Charitable Giving Information

Archive for November, 2006

Charitable Trust Taxation

An asset protection trust is an arrangement for the holding and administration of property under which property or legal rights are vested by the owner of the property (the Settlor) in a person or persons (the Trustees).

* The Trustees then hold the property for or on behalf of other persons (the Beneficiaries).

* It is essential that the transfer is gratuitous otherwise the transaction takes on the characteristics of some other legal entity.

* A trust may therefore be defined as an equitable obligation which binds the trustees to hold and deal with the trust assets for the benefit of the beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the trust.

* A trustee administers the asset trusts assets and distributes them to the beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the trust deed and the proper law of the trust.

* The flexibility and protection afforded by trust arrangements are such that they have become an important part of long term wealth management.

Through the use of asset protection trusts it is often possible for family assets to be preserved over succeeding generations substantially free from:

* taxation,
* probate requirements,
* succession laws,
* expropriation and
* Foreign exchange controls.

There is no requirement in Mauritius to register trusts, thereby maintaining confidentiality. A corporate structure allows its shareholders to have business conducted, own assets and limit liability. The ability to manage assets through a combination of trusts and companies is proving increasingly valuable and the legislation in force in Mauritius provides an effective framework for the conduct of international fiduciary activities and providing services in that respect.

How is a asset protection trust created?
Trusts in Mauritius are governed by the Trusts Act, 2001.A asset protection trust can only be created by an instrument in writing which should state its Object, subject, intention and Duties and powers of the trustees.

* It can be formed by a resident or non-resident of Mauritius.
* There is no register of Trusts in Mauritius nor is there any disclosure of beneficial owner to any authority.
* Trust created by written documents will generally take two forms:
* Settlement:
This form of document will be entered into and signed by both the settler and the trustee and so provide clear evidence of the intentions of both parties and of the agreed obligations assumed by the trustee.
* Declaration of Trust:
This form of document is entered into and executed by the trustee only, and records that the trustee has received certain property, specified in the document, to hold upon the terms set out in the document. It is sometimes more convenient to create a asset protection trust by declaration of trust rather than by settlement, for example, the settler may not be available to sign the document, when it is prepared.

Types of Trust
Most offshore asset protection trusts fall into four broad categories:

1. Private: including discretionary, accumulation and maintenance, life interest and fixed interest trusts.
2. Corporate: including pension and employee benefit trusts.
3. Charitable: solely for the benefit of charitable organizations.
4. Purpose: trusts with no beneficiaries that are established for purposes that are certain, reasonable and certain.

About the Author:

Ramapati Singhania specializes in creating and managing web businesses. His latest website http://www.incorporation-offshore-saves-wealth.com focuses on helping you to incorporate offshore companies in Seychelles, Mauritius and BVI. You can also visit his blog, http://www.ramapatisinghania.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Try An Asset Protection Trust In Mauritius To Pass Your Assets On To Your Family!

How a Lead Trust Reduces Taxes and Aids Church Fundraising

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Tax Planning Blog

Question: Is 0bama’s plan to tax the rich like Babe Ruth pointing over wall & taking 160 games to finally hit the ball?

http://blog.syracuse.com/cnypros/2008/06/large_080617_ap_babe-ruth.jpg
… out of the park?
Was that idea just a scam to get elected while he’s actually going to protect the rich and their energy dependent lifestyles?

Answer: It's so funny how working class Republicans oppose the very policy decisions that will help them economically.

Unfortunately, the rich are too powerful for any president, Democrat or otherwise, to hold them to any responsibility.

Fine, it's their money, they earned it, but at what cost?

Auto workers don't even get paid overtime anymore, yet CEOs kept their cushy salaries.

wadvisor's update on latest blog and Rob Slee event Recorded on October 08, 2009, 04:43 PM

Fundraising Ideas College Organizations

Question: Fundraising ideas for college volunteer organization?

I’m in charge of planning a fall fundraiser for our campus-wide service organization. We are shooting for an end of October, early November 2006 date. We want a fundraiser where we ask from the community and not the students. They pay enough money already. Ideas so far:a trick-or-treat for donations, pumpkin sale, i’d like to get lots more ideas.

Answer: -Wing Fling / Chili Cook Off
Local restaurant and or individuals will compete for the "best wings" or chili in town. Charge people to sample the food and have everyone judge the best food. Sell drinks and other items.

-Karaoke Night
Plan a special night either at your school or a local "hang out". Charge admission to the event and for a person to sing. (To make it even more fun, offer others the chance to pay for someone NOT to sing.) The person who sings the best wins a prize. Serve pizza and drinks or snack items for additional revenue.

-Old Fashion Movie Night
Hold an outside movie event. Rent the old projectors and show some of your favorite cartoons and movies. Sell tickets in advance. Serve pizza, popcorn, candy bars and drinks for an additional cost.

-Parents Night Out
Offer to sit the kids for a parents' night out. Serve dinner, movies and have simple craft items for kids to take home. Charge parents for sitting the kids. Don't forget to have the parents fill in an application with emergency numbers. (This idea works great around the Christmas Holidays)
Needed: Application with emergency numbers. Also, tell parents if they are late picking up their child that you will charge an additional cost per 5 minutes!

-Womanless Beauty Pageant Fundraiser
Recruit men to dress as a “beautiful woman” and participate in a womanless beauty pageant. Contestants wear makeup, evening gowns and even have a talent competition. Area contestants turn into raving beauties and the crowd never stops laughing. Donations come from ticket sales as well as food items.

-Breakfast with (Insert Person)
Have breakfast with a costumed character such as Smokey the Bear, Sparky the Fire Dog, the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus etc. Sell Polaroid photos of children posed with the character.

-Las Vegas Night
Casino nights are a relatively easy and an inexpensive way to raise funds. The members of your organization can be the dealers and run the other games of chance you wish to run. Since it is illegal to gamble real money, you can charge a cover and give out funny money that may be used to gamble. At the end of the night the funny money can be used to bid at a silent auction or to buy door prizes. Area vendors can donate such prizes or each member of your group could contribute a prize to the pot. (Funny money may not be redeemed for us currency after it has been purchased as that would be a violation of state gambling laws.)

-Door/Yard Decorating Contest
Pick a theme and see who can be the most creative. Charge a dollar per vote to select a winner.

-Pet Parade
Why have a regular fashion show when you can give it a twist? Create a fun event for local kids by hosting a pet pageant. Find an animal-friendly locale (try a local park), and recruit students to show off their pets on the "runway" one weekend afternoon. You can concentrate your publicity on local grade schools or PTAs. Have judges award prizes (you can make sashes, or stick to catnip and bones) in lots of different categories: Silliest Pet, Slimiest Pet, Sleepiest Pet (you get the picture…)

-Honey-Do Fundraising
Each raffle ticket entered the buyer into a drawing to win a crew of "Habitat Helpers" to help with a home improvement project. Helpers could paint a room, organize a closet or pantry, install a light fixture or small appliance, plant a garden in the spring, or help with garage or basement cleaning, but no housework. You could also suggest a project, and a team leader would assess its feasibility. Raffle tickets were $5 each or five for $20.

-Flamingo Flocking
Purchase 10 pink plastic flamingos (lawn decorations). Pick 10 yards in your community to be the lucky recipients. Attach cards to the flamingoes' necks with a phone number along with all the pertinent information regarding your group. State that for a $10 donation, the flamingos will be removed but for $15 they will be moved to the lawn of their choice. Make sure you also place a sign that has a contact name and phone number among the flamingos for those who drive by and would like to have the flamingos placed in a friends yard. (Also give the option to simply pick up the flamingo gratis, since some people have no sense of fun.) It takes some organization, but is lots of fun. An additional fundraising idea is to sell "Pink Flamingo Insurance" for $10 to protect yourself from the invasion of these pink pests.

-Shower With Flowers
This is a fundraising event similar to the flamingo flocking. Our symbol is the daisy, so we use flowers instead of flamingos; we like to use the term "Shower with Flowers". We scatter 40-60 brightly colored flower pinwheels throughout the front lawn of various homes. We started with club members initially but it didn't take long before we were "Showering" outside of our small group of women. We just stared this fundraiser this July and we have been averaging one home per week. We recently ordered more flowers and have begun an additional committee. Our system is much like the flamingo flocking. We charge a $5.00 donation for simply removing the flowers, $10.00 to remove and select someone to send them to next, and $15.00 to remove, resend, and find out who sent them to you. Most people choose the $15.00 option. This has been our most enjoyable and successful long-running fundraising idea, so far.

-Pumpkin Festival Fundraising
Have a fundraising pumpkin festival in November with pumpkins for the children to paint. Cover a table with newspaper (tape it down with masking tape so it stays covered). Set out liquid tempera paints, paintbrushes and plastic yogurt containers filled with water for rinsing the brushes. Let the kids paint goofy or creepy faces on the pumpkins. Add in pumpkin baked goods including a pumpkin pie bake-off. Serve pumpkin pie along with hot beverages, raffles and other complementary activities. The result is fun and fundraising!

-Blind Auction Fundraising
A blind auction is mostly about fun but can also raise funds for your group. It works best as part of an ongoing event such as a luncheon or dinner meeting. Here's how it works. Get as many people as you can that will be attending the event to bring a wrapped package. The contents could be humorous or something of actual value. Think of the possibilities! You can get rid of that ugly "xxx" in the back of your closet for a worthy cause.
Donors can weight the boxes with a brick to disguise the contents, have an oversize box for a very small present, or wrap boxes within boxes to increase anticipation. You get the idea! Announce that at least one of the boxes contains a '$x" bill or something of value that is small enough to fit in all the boxes. The dollar value will depend on your group and anticipated bidding amounts.
As guests arrive they place their boxes on a display table so potential bidders can examine them and speculate on what they contain. Whether you use a live or silent auction fundraising, make sure everyone has time to pick them up and shake them before the bidding. Guessing the contents is much of the fun.
At the specified time, the boxes will either be auctioned individually or the results of the silent auction announced. If you have a live auction, make sure you have a couple of "valuable" prizes auctioned first to stimulate the bidding. Above all, make sure you allow time to let everyone to open his or her box in front of the group.

9/11 MEMORIAL AT LEHMAN COLLEGE

Charitable Giving Campaign

Question: Are you sure Hillary’s campaign isn’t owned by special interest groups?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?ex=1359435600&en=33a4d96a239655bf&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Huge Kazakh deal follows financier’s trip with Clinton, precedes donation . The monster deal stunned the mining industry, turning an unknown shell company into one of the world’s largest uranium producers in a transaction ultimately worth tens of millions of dollars to Mr. Giustra, analysts said.

Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges.

Answer: That's great that someone would actually provide a source in one of these questions.

What campaign isn't owned by special interest groups?

Life & Money 6 -- Making a Difference with Charitable Giving

Catholic Charities Adoption

Question: I just found out over christmas that I have a sister that is 30 years old I have to find her help?

My mother gave away her child in high school because no one accepted the fact that she was bi racial. my mother was seeing a black male for three years and they were serious during high school he had planned on marrying my mother before she got pregnant. he tried like hell to contact my mother during the pregnancy and no one let him be in contact with my mother. she had the child and he tried to come see my mother and her mother my grandma would not allow him to see her she had him removed from the hospital. My mother was forced to give her baby up for adoption through the catholic charities I have contacted them and they gave me forms for my mother to fill out but she is scared that my sister will resent her also she doesnt think the family will approve. she is afraid she also has emotional issues. Is their any way that I can find out without the biological mother? how do I get her help in finding her?

Answer: I know for a fact that you can find a long lost relative. I just reunited with my birth father this week after 46 years to learn I have 3 half siblings. So, as far as resentment - there will probably be none.
It took me about 6 months to find him (but I knew his last name).
I started with my baptismal record (the one document that could not show my adopted name - only my birth name), I asked casual questions to my mom, I started doing searches on the internet by typing in his name (or even a portion of it), I did a Zabasearch.com, I then sorted through the information using process of elimation, made some phone calls, and at that point it was easy to put everything together. Give it a try - you have nothing to lose only a sister to gain.
It may also ease your mother's emotional pain of having to give her baby up just to know about her.
I wasn't sure how my father would accept me, but he did - with open arms!
If it is something that you really feel strong about, do it!
Explain to your mom that it is really important for you to attempt to find your sister.
I wish you the very best!

Catania on Gay Marriage and Catholic Charities