The Truth About Year End Giving

December.  That wonderful time of the year when your mailbox is full of Christmas cards… and letters requesting support from many charitable organizations!  For most organizations, including Redstone, end-of-year gifts are critically important to our fundraising efforts. 

There are many reasons that this is the season of gift making.  Most people are starting to think about the taxes that will be due in the New Year and are looking for ways to reduce that tax burden through philanthropic efforts.  Gifts of cash, stocks, or personal property are tax deductible when given to an eligible non-profit like Redstone and when you will be itemizing your tax returns.  There are many ways that you might wish to consider making a gift before the end of 2013. 

Especially for our residents, the option of “rolling over” required withdrawals from an IRA is a wonderful option.  If you request that the annual check from your IRA distribution be sent directly to a charitable organization, you will most likely be able to avoid paying taxes on that distribution.  This can be a wonderful way to make a gift.

The same is true with gifts of Stocks and Securities.  Making a gift of appreciated stock directly to a charitable organization can help to relieve the tax burden usually experienced at the time of the sale of stock. 

And of course, cash gifts of any size will result in tax savings come April of next year (as long as you itemize your taxes.) 

So the experts will tell you saving on taxes is why charitable giving is so important at year’s end, and why so many charitable dollars are contributed at this time of the year.  While this may be true, personally I believe that most donors are motivated by far different values.

This is the season in which we remember life’s blessings, when we spend time with those who mean the most to us, when we think about our faith and what we value the most.  Our hearts cannot help but be opened to those who are perhaps less fortunate than we are.  For Christians, this is the season when we celebrate the greatest gift ever… the Savior who was born in Bethlehem.  And while the tax benefits may be out there, I think that love and gratefulness are the real motivators for year-end gift making. 

As you consider your year-end gifting, I hope that you are considering a gift to help support benevolent care for residents in need here at Redstone.  Gifts made in memory or in honor of someone special to you before December 25^th will receive a star on our “Trees of Giving” on our campuses.  No matter the size of your gift, please know that it will be appreciated and put to good use to carry out our mission to care for those who are so very precious to us. 

May all of the blessings of the season be with you.


Make a donation to Redstone Highlands at
http://www.redstonehighlands.org/giving.html