Many Happy Returns for Scripps Volunteer

To say Doris likes to keep busy would be an understatement.

Four days a week, Doris, or "Do" volunteers in the gift shop at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, where she began volunteering with her mother-in-law more than 20 years ago. She is known as the hospital's "roving reporter" and interviews new auxiliary members and writes about them for the volunteer newsletter. An avid golfer, Do also spends time on the golf course nearly every day. She plays bridge, takes dance lessons and is planning the 60th reunion of her Skidmore College graduating class.

Recently, Do decided to give more than her time to Scripps Encinitas - she made a valuable donation to the hospital in the form of a charitable gift annuity. Having previously made several such gifts to Skidmore College, Do understood how charitable gift annuities work, and contacted the foundation's office of gift planning to help her set one up with Scripps.

"I had begun to feel that after 20 years, I wanted to be more than a volunteer with Scripps," explains Do. "I had an investment with a broker that I wasn't happy with, so I went to Scripps and the gift planning officers took care of everything for me."

A charitable gift annuity combines a gift to charity and an annuity contract. Donors transfer assets, usually cash or securities, to Scripps. In return, Scripps agrees to pay them regular fixed payments for the rest of their lives. As a donor, benefits include guaranteed regular income (which may be partly tax free), an immediate income tax deduction, possible estate tax savings, and, if the gift includes appreciated property, favorable tax treatment on the gain. Plus, there's the intangible benefit of supporting the programs and services of Scripps. Do is pleased to be a part of this legacy.

"I like the improvements that are being planned at Scripps Encinitas, and just today I went to a cancer research lecture at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla," she says. "There is so much good work being done."