Gift to Iowa State University Honors Family with Fellowship

Lumir Dostal, Jr. was the first in his family to attend college.

“I didn’t have my dad’s blessing either. He didn’t think I needed an education to be a farmer,” said Lumir. “But Iowa State University gave me a bigger and broader outlook on my career and life. It was a huge benefit to me.”

In 1960, Lumir earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture business from Iowa State. Since then, Lumir and his wife, Sara, have remained connected to ISU and have had three of their children also earn degrees from the university.

“There’s no doubt that Iowa State provided a lot of opportunities for our family,” said Sara.

The Dostal family has also experienced hardship. They lost a son, Danny, at the age of six, and about seven years ago, their daughter, Diana, died of cancer, at the age of 34. That prompted their family to make a gift to Iowa State in their honor.

“We thought a fellowship for a graduate student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences was the perfect way to celebrate them,” said Lumir. “It allows us to encourage education at the same time, which is something our family values deeply.”

Lumir and Sara said the gifting process was easy and informative.

“We’re not financial planners so we were happy to have experts on hand to help us explain everything,” said Sara. “We didn’t expect all of the tax and income benefits that came with making a philanthropic decision. We were flabbergasted.”

The Dostals said they often promote the variety of charitable gift options available at Iowa State.

“We always encourage others to look into the advantages,” said Lumir. “Education is extremely valuable and you can show your support now while you’re alive to see where the money is going. That’s worth a lot in itself.”

The Dostals established their gift through a charitable remainder trust, which benefits Iowa State when assets (cash, securities or real estate) is transferred to a trust where the assets are invested to pay an annual, lifetime or term-of-years income. When the trust matures, the remaining trust assets are distributed by the trustee according to your wishes. There are wide varieties of charitable trusts available.