Donor Stories

Lou Heitlinger looks for opportunities to do better. He likes to take advantage of opportunities to reduce his taxes. He also strongly believes in making major contributions to charity while he is alive, rather than after his death.

This summer a new opportunity presented itself to Lou, which he calls a "win-win" situation. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 changed IRA tax rules for those like Lou who are 70½.

Beginning in August, 2006 Lou can now direct gifts from his IRA to Rockhurst University or other charities without increasing his taxable income or his tax liability. Lou immediately recognized that this could be a win-win situation.

Lou WINS because this IRA becomes a nontaxable source of money to fund charitable gifts. Prior to this new law, he had to withdraw money from his IRA, pay taxes, and could only use the balance to make gifts. Now the entire distribution becomes a gift.

Lou further WINS because the money sent directly to Rockhurst or another charity is considered part of Lou's REQUIRED MINIMUM DISTRIBUTION (RMD). This year he will not pay tax on the amount distributed.

Rockhurst WINS because Lou's scholarship fund receives the ENTIRE amount of distribution rather than just the after tax amount.

Lou's next thought was to ask The General Electric Foundation, his former employer, if they would match his gift to Rockhurst as they had in the past. The General Motors Foundation responded that they would fully match Lou's gift. Everyone WINS again!

Lou's IRA gift may be an amount up to $100,000.00 per years for both 2006 and 2007.

Lou developed this table to illustrate what he saw:

	Before the Pension Protection Act	2006 & 2007 as a result of the Pension Protection Act
Amount Removed from IRA	$5,000	$5,000
Taxes Withheld (24%)	$1,200	$ 0
Contribution to Rockhurst	$3,800	$5,000
GE Match	$3,800	$5,000
Total to Rockhurst (32% more)	$7,600	$10,000

Since Lou makes his gifts now, he receives the joy of seeing the good done with his money. (See the thank you letter from Maggie, his scholarship recipient.) In addition, he provides a "gifting" example for his children.

Lou Heitlinger was raised less then 2 blocks from Rockhurst. His brother, Tom attended and graduated from Rockhurst High School and Rockhurst College.

In 1949 Lou graduated from high school and enrolled in Rockhurst College because his brother, Tom, who was then on our faculty, had arranged a work-study scholarship for him. Tom had majored in English and, upon graduation, had been offered the position of Instructor in the English Department. Health problems forced Tom to resign just two years later. Tom died in March of 1951.

After just three semesters at Rockhurst, Lou left school and enlisted in the Navy during the Korean Conflict. After his service, Lou enrolled in the Engineering Department at KU in 1955. He received a BSEE and a MSEE from KU.

Lou's professional career included designing instruments for psychological research at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, KS; instrumentation for medical research at NIH in Bethesda, MD; and patient monitoring equipment at General Electric Medical Systems in Waukesha, WI. He also managed the design and development of software for patient monitoring systems, CT scanners, and nuclear imaging systems. Most of his career was spent with GE in Waukesha. Lou retired in April of 1993.

Lou always appreciated the love Tom expressed by getting Lou started on his college education. The work-study scholarship made it possible for Lou to enroll at Rockhurst. But it was the fact that his brother had arranged for the assistance that inspired Lou.

Lou expressed his own love in return by establishing the Thomas Heitlinger Scholarship to help young men and women like Tom and to give something back to Rockhurst for all that Rockhurst did for Tom through his education and his working days at Rockhurst.

"Tom's relationship with Rockhurst was one of wonderful give and take", says his brother. Rockhurst was the center of his life. When Tom wasn't well enough to teach, he did what he could in the bookstore. And when he was well, he gave everything of himself to the College. In turn the College administrators always made sure that they had a job for him."

The Thomas F. Heitlinger Fund has been assisting Rockhurst students for almost 10 years. Since the start of the scholarship Lou has gradually increased this perpetual scholarship with gifts of stock matched by GE, his former employer.

To arrange his gift, Lou took the following steps (just as you can do also).

First, he instructed his IRA Custodian to send his gift directly to Rockhurst.
At the same time Lou forwarded Tom Audley the name of his IRA custodian and the amount of the gift so Rockhurst could properly track his gift. (See sample letter at the end of this article).
Rockhurst issued Lou a receipt that meets the IRS guidelines for substantiating his gift.
Finally, to "double" his gift Lou submitted a matching gift form to the General Electric Foundation.

The additional funds will end up in the Thomas F. Heitlinger Scholarship fund to aid even more students.

Check with your tax advisor and your former employer to see if you might create your own WIN-WIN situation just as Lou did.

Lou, thank you for sharing this wonderful technique with the Rockhurst community!

The latest student to receive this scholarship is Maggie. She thanked Lou in her letter last spring:

I would like to express my gratitude on being awarded the Thomas F. Heitlinger Scholarship. My name is Maggie ____. I just completed my junior year studying English Literature here at Rockhurst and was therefore thrilled to learn that I had been chosen to receive a scholarship offered exclusively to English students. (This major just keeps getting better!) This semester was really great. I took several excellent literature classes and a really challenging writing class. It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it.

I am the first child in my family to go to college, so any and every scholarship I receive is a blessing and a relief to my overwhelmed parents. Your financial support is especially appreciated this year since my younger sister is now in college.

My experience so far at Rockhurst has been unbelievably positive. From each stimulating class to every social function, I can not imagine myself spending these years anywhere else. That is why, from the bottom of my heart, I again thank you for your generous gift.

Sincerely,
Maggie

For more information please select one of the following options:

1. If you would like to receive more information on the benefits of an IRA gift click here.

2. To learn more about making an IRA gift, you may print a brochure. Click Here.