Making a Difference Goes on with a Legacy Gift

While gifts for scholarships, programs and projects can come in many forms including cash, credit cards, donor advised fund (DAF) grants, individual retirement account (IRA) qualified charitable distributions and appreciated stock, you also can set up a gift to be received through your will or trust. 

Some Kettering alumni and friends also have chosen to blend their gifts, which means they’ve made a gift now, but also added another contribution in their wills or trusts.

Richard McGill (’51, General Motors Overseas Operations) honored his General Motors Institute/Kettering University education when he passed away in July 2020. He and his wife Liliane’s gift will help students for years to come.

“I owe so much to Kettering, and I have set the wheels in motion to repay my debt of gratitude,” McGill said when he set up his gift.

In addition, the University received contributions from the estates of William (’68, ME) and Velva Clupper and Richard (’58, IE) and Valerie Hutter last year, ensuring their legacies will live forever on the University’s campus by providing support to scholarships, programs and building projects such as the Learning Commons.

Below is the language to share with your lawyer to include a gift to the University in your will or trust:

I give and devise to Kettering University, Flint, Michigan that the sum of $__ to be held (or state percentage of identified assets available for distribution), administered and used by the Board of Trustees for support of Kettering University in the area of greatest opportunity (or designated to a scholarship/department or research area) at Kettering University.

I instruct that all of my charitable gifts shall be made, to the extent possible, from property that constitutes “income in respect of a decedent” as that term is defined in the Internal Revenue Code.

I owe so much to Kettering, and I have set the wheels in motion to repay my debt of gratitude.

Richard McGill (’51, General Motors Overseas Operations)