Meet Our Donors - Allen's

The Allen's found rewards in planned giving

Longtime educators establish endowed scholarship A couple that has built their life together on the foundation of service and education has taken advantage of a recently enacted tax law to create an endowed scholarship at Lyon College targeted for future teachers.

And a student has already benefited from the new scholarship. Thanks to the August passing of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, Charles and Anne Allen established the Charles F. and V. Anne Allen Endowed Scholarship. The Act allows persons at least age 70 1/2 to “roll over” up to $100,000 per person per year from IRA accounts to charitable donations through Dec. 31, 2007. Previously, donors would have to pay taxes on funds withdrawn from IRA accounts and then donate the balance, leaving less for the charity to use.

* The Allens donated $50,000 to establish an endowed scholarship, but also an additional amount to allow the awarding of an annual scholarship immediately. The funds are to be awarded annually to a student who is at least a sophomore and who is pursuing a career as a teacher.

The inaugural recipient is Katherine McCord, a junior from Ash Flat who is majoring in psychology and early childhood/elementary education. Charles, who currently serves as the Chief Administrative Officer for the Arkansas Corrections School System, said he and Anne felt compelled to create the scholarship because education “is where it all begins.” “All professions depend on good educations,” he said. “My wife and I both got assistance through grants, scholarships and fellowships when we were in college, and now it’s time for us to step up and give back.”

The College’s close bond with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was another reason Anne wanted to establish the scholarship at Lyon rather than at another school. “I’ve been a member of the Presbyterian faith all my life,” she said. “To help future teachers reach their goals while supporting a Presbyterian school – how can it get any better than that?”

The Allens are members of the Lyon College President’s Council and the Board of Church Advocates. Dr. Anne Allen has served as a professor at Arkansas Tech University and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and as adjunct instructor at Henderson State University and Arkansas State University. She’s also been assistant superintendent and elementary principal of the Hamburg School District, and has been a teacher for the Des Arc and Pulaski County school districts. “We must do our best, our valiant best, to educate and inform everyone to the best of our abilities,” she said. “That leads to people making informed decisions for their lives. Every fiber of my being points itself to educating and learning.” Charles said Lyon College gives students something many larger schools can’t provide. “Lyon is a school where you’re not just a number, you’re not lost in a crowd,” he said. “Students get involved and are known by everyone. It’s a family.” The passion the couple feels about the importance of quality education is more than just a philosophy to them, Anne said. “These are not just words,” she said. “This is the constant focus of our lives. It’s what we believe.” Anne paraphrased a saying by Thomas Jefferson: “Any nation that expects to be ignorant and free wants what never has been, and what never shall be.” In addition to the current contribution to fund an annual scholarship right away and also to fund an endowed scholarship, the Allens made the decision to leave a legacy by adding Lyon College to the list of beneficiaries of their trust. This qualifies the Allens to become members of the Brown Society.

For information on establishing an endowed scholarship at Lyon College or using the charitable roll over, contact Tim Bruner, vice president of Institutional Advancement at (870) 698-4208, by e-mail at tbruner@lyon.edu, or Claudia Marsh, development officer, at (870) 793-1767, e-mail: cmarsh@lyon.edu.

For more information about the IRA Charitable Rollover legislation and how you can benefit from it and also about making a planned gift to Lyon College, go to the newly updated website at http://lyon.planyourlegacy.org

Prior to passage of the Pension Protection Act, individuals who wanted to make charitable contributions of traditional IRA assets could suffer negative tax consequences. Even if funds were transferred directly to a public charity, the donor still had to report them as ordinary income taxable at regular rates. Donors may have been able to offset the increase in taxable income in part by claiming charitable deductions. This, however, posed several problems for would-be donors: donors can only claim charitable deductions equal to 50 percent of their income in a given year; the value of possible itemized deductions could be further reduced by limits on itemized deductions for higher-income taxpayers; and increases in federal adjusted gross income could increase state tax liabilities and in some cases cause more of their Social Security income to be taxed.