Gift Honors Professor's Family, Profession

A legacy for a loved one, financial help for students and support for multilingual education. The potential for this win-win-win situation persuaded Nadeen Ruiz and husband Bob Thiele to establish a Charitable Gift Annuity with Sacramento State in the name of Ruiz's late father.

Ruiz is a professor of Bilingual/Multicultural Education and director of the Serna Center on campus. Thiele is a partner in the mechanical engineering firm R&A Engineering Solutions. Their gift, which established the Ignacio Ruiz Scholarship for Future Bilingual Teachers, offered them a way to promote a number of issues important to them—family, education and the students at Sacramento State.

"I've been with the University since 1992, and the highlight has been the students," Ruiz says. "I have been so impressed with their passion for learning and work ethic."

The gift will provide support for two areas of education at the same time: the scholarships benefit college students, who will then be in a position to assist English language learners in elementary and secondary schools. Ruiz, a former elementary school teacher, says she hopes to increase the number of teachers with a vocation to work with English language learners—a need that seems destined to grow. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in five residents over the age of 5 speaks a language other than English at home, and California leads the country in non-English speakers.

Ruiz also points out that her father didn't learn how to speak English until he went to school. He and her mother were the first in their families to finish high school, and they then made sure that each of their four children earned college degrees.

"They gave me the gift of education," Ruiz says. "They were so pleased when I decided to become a teacher."

Education is a family business for the Ruiz-Thiele family. In addition to his engineering career, Bob teaches international students as an adjunct law professor at UC Davis, and he and Nadeen frequently discuss teaching methodology. Ruiz' mother was a teacher's aide, and her sisters and both of her children teach.

While furthering that commitment to education was one of the sparks that led Ruiz and Thiele to make their gift to Sacramento State, it was the promise of a long-term payoff that led them chose a charitable gift annuity as the vehicle. "Rather than giving a gift each year, we saw this as a way to leave a legacy in the name of my father, to create a lasting tribute even after we're gone," Ruiz says.

Thiele also appreciated the CGA's efficiency as a planned-giving vehicle. "It was the easiest to set up and offered the greatest flexibility," he says. In addition to an initial tax benefit, CGAs offer the giver a source of annual fixed income. After the giver's demise, the remainder of the gift goes to the university program of the donor's choice.

The Ruiz-Thieles are not opting to start the annual income at this point in time, but they appreciate the potential. "Our plan is to turn it back to the campus each year, but we will have the option of having money available if we need it," Thiele says.

For more information on Charitable Gift Annuities or making a planned gift to Sacramento State, contact the Office University Development at (916) 278-6989.