Last year alone, our Annual Fund donors provided more than $1 million in vital support that helped us:

• Attract and maintain world-class faculty and students.
• Continue to provide innovative programs such as the CaseArc Integrated Lawyering Skills Program – a first-of-its-kind integrated lawyering skills program preparing students to become successful, practice ready attorneys from the minute they graduate.
• Provide experiential learning opportunities through the Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center, trial advocacy, moot court, externships, labs and more.
• Continue our commitment to need-based financial aid for our students. Last year we were able to award scholarships to almost 50 percent of our student body.
• Renovate our classrooms and the law library – and equip them with the necessary tools and supplies – to maximize our students' learning experience.
• Offer a broad academic experience including scholarly journals such as the Law Review, Journal of International Law and Health Matrix.
• Enhance the current curriculum and inspire our students by bringing visiting lecturers, scholars and other distinguished guests to campus.

How to make a difference. All gifts to the Annual Fund are important and have an immediate impact. You not only help today’s students, but you continue to build on our strong tradition. Our alumni – even those who paid full tuition – benefited from the generosity of prior graduates. With only 80 percent of a student's education covered by tuition, your support is vital to current and future students. Your gift shows appreciation to the school for the education you received, and it provides for the next generation of lawyers. Simply put, as an Annual Fund participant, you help us continue to grow as an incomparable place of higher learning.

For more information, contact JT Garabrant, CFRE, Associate Dean of Development and Public Affairs, at jtg5@case.eduor 216.368.4495.


Establishing an endowment fund is a permanent, lasting way to remember a particular phase of your education that influenced your life while supporting our law school. Endowment funds are also meaningful ways to honor or memorialize family members and friends. These funds are donated assets held by the University in perpetuity and invested to generate income to be spent for the purpose(s) you designate.

You may establish an endowment fund in three ways:

• A gift while living
• A life income gift
• A gift in your will

The life income gift produces income for a beneficiary you designate over your lifetime or a term of years. At maturity, the life income gift is converted to a named endowment fund.

The value of the University's endowment funds is constantly changing as income is earned, additional gifts are made, the value of assets appreciate over time, and income is spent for donor-designated purposes.

The University's Board of Trustees is responsible for the investment of the University's endowment funds. Investment responsibilities include the development and implementation of investment strategies, the allocation of assets to these strategies, the selection of investment managers, and the monitoring of performance. Although the Trustees are firm believers of investment diversification to reduce risk, they favor investments in stocks, which have the greatest potential for long-term growth.

For more information, contact JT Garabrant, CFRE, Associate Dean of Development and Public Affairs, at jtg5@case.eduor 216.368.4495.


Our alumni and friends often provide for the law school by making a gift of assets through the Legacy Society. This is a wonderful way to remember the law school. (See the descriptions below of some of the most common planed giving options.)

Why become a member of the Legacy Society?

• Increase your retirement income
• Create a college trust fund for your children or grandchildren
• Remove a retirement plan from your estate – IRA and 401(k) plans are the most heavily taxed assets in your estate, at up to 70 percent
• Memorialize a loved one
• Provide for a disabled child
• Reduce estate taxes
• Use appreciated assets (stock, real estate, antiques): avoid capital gains tax and enjoy an income tax deduction

Periodically, we hold special events for Legacy Society members. Membership involves no dues or obligations of any kind. We look forward to welcoming you into the Legacy Society.

For more information, contact JT Garabrant, CFRE, Associate Dean of Development and Public Affairs, at jtg5@case.edu or 216.368.4495. Or visit our Planned Giving site to find additional information, including estate planning materials, a glossary of terms, a question-and-answer section and a gift calculator.

Common Planned Giving Options. Planned gifts to our law school provide the opportunity to support our tradition of academic excellence while earning dividends on your investment for yourself or your heirs. The University’s estate planning professionals will work closely with you and your financial planners to be sure that everyone receives the greatest possible benefit. Your fund and the income it provides will continue to grow in perpetuity because of our careful stewardship.

• Life Income Gifts. A life income gift allows you to receive income while making a significant donation to the law school. Life income plans offer the following benefits: income payments for your life or the life of your heirs; income tax deduction; potential investment diversification; probable elimination of capital gains tax on appreciated property; reduced estate taxes and probate costs; the satisfaction of supporting the law school during your lifetime; and the ability to designate how your gift will be used in perpetuity.
• Bequests. Making a bequest or gift through your will can significantly reduce your estate taxes, and you do not have to part with any money while living. For example, for a 70-year-old alumnus with a net worth of $2,000,000, your approximate estate taxes and expenses total $740,000, and your net gift to your heirs is $1,260,000. With a $500,000 bequest in your last will and testament or trust agreement, your estate taxes and probate costs drop to only $480,600; your heirs still receive $1,020,000. In effect, your charitable gift costs only 50 cents on the dollar. Bequests to the law school can include cash, securities, real estate, property, a percentage of the residue of your estate or all the residue of your estate.
• Life Insurance. This is the simplest and most common form of planned giving. A gift of whole life insurance can be made to Case Western Reserve University by naming the University the irrevocable owner and beneficiary of the policy. Gifts of life insurance policies require charitable contributions from the donor to the University in the amount of any premiums, including unscheduled premiums, which may become due.
• Annuities. The gift annuity provides older donors who give cash, securities, real estate or personal property with fixed annual payments for a specified period of time, usually for life. With a deferred gift annuity, the annual payments do not start when the gift is made but begin at a later date you specify.
• Retirement Plan Assets. Tax-deferred retirement accounts, which include profit-sharing plans such as IRAs, 401(k)s, and 403(b)s, are popular because the contributions are made with pre-tax dollars and the assets in the accounts grow tax-deferred. However, funds withdrawn from these accounts are usually taxed at both high income and estate tax rates. By giving retirement account assets, you can avoid both income and estate taxes that would otherwise be due. Other less heavily taxed assets are then available to fulfill bequests to loved ones. As a result, your loved ones receive more after-tax.
• Charitable Lead Trusts. Charitable lead trusts are most appealing to donors who wish to pass appreciated assets to their heirs without paying a substantial amount in taxes. This is accomplished by allowing the University to receive income from your assets for a specified time, after which the asset is transferred back to you or your heirs, who do not have to pay additional taxes. You do pay a gift tax on the asset when placed in the trust. The trust can reduce gift and estate taxes or provide a charitable deduction for you.
• Charitable Remainder Trusts. Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) are gift arrangements that enable a donor to contribute to the law school while providing income for himself and/or another person. Charitable Remainder Trusts allow you to make a significant contribution to the law school, often larger than would otherwise be possible. There are two forms of Charitable Remainder Trusts – the unitrust (where the income is variable) and the annuity trust (where the income is fixed).
• Stocks/Securities. Next to cash, appreciated stocks and bonds are the most popular assets donated to the law school by alumni and friends. There are several ways to transfer securities to us – electronic transfer, mailing certificates or hand delivery. For information regarding the valuation of stocks and bonds or gift crediting, please contact Tony Fatica in the University's Treasurer's Office at 216.368.3253 or 800.315.3863 or Anthony.Fatica@case.edu.

Two additional giving opportunities are outlined below. Interested in even more? Learn about how to support the law school through naming opportunities, contributions to faculty scholarship and research, student scholarships, the law library or other programs.

Law Firm Giving Challenge. The Law Firm Giving Challenge offers an opportunity for alumni at law firms to connect with the law school and promote giving in a spirited and challenging way. By participating, alumni help us raise essential funds and increase overall alumni giving participation, while strengthening our alumni network and enhancing the profile of the graduate’s own law firm. During the 2010-2011 fiscal year, 26 firms, led by volunteer alumni representatives, raised more than $290,000 in annual fund gifts.
Law Firm Scholarship Program. Our graduates have long been a prime source of legal talent for the Cleveland legal community. Although nearly 70 percent of the student body comes from out of state, approximately half stay in Ohio. Full- and partial-tuition scholarships are awarded to the most qualified applicants in partnership with lawyers and law firms in the area. There are two objectives – to enhance the quality of our student body, and ultimately to enrich the supply of new lawyers to Northeast Ohio.

For more information, contact Vicki J. Stouffer, Director of Alumni Relations and Development, at vjs34@case.edu or 216.368.3381