.

There are many ways to make a planned gift for Yale Law School, including methods that offer significant financial and tax benefits. You can:

Make a bequest of cash, securities, or other property
Designate a specific dollar amount, a particular asset, or a fixed percentage of your estate for the Law School
Leave all or a portion of your residuary estate to the Law School after providing for your other beneficiaries
Create a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust, securing income for you and a loved one while finding income tax savings
Name Yale Law School as a beneficiary of your retirement plan or IRA

We are happy to help you decide which kind of planned gift is right for you. Please contact Kristen Rozansky, Associate Dean, at (203) 432-0439. For more information on types of planned gifts, you can also visit Yale University’s planned giving website.

Giving Back to Yale Law: Pat Geoghegan ’74 endorses the Charitable IRA Rollover

As with every class of Ya‎le Law School graduates, our tuition dollars (whether paid in cash, through loans, or through scholarship support) did not cover the costs of our legal education. The deficit was met primarily through the generosity of alums who went before us.

It's the same today. The total of current tuition payments and distributions from the law school's endowment does not‎ cover the law school's annual budget. Dean Heather Gerken's ability to fund the law school's amazing clinical programs, to provide emergency financial aid to students who may have no financial safety net of any kind, and to implement program enhancements required to maintain and broaden the extraordinary leadership potential of a Yale Law School degree depends on continued alumni generosity. We need to provide the shoulders for Dean Gerken to stand on in fulfilling her vision for the law school.

As Boris Bittker taught many students of my‎ generation, the Internal Revenue Code provides strong support for the educational, cultural and social benefits of private philanthropy. Today, one of the easiest ways to give to Yale Law School is to take advantage of the brilliant simplicity of the Code's charitable IRA rollover. I found it surprisingly easy to call my IRA's customer service number, and instruct them to distribute funds from my IRA in the form of a check payable to Yale Law School. That IRA distribution will not be taxable income to me, but will be credited against my annual required minimum distribution from my IRA (and will be included in my class's reunion giving total). I think Boris would be delighted!