Planned Giving

In her will, Lydia Thompson Morris donated her estate, Compton, to the University of Pennsylvania and provided an endowment for the newly-created Morris Arboretum. Since it first opened to the public in 1933, generations of Arboretum members and visitors have continued to benefit from Lydia’s legacy.

The Advisory Board of Managers of the Morris Arboretum invites you to join The Lydia Morris Legacy Society, created to honor donors who have provided for the continued growth of the Arboretum through planned gifts.

Planned gifts enable donors to make significant gifts to the Morris Arboretum in ways that complement their personal financial planning. Such gifts provide for endowments and internships, for new or renovated landscapes and gardens, and for new programs critical to the Arboretum’s mission of education, outreach, research and horticultural display. Properly constructed gifts can help donors reduce or eliminate capital gains or estate taxes, obtain significant income tax deductions and provide annual income.

Bequests
Bequests or gifts made by will are one of the Arboretum’s most important sources of individual support. Bequests can be made in the form of a specific gift of cash, securities or other property, or a percentage of the remainder of an estate. Retirement assets or life insurance may be included in a bequest.

Life Income Gifts
These planned gifts may generate immediate tax deductions and may also provide lifelong income to the donor while naming the Morris Arboretum as the eventual beneficiary of the gift. From the simplest form of gift annuity to the more complex forms of charitable trusts, planned gifts can be of help in providing for individual needs and for the future of the Morris Arboretum.

If you are interested in more information about bequests or planned gifts to the Morris Arboretum, please contact Victoria Sicks, Associate Director of Development at (215) 247-5777. ext. 152 or at vsicks@pobox.upenn.edu.

The Lydia Morris Legacy Society
Once you have informed the Morris Arboretum in writing of your intention to remember the Arboretum with a bequest or a planned gift, you are invited to become a member of the Lydia Morris Legacy Society. You will be invited to special Arboretum events held for donors; your planned gift will be acknowledged in the Annual Report.

Thank you for thinking of the Morris Arboretum.