Category Archives: giving

The Joy of Stewardship

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After taking a look at the financial state of Americans, we were moved to reflect on the biblical passage that was literally the foundation of the Stewardship Foundation—the story of the good and faithful servant in Matthew’s Parable of the Talents.

money-card-business-credit-card-50987The average American gross income is currently $71,258. That seems like good news until we realize that the average American household with a mortgage and other loans is $132,539 in debt, including an average $16,061 on credit cards.

According to IRS data for 2015, only 30% of Americans claim a charitable contribution deduction on their taxes. We might assume that some who didn’t itemize their deductions also gave, simply because Americans are generous to those less fortunate.

It’s good to remind our younger generation that they should carefully choose how they give. For example, only donations to qualified charitable organizations are deductible. If you’re not sure, we can verify this for you, or you can search for a charity on a site like Charity Navigator.

While handouts to the homeless or contributions to GoFundMe are worthy acts of charity, these are considered “personal gifts” and are not deductible. You may remember the 2015 news story about Casey Charf. While being treated in the hospital for a car accident, Casey’s doctors found she had a rare, seemingly incurable cancer requiring immediate treatment. The $50,000 she and her sister raised on GoFundMe triggered a $19,000 bill from the IRS.

When you give, keep receipts, even for cash. The same applies for payroll deductions should your employer run a charitable giving campaign. Remember too that if you receive something in exchange for your donation, whether a basket of goodies at a silent auction or a t-shirt, you have to deduct the fair market value of the incentive gift.

One of the most important charitable avenues often overlooked is giving appreciated assets. Donating property that has appreciated in value, like stock, can be highly beneficial. Call us if you want to explore how to receive a double benefit from donations of appreciated assets.

Do either our giving patterns or our own money problems, real or perceived, prevent us from remembering whose resources we’re managing? Are not our time, talents, skills, and health all tools to help us share with others, do good for others, and use them to glorify God? We exist to help others find the joy in stewardship in practical, financially beneficial ways, but also because it’s our credo and commitment to God.

Don’t Give to Charity, Grant to Charity

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thank-you basketMost Americans are generous. We support our churches and step up to the plate during times of natural disasters. We give to United Way at work, donate goods and cash to the Salvation Army, and many respond to televised pleas for support especially when it involved children or pets. Americans have big hearts, and giving makes us feel good. It also allows for a break on our tax return!

But do you give strategically? Have you taken the time to think through how you can best help the causes you care most about? Giving strategically means “giving with goals in mind”—a way to support a charity, or several charities, that you love.

A Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) is a charitable account that acts as a charitable savings account. You make an initial deposit that is immediately tax-deductible, then use it to make grants out to qualified 501(c)(3) charities when you wish. The magic of grants is that you can specify how you want your money to be used by the charity.

You may be able to give more than you think! You can fund your DAF account with cash; that’s better than having it taxed. Yet you can increase your giving by putting to work your non-cash assets like stocks, real estate, IRAs, whole life insurance policies, art collections, and other tangible personal property. You keep your assets in the family, and allow their value to help others during your lifetime!

There are legitimate reasons to keep your giving private. We find that some business owners with staunch moral convictions prefer to keep information about which charities they support private. Unlike giving from a private foundation, a DAF allows them to increase their giving capacity at a fraction of the cost, without all the legal, tax and regulatory burdens, and never having detailed tax records made public.

If a strategic giving plan sounds interesting and solves some organizational, administrative, or privacy issues for you, call me today at (614) 800-7985 or reply to this email. And please, share this blog from Stewardship Foundation with someone you know. Together, we can make the world a better place.

Transforming Right To Life

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When you hear the words “right to life” you almost immediately think of courageous nonprofits like pregnancy resource centers where women who may be pregnant can make an informed choice. These centers are staffed by compassionate professional nurses and trained client consultants, usually faith-filled volunteers willing to advocate for both the woman and her unborn child, as well as for fathers and their families. Their loving concern is evident in situations that are often strained and confusing for the women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.

Birthright Columbus on Skidmore Street is one of those centers. They are always free for clients, and rely solely on donations. They look to generous supporters to provide the all important material goods that fly out the door daily—boxes of disposable diapers, maternity clothing for moms, and every conceivable product for newborns from onesies to fuzzy blankets. Outright gifts of cash and goods to Birthright are crucial to their survival.

On East Dublin Granville Road in Columbus there’s another organization, the Greater Columbus Right to Life, whose mission is to promote a culture that protects human life (not just pre-born babies) from conception until natural death. In addition to their work to end abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide, they also work to protect religious freedom and rights of conscience.

Both nonprofit organizations rely on donations to sustain their mission, and both are effective at reaching out to like-minded donors who give what they can to help keep doors open. What is more difficult to attract, but have larger impact, are the large transformational gifts needed for long-term planning, growth, and director salaries. For those donors with unique wealth, tax, income, and/or estate issues, giving can become truly transformational for both the giver and receiver, but also more complex.

There are life income gifts like the charitable gift annuity (CGA), the charitable remainder trust (CRT), the charitable lead trust (CLT), and the pooled income fund. When properly executed, these methods often satisfy estate and tax issues for donors.

Bequests can be as simple as placing a paragraph of instructions in a will, or adding a specific charity to their IRA or life insurance policy. Family foundations allow donors to keep their gifted capital intact while they make smaller annual charitable distributions.

These methods for charitable giving require a level of sophistication to fully understand and implement. Some require the help of an accountant, tax advisor, wealth planner advisor, and others. We recommend that if you are seeking, or merely curious, about methods for transformational charitable gifts, that you seek independent, objective advice about the legal, tax, and financial implications appropriate to your situation.

Should you consider Birthright of Columbus or The Greater Columbus Right to Life organizations for your gift, we hope that you will look to the Stewardship Foundation to lead the conversation.

NOTE: Stewardship Foundation is an underwriting sponsor for the Annual Banquet benefitting the work of Greater Columbus Right to Life taking place on Monday, June 13, 2016, at the Lausche Building, Ohio Expo Center, Columbus. You can learn more here.