John Bacon, JD President, PPGGNY

Our September luncheon panel got me thinking about several issues, but especially charitable gift annuities (CGAs).  When one hears that an established charity has suspended its CGA program, one pays attention.  The fact that a New York State Insurance Department examiner is due at my charity this month for one of their periodic examinations has underscored this focus.

While CGAs are one of the mainstays in most gift planning programs, am I the only one who thinks that we spend too much time and effort on them based on the risks involved and the ultimate return?  Have you felt compelled to work the last week of December each year to close those few last-minute annuity gifts that will ultimately net your organization less than a single average-sized bequest?  Have you lost money on contracts in the last few years due to the perfect storm of poor investment performance, double-digit payouts, and a donor who beat her life expectancy by five or more years? Are you leaving unrestricted terminations in your annuity pool to help meet the enhanced New York surplus requirement? 

My charity is fortunate to have a large, diverse annuity pool, so I don't lose sleep over these issues.  Maybe the last few years are a natural counterbalance to the halcyon years when terminations regularly yielded 80 or even 90 percent of the initial gift value-remember those?  In any case, we will focus our efforts on keeping our annuity pool stable and are considering raising the minimum gift size and age once again (with exceptions for those loyal donors who fund $5,000 annuities each year like clockwork-you have to love them!).  But for my money-or rather my charity's-bequests and beneficiary designations remain a much more significant source of support and the focus of our outreach and stewardship efforts. 

I hope you will share your own opinions on CGAs and other gift planning matters at our upcoming programs.  This month we launch our "masters" discussions in the 3 West Club library-more on that below-and the pre-luncheon networking session and lunchtime conversations are also perfect opportunities to share with and to learn from peers.  I always find something to take back to work and I trust you do too.

We serve you, our members and friends, so please keep your comments, suggestions, and inquiries coming to me at jbacon@nypl.org or the PPGGNY office. I look forward to seeing you soon.