Planned Giving

There are many ways to make a planned gift for the School of the Environment, some of which offer financial and tax benefits, including:

• Make a gift that costs you nothing at this time. In your will, trust, or other estate document, include a bequest for YSE. Designate a specific dollar amount, a particular asset, or a percentage of your estate for YSE. Or, leave all or a portion of your residuary estate to the School of the Environment after providing for your beneficiaries and loved ones.
• Name YSE as a beneficiary of your retirement plan, a bank account, or a life insurance policy. 
• Make a gift to YSE and create a stream of income for you or a loved one through establishing a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust. 

Please contact Kristin Floyd at kristin.floyd@yale.edu with questions or to document your plans. For more information on the types of planned gifts available at Yale, you can visit Yale University’s Planned Giving website.

Testimonials

Dorothy S. McCluskey ’73 MFS

In 1970, Dorothy arrived at the Yale School of the Environment with three young children and a goal of earning an advanced degree in environmental planning and water resource management. She earned that degree in 1973, and two decades later she honored her life-changing time at YSE by establishing a visiting fellowship for international environmental leaders through a Charitable Gift Annuity.

Dorothy McCluskey ’73 MFS

Milos Krnajski Jovic ’73 MF

Milos’s life journey began in his birthplace of Subotica, Yugoslavia, [now Serbia] and took him to Canada, then to the Yale School of the Environment, and finally to Chantilly, France, with countless international stops in between. At the University of Belgrade, Milos pursued his childhood environmental interests, studying forestry and the migratory patterns of birds. Following graduation, Milos was drafted by the Jugoslav Peoples’ Army. Following this service he emigrated to Canada, where he saw an advertisement from YSE calling for applicants. Milos applied and, with great joy, was accepted to the Master of Forestry program. Milos cherished his time at YSE, which introduced him to American ways, the magic of Sterling Memorial Library, and a particularly beloved seminar, “The Limits to Growth,” focused on the importance of environmental protection. 

Milos loved his time at YSE, and his experience ultimately led to him establishing a Charitable Gift Annuity that will support a scholarship for students working in fields relating to steady state economics, the limits to growth, urban sprawl, and the carrying capacities of ecosystems.

Milos Krnajski Jovic ’73 MF

Ralph H. Folsom ’72 JD and Ruth “Pixie” Haughwout

Ralph Folsom ’72 J.D. and Ruth “Pixie” Haughwout love to travel and together have written travel guides focused on the South of France and the North Channel of Lake Huron. As they were considering ways to fulfill both their philanthropy and their retirement income goals to help support their travel, they learned about the Yale Charitable Gift Annuity. Ralph and Pixie have established several CGAs to date, with the deep satisfaction of knowing that the annuities will be directed to areas of the University they care deeply about. Among these, legal clinics at the Yale Law School, scholarships for women at Yale College, pandemic studies at the Yale School of Public Health, and work on climate change at the Yale School of the Environment. Pixie, who had a career as a physical therapist, and Ralph, whose career spanned 47 years of teaching at the University of San Diego School of Law, feel strongly about access to education for women, public health, and the critical work of addressing climate change. 

“We considered several different plans,” Ralph said. “Yale’s Charitable Gift Annuity is administered with an unusually flexible range of payment and tax benefit options. My class at Yale Law School had the most women ever enrolled up to that point. I saw their struggles and the difficulties they faced. Some professors had never had a woman in their class before! Since a scholarship helped me attend Yale, Pixie and I definitely want to pay it forward for others.” 

Ralph and Pixie credit Ralph’s formative years at Yale for many of the joys in their life together, including travel and being able to give back. “Yale is the bedrock of our relationship,” Pixie said. “Between the times we spent there, the doors Yale opened for us, and the wonderful benefits of giving in this way, the Charitable Gift Annuity benefiting Yale and the things we care most about was an easy choice for us!”