The Paris Junior College Memorial Foundation
Published or Revised March 21, 2024
The Paris Junior College Memorial Foundation, a non-profit corporation founded in 1944 by the Paris Junior College Former Students and Friends Association, was established to receive funds through gifts and bequests of former students and other friends of the college. These funds are dedicated to the benefit of Paris Junior College in the manner designated by donors. No gift is too small.
When you support the Memorial Foundation with a gift, you join a host of PJC's friends who donate to this worthy cause. Donations are made to honor someone on a birthday; to congratulate a friend for an achievement; to memorialize a loved one; or simply to help Paris Junior College fulfill its mission. There are many ways you can give, and each donation is acknowledged with a card announcing your gift to the designee.
What Difference Can You Make?
The need for your financial support is greater now than at any time in the history of Paris Junior College. When supporting the Paris Junior College Memorial Foundation, you join with others who share their resources for this worthy cause. Some of the ways you may choose to give are:
- Where it can meet the greatest need
- In memory of a loved one
- Honoring a birthday, anniversary, or birth
- Recognize a teacher or faculty member due to the impact on your life
- Give to the general scholarship fund
- Donation to a special need of a division or department
- Underwrite the cost to purchase new equipment
- Establish a trust
- Donate property
- Include the Foundation in your will
- Name the Foundation as one of the beneficiaries of your life insurance
What type of assets would the Memorial Foundation benefit from?
A gift of cash is a simple method to support a cause. Some may prefer to make a donation to the Foundation by authorizing PJC to charge your gift to a credit card. Either way, we welcome your contribution. Each gift may be directed toward a specific project or program or often is used where it can best meet the College’s top priorities. The College will provide you with the appropriate documentation of your gift for tax benefits.
If you would like to remember the Foundation in your will, there are several ways you may wish to structure this gift based on your personal circumstances. There are a number of accepted methods to create a bequest such as: restricted, unrestricted, residuary, contingency, specific, general, honorary or memorial or endowed. We can provide you with the proper wording for each should you need assistance or we can provide a codicil for your existing will.
Securities, such as stocks or bonds, are among the most popular assets used to make a charitable donation. The Foundation has in place a mechanism to transfer stocks/bonds from your account to ours through your bank or brokerage firm.
There are some requirements of ownership of stocks/bonds prior to transfer of ownership. We can help you with the necessary information and process.
Did you know that your retirement plan can serve as a charitable gift and provide you lifetime income and avoid or reduce income and estate taxes? Working with legal counsel and estate planning experts, the Foundation can assist you in fully realizing the maximum benefit and create a lasting gift for the Foundation.
Real estate gifts, such as your home, farm or commercial property, allow you to maintain your cash assets yet receive the income and tax benefits which will result in a larger charitable gift than you may have expected. The gift can provide a charitable deduction for the full "fair market" value of the gift, up to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income if you’ve held the property over six months. In most cases, you also avoid paying capital gain taxes.
Life insurance provides a unique option to further the cause of PJC. By designating the Foundation as a beneficiary of an existing policy, you leave a legacy to be cherished due to your generosity. The tax deductions vary depending if the policy was paid up.
In each case, the Office of Institutional Advancement welcomes the opportunity to assist you in finding the best option for you to strengthen the future of education in our community. Contact us by alumni@parisjc.edu or phone 903.782.0276.
The Paris Junior College Memorial Foundation is a non-profit corporation chartered under the laws of Texas in 1944. The Foundation’s role is to receive and administer gifts to enhance the educational opportunities of PJC. Working collectively, the Foundation Board members seek opportunities to identify prospective sources of gifts.
Endowments established by friends, faculty, staff and former students of Paris Junior College represent private gifts to the Paris Junior College Memorial Foundation. Each is reflective of the special interests of these donors and friends who seek to maintain and expand the educational excellence for which Paris Junior College has been known since its beginning in 1924.
Scholarship funds are established by both individuals and groups. Industries, organizations and groups of friends have honored persons through endowments. A number of scholarships have been provided for by individuals who included the Memorial Foundation in their wills, naming and designating the use of the funds. Many scholarships are established by individuals to honor or memorialize a loved one.
These memorials have an ongoing quality. The principal amount of the endowment fund is invested, with only the interest earned each year given out in scholarship awards. Through the years, many bereaved families have requested that memorials be given to the Foundation, in lieu of flowers, as an ongoing tribute to their loved one. These gifts represent a significant addition to the scholarship resources provided the college through the Memorial Foundation. Provision is made to fund a corpus through time payments.
A sum of $10,000 will endow a scholarship which may be designated as an honor or as a memorial. The $10,000 may be paid out over a period of four years. When the $10,000 sum is reached, the scholarship may be named and will be issued in perpetuity.
If you would like to know more about these options, please contact us at 903.782.0276, or by e-mail, alumni@parisjc.edu.
Paris Junior College Memorial Foundation Board of Trustees
- Thomas Hunt III, Chairman
- Don Wilson, Vice Chairman
- Baleigh McCoin, PJC Director of Institutional Development/Alumni Affairs, Secretary
- Josh Bray
- Carl Cecil
- R.K. Hall
- Renee Harvey
- Bobby R. Walters
Ex-Officio:
- Allen Wiliams, President, PJC Alumni & Friends Association
- Curtis Fendley, President, Board of Regents