How Empire Helps Alumni and Employees Leave a Lasting Legacy

Approximately 70% of adults in the United States do not have an up-to-date estate plan—the process is often confusing, and people may not know where to begin. With that in mind, Empire State University’s partnership with online estate-planning platform FreeWill is designed to simplify the process and empower alumni and colleagues to plan ahead.

National Make-A-Will Month takes place each year in August. “It serves as an annual reminder about the importance of estate planning—having a plan for the things that happen beyond your lifetime,” explains Toby Tobrocke, director of development at SUNY Empire.

The university’s Office for Advancement—the hub for all things alumni, donors, and home of the Empire State University Foundation’s operations—is doing their part to help Empire constituents feel empowered to make such plans through a partnership with FreeWill. Alumni and university employees can access the platform for free and create a legal will in about 20 minutes.

“We found that this tool takes people through the estate planning process in a logical and accessible way,” explains Tobrocke. “More than 1500 alumni have already created their estate plan via SUNY Empire’s FreeWill portal,” he adds.

Creating a legal will can help make things less confusing for family members and loved ones when someone passes—instead of turning to guesswork, the way you want possessions, assets, and matters such as guardianship handled are clearly outlined. “Make a Will Month highlights the importance of having a plan in place and encourages people to actually get the paperwork completed,” says Tobrocke.

When creating their legal will, alumni and colleagues can also choose to support the university through planned giving, though it is completely optional. If constituents choose to leave a legacy gift to SUNY Empire, we most often see those funds directed to students support or undesignated to allow the university to allocate funds where they will best support its students and programs.

For alumna and single mother of five Sandra DuBois, earning her degree at Empire was life-changing, which is why she set up a bequest to create the Sandra Bauhan Dubois ’78 Scholarship and support single parents. This is one of many examples of how planned giving increases support and accessibility at SUNY Empire.

Tobrocke addresses a common misconception about planned giving—it is not one-size-fits-all, and not only for the wealthy. “Everyone needs a plan and we see gifts of all sizes directed to Empire through people’s estate. At the end of the day, it’s the power of the collective that has a massive impact on the university community,” he says. Though Make-A-Will Month serves as a reminder that there’s no time like the present to plan for the future, the resources offered by the university are available on an ongoing basis.