Gift Annuity Pools
What are they?
A gift annuity pool is a segregated investment pool maintained by the charity that is funded with the assets given by donors in exchange for gift annuities. The funds in the gift annuity pool are used to make the payments to all active annuitants. As each gift annuity terminates, the charity removes an appropriate amount from the gift annuity pool to be used as the donor designated. The amount removed typically is the charity's estimate of what remains of the assets given to fund the gift annuity.
A number of states require charities that issue gift annuities to maintain a segregated investment pool to back those annuities. The amount of funds in this gift annuity pool must be equal to or greater than the reserve requirement computed according to the requirements of the individual statements.
By maintaining a gift annuity pool, the charity can accomplish several goals.
- Invest gift annuity assets in a way that is appropriate given the profile of its annuity payment obligations and the value of assets held in the pool.
- Meet the requirements of states that require a segregated annuity reserve.
- Track overall performance of its gift annuity program.
Thus, even if a charity does not issue gift annuities in a state that requires a segregated reserve fund, there are compelling reasons for every charity that issues gift annuities to maintain a gift annuity pool that is accounted for and invested independently of the rest of the charity's assets.
Gift annuity pools in GiftWrap
GiftWrap requires each Organization to have at least one gift annuity pool. You can, however, set up any number of gift annuity pools for each Organization. For example, California requires charities to maintain separate reserve funds for California annuities and all other annuities. Setting up separate gift annuity pools in GiftWrap for an organization's California and non-California annuities would enable GiftWrap to track and report on these separate reserve pools.
Each gift annuity to an Organization must be assigned to a gift annuity pool. For an organization with just one gift annuity pool, all gift annuities to that organization are automatically assigned to its one gift annuity pool. Otherwise, you pick the gift annuity pool when you enter the gift.
Maintaining gift annuity pool values
The market values of individual gifts linked to a particular gift annuity pool are maintained using the CashTrac CGA Market Values function. The value of the pool on a particular date is the sum of the market values for all the gift annuities linked to the pool.
You also can maintain annuity pool information at the pool level using Maintain Fund/Pool Values. These values can be used by the CashTrac CGA Market Values function in its calculations when adjusting gift market values to match a specified target amount for the pool. The values you maintain for a specific gift annuity pool and date populate default values in the CashTrac CGA Market Values screen when you run it for that same gift annuity pool and CashTrac Period end date.
Setting up gift annuity pools
Gift annuity pools are set up for each organization under Setup > Organization.
To add new gift annuity pool:
1. Click Setup > Organization in the Menu Bar.
to cycle through the records in sort order.2. Double-click the row in the grid for the organization.
3. Click the Annuity Pools tab.
4. Click 
to add a new gift annuity pool.
5. Enter the information on the gift annuity pool. There is help available on each field.
3. Click 
to save your changes.
4. Click 
to close the Organization Information page.