by Jeff Whitten | Feb 10, 2022 | Excluded from search, Uncategorized
Non-cash gifts come in many forms, from stocks, cars and real estate, to furniture, building materials, clothing, food, paintings, and collectibles. Services you might perform for free for the University are not considered tax-deductible gifts, although any costs you accrue as part of the work done (such as paint for painting you do) are deductible.
- For instructions for gifts of stocks and other securities, please click here.
- For gifts of real estate, please contact Brad Mylett at bmylett@miu.edu or Eric Stakland at eric.stakland@miu.edu.
For other property donations, you may help us by filling out the form available below. It will be sent directly to us when you click the submit button. Or you can contact us at 641-472-1180, or giving@miu.edu. We will in turn contact you to coordinate our receiving and recording of your gift.
Although most non-cash gifts are welcome, it should be kept in mind that for various reasons MIU may not accept every gift offered. Therefore, it is necessary for MIU to evaluate gifts before final acceptance.
As is true of all donations, gifts of property must be recorded at the Development Office in order to be acknowledged as official donations to the University.
NOTE: If you have arranged with someone at the University where the donation will be utilized, that person will coordinate with us for the proper accounting of the gift.
Once we receive the gift we will send you a letter that can be used for tax purposes.
The Internal Revenue Service states that the more detailed the description of the gift, the more valid the thank you letter will be for tax purposes. The full description will be included in the letter we issue.
Extra items needed
In addition to filling out the form, if you can provide the following it will help with this process:
- Digital photos of the item(s)
- Photos of any receipts for the original purchase of the item
- If the valuation of the gift is over $5000, the IRS requires an independent appraisal by an appraiser qualified to put a value on that type of property, so a digital copy of any such appraisal would be best
Also, a form 8283 is required to be filled out if any donated property is given a value of over $500. The form 8283 has a section to be filled out by an appraiser, which is required if any item or collection has a value of over $5000. (Instructions can be found at https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8283)
The actual form can be downloaded here. You should be able to type into the form, have your appraiser add items (in Part IV), and then you can save it and send it along with any other extra items specified above to giving@miu.edu. Please specify “Non-Cash Gift” in the subject line of your email.
MIU does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only. You should consult your own tax, legal, or accounting advisors for the proper evaluation of your gift and the preparation of any tax forms.
by Jeff Whitten | Feb 24, 2022 | Achievements, MIU News
February 22, 2022 • ISSUE 611
Jennifer Moore
Laying the Foundation for a Creative Life
 Jennifer Moore recently completed her second campus visit in MIU’s low-residency MFA in Visual Art Program, which allows artists all over the country to pursue their degrees remotely with a two-week stay on campus each semester.
Jennifer lives outside Austin, Texas, and has toured with the indie pop duo Deep Time in the US, Australia, Europe, and Mexico. After being on the road for a decade, she decided to settle down and attend Texas State University to study opera. However, when she took a class in video art she found a new calling and completed her bachelor’s degree in visual art in 2018.
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Playing with Deep Time in Austin, Texas
One of her professors, Joey Fauerso, introduced Jennifer to the work of the MIU art faculty. When the new low-residency program opened last August, Jennifer applied. She was drawn to the program’s creative approach combined with MIU’s focus on student well-being.
The MFA program has helped her maintain a regular creative routine even when she returns home. She has discovered that she prefers the quiet of the art studio over the hectic touring schedule of a musician.
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Art work Jennifer made during her latest residency at MIU
“I love the MFA program because it is setting you up for a creative life,” she said. “Now I have a working routine and the TM technique is really helpful with that. I am also getting creative ideas when I meditate.”
Through the program, Jennifer receives regular feedback from MIU faculty and an artist mentor, and enjoys the community of fellow art students. In her small studio she makes sculptures from found objects.
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Jennifer’s studio space at MIU
Jennifer is interested in becoming a teacher or an art therapist, combining art with the Transcendental Meditation technique in her work. Her current goal is to continue solidifying her studio practice so that she can help others achieve the same.
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by Jeff Whitten | Feb 14, 2022 | Achievements, MIU News
February 14, 2022 • ISSUE 610
Jay Banerjee
Businessman With a Purpose
 Jay Banerjee is chief operating officer of Immersive Touch, a Chicago-based company offering virtual reality medical devices that convert 2D patient images into 3D simulations for surgical planning and training. Jay is also a full-time student at MIU.
Jay has a bachelor of science degree in systems engineering, economics, and finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and had always wanted to start a business with the higher purpose of improving healthcare.
In 2014, he and his father founded Immersive Touch to make surgeries safer and more affordable for patients. The company’s technology is used by surgeons in over 100 hospitals, including the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins.
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At last year’s company holiday party, with his father on the very left
While at the University of Illinois, Jay became interested in studying Vedic knowledge. In 2021 he was looking for a program to help him cope with family loss and work pressure, and his father recommended MIU. When he saw the MA in Consciousness and Human Potential Program, he knew he found what he had been seeking for a decade.
“The way the knowledge is delivered here is fantastic,” he said. “It’s very easy to understand, and you experience what you are learning intellectually. I had never found this anywhere else.”
With fellow Maharishi Vedic Science students during a Diwali celebration
Jay’s company has been thriving since he began studying Maharishi Vedic Science℠. He attributes this success to his practice of the Transcendental Meditation® technique, which has helped him become more relaxed and allowed him to take a more creative and efficient approach to managing the day-to-day activities of the company.
“There are so many decisions you need to make every day in business,” he said. “I tend to do the right thing more spontaneously without having too much needless turbulence.”
At his TM-Sidhi graduation with TM-Sidhi Administrator Doug Birx
In December Jay completed the TM-Sidhi® program and is now planning to offer the TM® technique to his employees. He feels inspired by the history of the Transcendental Meditation organization and the university, and hopes to contribute to their expansion nationally and globally.
by Jeff Whitten | Feb 7, 2022 | Achievements, Excluded from search, MIU News
February 7, 2022 • ISSUE 609
Denise Cagley-Jefferson
Bringing Regenerative Farming to Jamaica
MIU student Denise Cagley-Jefferson got her first taste of volunteering when she accompanied her mother to the local soup kitchen in Waterloo, Iowa. That experience, Denise said, shaped her future and led her on a service-oriented career path.
For 25 years she has worked in non-profit management, international development, and humanitarian assistance with organizations such as Volunteers of America and the Peace Corps. For the past five years, she has coordinated international humanitarian efforts for USAID in war-torn and disaster areas, including Syria and Venezuela.
In Samoa in 2011 at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Peace Corps with staff and former Samoan Prime Minister Malielegaoi (center) and former US ambassador David Huebner (third from right)
In 2004 Denise founded an
NGO in the rural mountains of Jamaica and established two health and educational resource centers, serving five villages. In 2020 she purchased a small farm in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica and now splits her time between her farm and her home in Atlanta, Georgia.
With counselors of the Blue Mountain Project’s summer camp in 2019
Denise is also a yoga teacher and has known about MIU and its Consciousness-Based℠ approach to education for a long time. After purchasing her land, she wanted to learn about becoming a farmer. When searching online, she discovered MIU’s new online master’s in
Regenerative Organic Agriculture Program and applied the same day.
She learned the Transcendental Meditation® technique in Jamaica and found it helpful in her sometimes stressful job. “I have noticed that I have more calmness in conflict and in tense situations,” she said. “I am not getting emotionally affected.”
Through her classes at MIU, Denise has had the opportunity to learn more about the tropical fruits in her orchard, and met a farmer in Florida who volunteered to mentor her. She has also applied for a fall internship with the Rodale Institute.
Planting fruit trees on her farm in Jamaica
Her orchard already has a variety of fruits and vegetables, including avocados, plantains, papayas, mangos, and bananas. She hopes to transition into full-time farming in the future and help educate local farmers about regenerative organic practices.
by Jeff Whitten | Feb 2, 2022 | Achievements, MIU News
February 1, 2022 • ISSUE 608
Sanaa Sayani
Pursuing the Science of Everything
MIU student Sanaa Sayani, from Atlanta, Georgia, graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in geography and a minor in anthropology. She has a keen interest in science, including neuroscience, physiology, and physics.
Sanaa began studying astrology while in college and is fascinated by the patterns and connections she sees between the movement of the planets and the events in people’s lives. She hopes to apply the scientific method to astrology and discover its mechanics.
While researching astrology, she found a talk by Dr. John Hagelin on consciousness and unified field theory. She wanted to know more and enrolled in the MA in Maharishi Vedic Science℠ Program.
On a TM retreat with her classmates
“I had mostly academic goals when I came here, but now I see that TM is the root of everything,” she said. Sanaa recently completed the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Program℠ and has been observing the benefits of her practice with a scientific approach. “My life is on a smooth transition,” she said. “It has been easier with the regular TM practice and my physiology is more energized.”
She is currently taking an online course on Maharishi Jyotish and would like to research the connection of unified field theory to Jyotish. Sanaa envisions herself a researcher and wants to stay in academia, starting by pursuing a PhD in Maharishi Vedic Science. “I want to help support this paradigm shift of full consciousness being available to everyone,” she said.
With her sister in Colorado
Her latest research interest involves the effect of the TM® technique on the gut microbiome and the gut-nervous system connection. She also wants to publish creative science books for children written in rhyme.
In addition to reading astrology charts, Sanaa enjoys sports and outdoor activities and works as a swim instructor in the Fairfield Recreation Center.
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Sanaa enjoying the water in Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
