A Stroke of Genius

Robert Wenning '69 knows that being in the right place at the right time is only part of the secret to success. You also have to put in the hard work, and a little luck never hurts.

"I owe my entire career to the University of Dayton—what I learned, the people that I met, and the experiences that I had there" said Rob. Now retired, Rob and his wife Karen spend their winters in Florida and summers in Vermont, living an active lifestyle of biking, hiking, walking their two dogs, travel, and, of course, golfing.

Rob definitely knows his way around the links. On April 3, 2013, while playing with his roommate from junior year at UD, Rob made two holes-in-one in a single round, the odds of which are an astounding 67 million-to-one. And that's not the only amazing thing to happen on a golf course for Rob.

"We don't have any children and our siblings have done well, so when we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do with our estate, it wasn't easy," said Rob. "While golfing, a friend of mine suggested, 'What about funding a scholarship?' If he hadn't mentioned it, I never would have thought of it."

After his friend raised the idea, Rob thought of his time at UD. "Being in the school of computer science in the very early days and hanging around the faculty and other students was exciting," said Rob. "The program was very new when I was there, so we were really on the leading edge, and it was a lot of fun just being a part of it."

It was also a lot of hard work. "I worked my butt off during school," said Rob, who attended classes during the day and worked nights and weekends—including at the University of Dayton Research Institute—to pay for his education on his own. "I'm very proud that I was able to finance my education and graduate completely debt-free. But I also know that attending UD today isn't cheap, so if we can help students in any way, it will be money well invested."

This led Rob to contact UD about establishing a scholarship fund, and he learned about the benefits of a blended gift: a bequest in his estate (which is made through a will or trust) combined with lifetime gifts from qualified charitable distributions, also commonly known as the IRA charitable rollover.

"We learned that the QCD allows money to flow directly from our IRAs to UD without counting as taxable income," said Rob. Making QCDs from their IRAs allowed Rob and Karen to start contributing to the scholarship—and start supporting current UD students—right now. And a bequest is flexible—it allows a donor to retain control of their assets during their lifetime in case circumstances change.

Between the QCD and their planned bequest, Rob and Karen have established the Robert and Karen Wenning Endowed Scholarship to support deserving sophomore-to- senior students in the computer science program at UD. And both Rob and Karen were surprised at how simple it was.

"It's really easy to set up your QCD," said Karen. "We just called our broker and told him what we wanted to do. They did everything and handled all the paperwork. You don't really have to do much, and it truly helps somebody."

If you're 70.5 or older, you too can make a QCD to the University of Dayton. And if you are over 72, your QCD can go toward your required minimum distribution each year, all with no income tax on the amount of the contribution. Every eligible individual can make a gift of up to a yearly maximum of $100,000 if the contribution is made directly from their IRA account to a qualified charity, such as the University of Dayton.

You can join Rob and Karen in giving students access to a better education through a blended gift like a bequest combined with QCDs. To learn more about these and other convenient ways to support UD, please contact the Office of Planned Giving at 937-229-4484 or plannedgiving@udayton.edu.