Welcoming the Stranger and Providing for Retirement: Don and Sandra Aronoff’s Charitable Gift Annuity

When Don and Sandra Aronoff decided to give a charitable gift annuity to the HIAS Foundation, they were thrilled to be able to do two important things at once: create a meaningful legacy reflective of their values while ensuring income for themselves throughout their retirement.

“We can't think of people who are more deserving of support than refugees,” says Don, “wherever they are, wherever they come from.” Don’s grandparents came to the United States in 1907 and were likely helped by HIAS, then focused exclusively on resettling Jewish refugees. More than a century later, he and Sandra love that HIAS “has so dramatically expanded its vision and perspective” to help displaced people of every background in every corner of the world.

The Aronoffs met in Atlanta and have lived in numerous cities since, Sandra working as a features writer and Don directing community mental health centers. Both were raised, as Don puts it, “to be people who care about other people” and to be guided by a strong sense of right and wrong.

“The way I look at the world is inextricably intertwined with my Jewish education,” says Don. “There’s no question that what I absorbed as a child has governed my way of being in the world.”

Decades of community involvement

Through his work in community health, Don became increasingly engaged in other community organizations and activities. At one point, while living in Indiana, he was inspired by a colleague’s involvement in a community leadership program to start a similar program in his own county. From there his commitment grew into a longtime involvement with community foundations, serving on various boards and as board president.

“And that educated me a great deal about charitable giving.”

At one community board presentation, Don learned about charitable gift annuities. Annuities allow donors to make a gift to a nonprofit like the HIAS Foundation and not only receive an immediate tax deduction but also a fixed annual income for life.

For the Aronoffs, that presentation was an ah-ha moment. Giving a charitable gift annuity—especially when compared with an annuity through an insurance company—became a “no brainer.”

“We wanted to provide for our income as long as we live. Why in the dickens would we want to make an insurance company rich? With a charitable gift annuity to HIAS, we can do something that makes the world a little better.”

Don says he and Sandra are pleased to be sharing their story because they want more people to know about this simple way to make a big difference. “Why shouldn’t you be assertive,” Don asks, “about doing good?”