Bridgewater, Va. – Bridgewater College alumni have the opportunity to give a life-long gift to the college. These gifts are to ensure future support and can be given in many different forms. 

A bequest through a will is the simplest form of a gift, but alumni have various options for giving. The various types of giving include bequest by will, charitable remainder annuity trust, charitable remainder unitrust, charitable lead trust, revocable living trust, gift annuity agreement, and cash and appreciated property.

Planned gifts are from individuals, alumni or friends who are close to the college and want to leave a gift after they pass away. Although planned gifts are appreciated, anyone at any time can give to the college and there are a mix of current and planned gifts. 

“I would say we receive some incredible transformational gifts to the college,” said Senior Director of Development Meg Riner. “Some people have left their entire estates to the College.”

Maxine Abshire ‘51 dedicated her life to education. After a life filled with teaching others she left a generous donation to Bridgewater College for scholarships. Scholarship donations ensure the education of future students. 

“Pretty remarkable that we get a good number of incredibly generous amounts of gifts, from people who haven’t even met current students at Bridgewater, and they believe so much in the future of Bridgewater students,” said Riner. 

Alumni continue to support and ensure education at Bridgewater College for current and future students to come. 

Correction 11/17/2020: An earlier version of this story inferred that the Forrer Learning Commons was a bequest. The sentence was misleading in that the Learning Commons was built as a result of multiple donations on college property.