Gift Annuities Benefit Donors, Nonprofits

For someone seeking a fixed payment, "in the midst of a recession, those rates still look pretty good," says Tony Martignetti, managing director of Martignetti Planned Giving Advisors.

The annuity rate reductions are a result of deep declines in both long and short-term interest rates — markers used in calculating rates, says Cam Kelly, assistant vice president for principal gift programs at Duke University, who chairs the council's rates committee. Lower rates will help charities preserve their assets.