Hello!
I’m Elizabeth Foley ’94 and I am honored to serve as our Class of 1994 Planned Giving Chair. I’m also a proud member of Smith’s Grecourt Society, which was founded in 1994 to recognize alumnae and friends who have included Smith in their estate plans.
I interned during my senior year at Smith in the Alumnae House and marveled at our alumnae engaging with the Alumnae House staff and College trustees to make arrangements in their personal trusts and wills when they came to campus to plan their Reunions. The College customized complex options as needed to advance the alumna’s personal goals, as well as enable the alumna to leave a specific lasting legacy to the College.
Once I finished law school, I began to explore options for myself to leave a legacy gift to Smith, even if it would begin on a smaller scale than the alumnae leaders I had admired so much.
Inspired by some Smithies who I met through the Toledo Smith College Club, I ultimately chose to establish a Trust to address a number of my family needs and took that opportunity to include future support for the Smith Botanical Gardens.
There are numerous simple, painless ways to name Smith College as a beneficiary to a company life insurance plan, 401K, IRA, or any personal bank account without sacrificing one’s ability to cover one’s current needs.
As our Class Planned Giving Chair, I decided to work with Sam Samuels, the College Director of Planned Gifts, to create the following webinar, focusing on GenX giving, and I encourage you to watch it and consider the vast range of options that you can customize to support Smith College while addressing your own financial income needs and your current family commitments.
I challenge you to follow the alumnae who have made planned gifts to Smith, which promotes Smith’s ability to support a variety of educational areas of global excellence while developing future leaders in the arts, sciences, social development, engineering, government, and the humanities.