Charitable Giving Information

Posts Tagged ‘Charity’

Charitable Giving In The Usa

Question: I need contact information for charitable giving/philanthropy of the top 400 companiesss in the USA?

I run a charity, http://www.westfallfoundation.org,/ and am releasing a dvd soon, which targets big corporate givers. the list is at http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/88/biz_08platinum_The-400-Best-Big-Companies_Company.htmlhttp://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/88/biz_08platinum_The-400-Best-Big-Companies_Company.html
for each companie, i need:
company name and addresss
name of person on attn header

Answer: Contact Business Week. A few months ago they published the top 100 charitable companies with contact info.

Give Out of Your Abundance To Feed Hungry Children in USA

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Charitable Trust Annuity

With the interest rates at a really low rate, and with the economic fallout from the present economy, even people with money do not feel flush now and may decide that they do not want to make gifts to the next generation. Even though the economy has been in recession many times before and has come out of it to prosperity, sometimes it is hard to look beyond the present time to see that prosperity.

However, this is really a good time to consider making gifts.  In a low interest rate environment, there are many tools allowed by the Internal Revenue Code, which allow a person to give more than they would in a higher interest rate environment.  These tools are given various names by estate planners such as SCINs, GRATs, CLAT’s and IDGT’s.  Since the value of the gift is based upon interest rate tables shown by the IRS referred to as the” applicable federal rates”  and those rates are low, the low interest rates enable you to transfer more of your wealth tax free.

If you think that your children will need to borrow money (and they are a good credit risk), consider acting as their banker.  While you must have a note and proper collateral, just like the bank, using the IRS tables published in October, you can make a nine year fixed rate loan to your child for a rate as low as 2.63%, which your child will not be able to match in the open market.  Then you can collect the interest on the note for at least one year and forgive up to $13,000 ($26,000 if your child is married) of your child’s obligation each year, without incurring current gift taxes and also decreasing your potential future estate tax liability.

There are other more complex techniques where the low interest rates also help to minimize your future federal estate taxes and are most helpful to those persons with a higher amount of wealth.  One concept mentioned above is a SCIN, which is a self-cancelling note.  Using this technique, you sell an asset to a family member.  You, as the seller, agree to finance the sale and you provide the buyer with a note payable to you which stipulates that the unpaid balance will be cancelled when you die.

Another technique, the GRAT, is called a grantor retained annuity trust, allows you to transfer future appreciation on assets that you think may appreciate in the future to your children or other heirs.  Assuming that you live longer than the term of the trust, which may be two or three years, the balance in the trust will go to your heirs tax free of either gift or estate tax.  However, you if fail to survive the term of the trust, the amount reverts to your estate and may be taxable upon your death.

There is another technique referred to as a CLAT, a charitable lead annuity trust, which is a longer term strategy than a GRAT.  While a GRAT will revert to your estate if you fail to survive its term, a CLAT will not.  In a CLAT, property is placed in trust for a period of years during which a fixed amount is paid to a charity each year, with the remainder of the trust at the end of the term passing to non-charitable beneficiaries.  Using the CLAT, you may receive a large charitable deduction in the first year the trust is set up for the gift portion to the charity, but in that event, you are taxable from an income tax standpoint on the income that is being paid to the charity.

A technique that moves the assets out of your estate immediately and is not dependent upon your survival is a sale to an IDGT, an intentionally defective grantor trust.  This trust is perfectly legal and is not actually defective.  Using this estate freeze technique fixes the value of the asset that will be includible in your estate.

As you may be able to tell from this article, there are a number of perfectly legal techniques in which you are able to give more to your heirs due to the low interest rate.  Since these are more complex techniques, it is wise to use a trust attorney who specializes in this area to assist you in making these types of gifts.

About the Author:

Denice Gierach is a lawyer and owner of The Gierach Law Firm in Naperville. She is a certified public accountant and has a master’s degree in management. She may be reached at [email protected]. For more information on Denice and The Gierach Law Firm visit Gierach Law Firm

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Is this a good time to transfer your wealth to your children?

AMAZING ORANGE COAST COLLEGE SCHOOL OF SAILING !

Charitable Giving Levels

Question: Is The One incapable of distinguishing reality from the way he thinks things should be?

I loved the way he slithered around the question regarding tax deductions for charitable giving.

He always wants to talk about what’s “fair” instead of what actually happens in the real world. He wants to decrease the deduction for charitable giving among the wealthy from 39% to 28% because that’s the rate at which lower-income people can deduct them.

Let’s look at this for a moment, shall we? Who do you suppose gives more in an average year: the bus driver Obama mentioned, making $50K, or the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation making $2M?

How can this clown NOT think this will affect overall donations? Instead of knocking down the affluent person’s deduction level to 28%, why not raise the less-affluent person’s level to 39% if all we’re really after is “fairness?
metro: Quit trolling and stay south of Eight Mile.

Answer: He knows what he's doing.
The point is to reduce charitable giving and thus diminish the role of "non-government" solutions.

Conversation on charitable giving

Irs Charitable Giving Guidelines

Most people assume that car donation and charity giving are tools the rich alone are able to use to ease their tax burden. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Anyone can file a tax return with itemized deductions if they bother taking the time and effort to do so. Though you are responsible for gathering receipts that back up your deduction claims, car donation for charity is now set up in such a way to make claiming the correct amount in deduction easier than ever.

In the case of car donation, charity organizations have been reliant upon donated items for a long time, though hardly as a large part of their overall donation dollars. In fact, a report issued by the General Accounting Office (GAO) in 2003, when levels of charitable giving was at its highest in terms of car donation, charity coffers were still little affected by the input of donated vehicles. As little as six percent of the “typical” charity was represented by car donation.

The self-employed are in an especially good position to take itemized deductions of monies turned back into the business as well as legitimate car donations. A charity that is sanctioned by the IRS and has a legitimate non-profit tax ID number should be more than able to provide you with the forms you need to make your deduction with the same confidence as any other type of deduction you save a receipt for.

Of course, individual returns are far more likely to claim the standardized deduction, making car donation to charity impossible to claim. However, filing itemized deductions can actually benefit most taxpayers providing they take the extra time to write them all down. Indeed, it is common for someone who had previously taken a standardized deduction to find their tax burden to be somewhat to significantly decreased as a result of this extra effort – as much as 30 or 40% in some cases.

With the extra money available for donation that can come from car donation, charity giving can be very useful for bringing one’s income down below the level where they might put you into a higher tax bracket. Near the end of the year there is often an increase in auto donation by those who are nearing a higher bracket they wish to avoid. This can save you quite a bit when done correctly.

Generally it is a good idea to not count on your car netting the sort of value at sale that you might imagine it would, given the Kelly Blue Book value listed. According to current IRS guidelines, car donation to charity that nets over $250 must be accompanied by a receipt that clearly outlines how much value the car actually was able to get (usually when sold on the wholesale or scrap markets) for the charitable organization in question.

Another potentially lucrative use of car donation to charity is using the donation amount as a deduction compared with the expense of fixing up the car yourself for sale later. Though this can actually save some people more money, one is liable for the capital gains of a vehicle that has appreciated since you took ownership at least one year previously. In the case of collectible cars that have already been fixed up, this can represent a real hit. Knowing what cars to donate and which ones to keep a hold of for investment purposes is highly volatile and subject to the other income specifics of such a donor.

It is always a good idea to talk to a CPA, especially if you already have the services of one retained for your regular tax preparation advice. If you own a business, this is especially true. Even the same car donation to charity can vary greatly in its value to an individual’s return.

About the Author:

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – How to Reduce Your Irs Tax Burden Through Charitable Giving and Car Donation

Tips from the IRS – Charitable Contributions

Charitable Giving Report

Question: How can I find out about the level of charitable giving within different ethinc groups? Research on donations?

I am a fundraiser and my boss has asked me to find out how generous the Indian community is – in order to help with a press release we are doing! Any ideas on statistics, reports etc would be so welcome – have to admit that I do not know where to start on this although I have a feeling the Indian community are extremely generous to many charitable causes. Thanks for your help in advance xx

Answer: I am not sure if what you seek exists, but contact the Institute of Fundraising and see if they have any idea.

http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/

If no luck, then I think you would have to do your own research - although that would probably take more time than you have!

Charities Strive To Help Needy Even With Drop In Donations