Donor Stories
William C. Burgess
For William C. Burgess, IM 1971, taking responsibility for one’s future is more than just good advice. It’s been a way of life since his youth.
As a Tech student, Burgess participated in the Co-op Program, paying his own way for his entire undergraduate education. “My parents never wrote a tuition check to Georgia Tech,” he proudly recalled.
In addition to employing this same philosophy of personal responsibility throughout his long and successful career—he is currently president of Lodging Enterprises Inc. in Wichita, Kansas—Burgess has extended this practice to his long-range financial planning and personal philanthropy. He has established a charitable remainder trust (CRT) that provides savings on capital gains taxes now, and in the future will provide income to his wife, Penny, after Burgess’ death. Ultimately, the CRT will establish a scholarship endowment for College of Management students participating in the Co-op Program.
To augment the CRT, Burgess also funded a deferred gift annuity.
“In the last conversation I had with my father before he passed away, he shared his concern that he may not have done enough to provide for my mother,” Burgess says. “I considered his thoughts when I decided to establish a charitable remainder trust and to fund a deferred gift annuity with the Georgia Tech Foundation. This aspect of retirement planning is not about building a house on the beach or buying a boat. It’s about providing a lifetime income stream. I don’t know what may happen in the next thirty-five or forty years, but I have a high degree of confidence that the Foundation will be there to manage assets responsibly and—assuming that my wife survives me—to provide income for her.”
Burgess says he prefers the deferred gift annuity and CRT programs to other giving vehicles because they are designed to provide lifetime income without any further action or decisions on his part.
“I have benefited tremendously from my Georgia Tech education over the years and have always tried to give back by giving to Roll Call,” Burgess says. “From a young age, I’ve always looked up to those who gave a significant share of their resources to Tech, and I aspired to be one of them some day.”
While he appreciates the immediate impact that his direct gifts to Roll Call and other Tech programs have had, Burgess feels very strongly about the long-term significance of planned gifts.
“When it comes to providing income for a loved one, the CRT is a superior combination for both investing and for supporting Georgia Tech,” he says. “It provides a tax deduction and allows me to avoid capital gains taxes on appreciated assets. Outright gifts are important because they have an immediate effect, but gift planning supports Georgia Tech in the future.”
