How personalized portals can offer you a unique gifting experience
The gifting season is upon us — and we want to help make it memorable. While celebrating its 10th year, my529’s Gift Program marked another impressive milestone in August 2024: $529 million in gift contributions over the life of the program. During the past decade, more than 60,200 accounts have participated, and over 341,000 gifts have been given.
There is a reason it is so popular! The my529 Gift Program lets account owners send friends and family a unique link and gift code that makes it easy for them to contribute funds to a beneficiary’s account. The beneficiary’s gifting profile can even be customized with a photo and thoughtful message; there are endless ways to be creative with the gifting profile.
Make your gift your own
Explore some of our fun suggestions for personalizing gifting profiles at any age or occasion.
- Student’s photo in collegiate colors to announce post-high school plans.
- Family holiday card photo with a suggestion prioritizing wonderful experiences, rather than more toys. You can say something like “We are emphasizing that the giving season is about creating and sharing fond memories with family and friends and not just things, so please consider giving to their educational savings account.”
- For birthdays, your student’s photo of them engaged in a craft or activity like finger painting, sandbox, playdough sculpture, or Lego creation with messaging about “What do they want to work on when they grow up?”
- Student’s photo posing with an art or science project or performing at a concert or theatrical production with messaging about their favorite subjects or hobbies.
- Student’s school photo or sport portrait with a little story describing their past year.
- Ultrasound photo for a baby shower, encouraging guests to bring their favorite children’s book and donate to their future my529 fund in lieu of yet more baby blankets. Don’t forget to sign up for your my529 onesie when you open the account!
- Newborn photo with birth announcement to accompany your birth announcement cards.
- Senior class picture with messaging about graduation party details and included with the party invitations.
- Student’s photo in collegiate colors to announce post-high school plans.
Flexible gifting to meet your needs
my529 has made it easy for loved ones to feel connected while giving from afar. In addition to the gifting profile, you can also edit the email copy generated for sending your unique gifting code so that it can suit any special occasion or gifting audience.
Family and friends can contribute to a beneficiary’s account for a birthday, holiday, graduation, special milestone or just because. They can even do some customizing of their own by using gift notices to share their contribution, with options for various occasions found toward the bottom of the gifting page.
The unique gift code generated for a beneficiary lasts for the life of the account and allows for safe and secure contributions from family and friends. Loved ones can gift up to $17,000 a year without incurring the federal gift tax.
Contributions can be made using electronic funds transfer, a check or a debit card online. Most major debit cards are accepted with four preset dollar amounts of $25, $50, $100 and $250. A service fee is charged by the card processor. The fee corresponds to the amount gifted.
Save friends and family the stress of trying to pick out the perfect gift. $50 today may only get a board game or two, but imagine how much that $50 could grow over the years in a my529 savings account. The my529 Gift Program can help contribute to your my529 savings and maybe even a more relaxing and clutter-free season.
