Ways to Give

By donating to Shands HealthCare, you will make a difference in the lives of tomorrow’s patients. Private support helps us provide the very best in patient care.

Your gift to Shands may be used to meet the most urgent needs of the hospital in a timely way, or you may choose a specific area for your gift to support. Unrestricted gifts provides Shands with the greatest flexibility to meet new challenges as they arise and plan strategically for the future.

Giving Options

• Annual Gifts
• Tributes
• Memorials
• Securities
• Capital Gifts
• Outright Gifts
• Endowed Gifts
• Planned Giving:
• Bequests
• Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust
• Charitable Lead Annuity Trust
• Charitable Remainder Unitrust
• Pooled Income Fund
• Charitable Lead Unitrust

Annual Gifts

Annual gifts are contributions for the current use of Shands HealthCare or its programs. Donations may be directed to specific areas or left undesignated, which allows Shands to meet its most urgent needs.

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Tribute Gifts

You may honor the accomplishments of friends or loved ones by making a gift to Shands HealthCare in their name. To make a tribute gift, check the box on our secure online form or printable form, tell us who you are honoring, and give us the person’s name and address so we can acknowledge your gift in their name.

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Memorial Gifts

A gift to Shands HealthCare can be a touching way to memorialize the life of a loved one. All memorial gifts will be acknowledged with a card to the person you designate. To make a memorial gift, check the box on our secure online form or printable form, tell us who you wish to remember, and give us the name and address of the person we should notify of your gift.

Any gift to Shands HealthCare is always welcomed and appreciated. Shands does have some special priority needs, though. These needs are in areas where gifts make the greatest difference in ensuring our continued growth and maintaining our leading role in patient care.

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Capital Gifts

Capital gifts are designated for a specific program, building or purpose. These gifts can be used to fund projects such as renovations or building constructions.

Outright Gifts

Outright gifts include contributions of cash, certificates of deposit, stocks and bonds, mutual funds, real estate, or personal property. You may also make a written pledge to be fulfilled within 2-5 years. Each asset may offer a different tax advantage. Consult your financial advisor to select the best way for you to give.

Checks should be made payable to the University of Florida Foundation, Inc. – Shands HealthCare. Please indicate if you would like to specify the purpose or area of your gift.

Please mail your gift to:

Shands HealthCare
Office of Development
PO Box 100326
Gainesville, FL 32610

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Securities Gifts

If your investments in financial markets have been successful, there are significant tax advantages from contributing highly appreciated or long-term securities to the foundation as a charitable gift. You may also make a gift of appreciated shares in a mutual fund.

By giving stocks or mutual funds directly to Shands HealthCare, donors may avoid the capital gains they would normally have to pay. Donors can also earn a charitable tax deduction for the fair-market value of the contribution up to 30 percent of their adjusted gross income. Any excess deduction can be carried over for up to five years. Gifts of securities are credited at the market value on the day Shands gains control of the assets.

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Endowed Gifts

Endowments are long-term investments that secure the continued success of Shands HealthCare and its outstanding patient care. Endowments are retained and invested to provide sufficient income to support important hospital programs. To create an endowment, the original gift must be at least $20,000. The original gift is known as the principal and cannot be spent. Instead, a portion of the annual interest from the investment is used to fund the program. This allows the gift to make a perpetual impact as it continues to generate income.

Specific Program Endowments:

• Child Life Program ($8,000,000 needed to endow)

  The Child Life Program at Shands Children’s Hospital provides individual and group programs for various age groups to successfully help children cope with the hospital experience. Child Life specialists treating each child as an individual who is very special.

• Shands Transplant Housing ($3,000,000 needed to endow)

  The Transplant Housing facility provides a place for out-of-town patients and their families to stay after they are discharged from the hospital. Many patients, especially heart, lung or bone marrow transplant patients, need to remain close to the hospital for continual follow up in the weeks after the surgery. There are currently 32 fully equipped suites available for patients and their families.

• Arts in Medicine Program ($3,000,000 needed to endow)

  The Arts in Medicine Program (AIM) at Shands at UF is dedicated to exploring the relationship between the art of creativity and the art of healing. AIM is committed to using the visual arts to transform the medical environment from a sterile, depersonalized setting to one of color and inspiration.

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Planned Giving

• Bequests

  Leave your legacy by making a gift in your will to friends, family and charitable organizations. A bequest is one of the most simple ways to remember those you care about the most.

• Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust

  Your trust pays a fixed amount each year to you or others you name for life or a term of years. The remaining assets then go to charity.

• Charitable Lead Annuity Trust

  Your trust pays a fixed amount each year to charity for a term of years or one or more lifetimes. The accumulated assets then go back to you or others you name. Gift Annuity: In exchange for your gift to charity, you or 1-2 other annuitants receive a fixed sum each year for life.

• Charitable Remainder Unitrust

  Your unitrust pays a fixed percentage of its value, determined each year, to you or others you name for life or a term of years. The remaining assets then go to charity.

• Charitable Lead Unitrust

  Your unitrust pays a fixed percentage of its value, determined each year, to charity for a term of years or one or more lifetimes. The accumulated assets then go back to you or others you name.

• Pooled Income Fund

  Your gift is pooled in a fund with gifts from other donors. You or others you name receive your gift’s share of the income the fund earns each year for life. Your gift’s share of the fund then goes to charity.

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More Information

For more information, please contact the Shands Healthcare Office of Development at 352.265.0784.