Make a Gift Online

Be sure to designate your gift to the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

When you make a gift to USC Dornsife, you have tremendous flexibility in determining how the funds will be used, as well as many options for making your gift.

Unrestricted gifts to the USC Dornsife Dean's Fund for Excellence are among the most valuable, because they allow the Dean to allocate funds wherever the need is greatest, and to take advantage of unique opportunities as they arise. Your unrestricted contribution could be used to support costs associated with financial aid, innovations in teaching, research equipment, facilities, and much more.

Directed gifts allow you to designate your gift to a specific school or program or a priority area at USC Dornsife. When you make a directed gift, you enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting a program that is personally meaningful to you.

You also have the option of designating your gift for current use or for endowment either to support USC Dornsife at large or for a specific department. Current-use gifts provide funds and flexibility over the short term, whereas endowment gifts provide security over the long term by expanding the USC Dornsife's permanent financial base and creating a predictable source of future income for such things as endowed faculty positions, student scholarships or fellowships, broad-based interdisciplinary research projects, or even entire academic programs.

Cash gifts - the easiest and most convenient gifts you can make - can be made by credit/debit card, outright cash, personal checks, cashier's checks, or money orders made payable to the University of Southern California. The university also has a wire account; please contact the USC Dornsife Office of Advancement for details about making a wire transfer to USC Dornsife. You may also mail in your donation.

Gifts of appreciated securities, stocks, and bonds also provide considerable tax advantages when transferred to USC Dornsife before they are sold. If you have held your securities for more than one year, you may find that your gift will provide a twofold tax benefit, creating an income-tax deduction as well as helping avoid the capital-gains tax that would have been due on their sale. Instructions for giving gifts of securities.

Physical stock certificates may be sent by certified mail or overnight express, with endorsement on the back of the certificate(s) exactly as stated on the face of the certificate(s). Do not fill in any other blanks. No stock power is necessary as long as you do not fill in the university's name on the back.

You also may make a gift of mutual funds, non-marketable stock, or closely held stock. Contact the USC Dornsife Office of Advancement at 213-740-4990 for information about giving these types of securities.

Gifts of real estate - including personal residences, second homes, income property, and vacant land - offer a wide variety of tax and other benefits. Whereas most people give their entire interest away, it is also possible to give only a portion of the property (an undivided percentage interest) while retaining the rest for other purposes.

Gifts of personal property - including rare books, works of art, valuable collectibles, and tangible items of demonstrable value - in some cases may enable you to make a significant gift to support USC Dornsife with outstanding tax benefits to you. Likewise, gifts of intangible personal property, such as copyrights, patents, and mineral rights, can generate income for the program of your choice on a continuing basis.

Planned Gifts

To learn about deferred or planned gifts, including bequests, life-income plans, and other options for your estate - and for information about increasing your income, earning valuable income-tax deductions, and reducing your estate taxes - please visit the USC Office of Planned Giving Web site or contact Susan Wilcox, associate dean for Advancement, at 213-740-4994.

Matching-Gift Programs

An easy way to double or even triple your donation to USC Dornsife is to find out if your company has a matching-gift program. Such programs typically match all or a percentage of employee contributions to charitable organizations, making the employer a partner in employees' personal philanthropy. Simply obtain a matching-gift form from your employer's personnel office, fill it out, and submit it to USC Dornsife with your contribution.

Gift Pledges

USC Dornsife welcomes your gift through a pledge - a formal statement of intention to make a gift to the university. With a pledge, you may complete your gift by making regular payments over time, allowing you to give more generously than you originally may have considered. What is more, each payment on your pledge is eligible for an income-tax charitable deduction. Simply state in the comments your pledge amount and how frequently you wish to make payments.