St. Chad's Episcopal Church
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St. Chad's Episcopal Church
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Making Charitable Contributions to St. Chad's Everything
these days seems to be getting more complicated, and charitable giving is no
exception. There are lots of
options that didn’t exist before, and some twists on old ways of giving, so
I’m taking this opportunity to outline the various methods of making donations
to St. Chad’s. First
of all, a reminder on cash contributions. Yes,
we do take cash! But in order for
you to receive an acknowledgment from the church for your cash gift, we need to
know that it’s from you. The best
way to do this is to put it in an envelope with your name(s) on it and note any
special designations, such as flowers. You
can no longer claim cash donations as a tax deduction unless you have a letter
from the charity acknowledging the gift. Your
quarterly Contributions Report from St. Chad’s serves this purpose. Of
course most people choose to donate by check.
If you are paying by check, simply write any designations (e.g. Building
Fund) on the memo line. Unspecified gifts will be credited towards your pledge for
the year, if you have made one, or to plate offerings if not.
You may use one check to contribute to two or more purposes, such as your
pledge and a donation to the flower fund, as long as you write the different
amounts on the memo line. If you
buy something to donate to St. Chad’s, such as office equipment or beans for
the Storehouse, you can fill out an expense reimbursement form, attach the
receipt, and mark the line indicating that you are donating this amount to St.
Chad’s rather than requesting reimbursement.
The monetary value of your donation will then be included in your
Contribution Report, simplifying your record keeping for taxes. Unfortunately,
St. Chad’s does not accept credit cards.
We would be charged a 2% fee to accept them, and that would cut down
significantly on our operating revenue. If you
would like to transfer money directly into St. Chad’s checking account, you
can do so from your bank; we cannot initiate such transfers from our side.
Please see the Treasurer if you need details on how to do this. You may also wish to consider using online Billpay for your
payments to St. Chad’s. Most
banks offer this service at no charge. You
can simply instruct the bank to send a monthly or weekly check to St. Chad’s
and relieve yourself of check writing chores! One
option that some of our members have started using is the United Way.
If your place of employment supports United Way, you can simply designate
St. Chad’s as the recipient for all or any portion of your United Way pledge,
and let United Way handle all the details. Another gifting option is to transfer assets directly into St. Chad’s brokerage account at Fidelity. There are several tax advantages available by doing so. First of all, if you transfer stocks or other property that has appreciated, you can claim a charitable tax deduction for the full value of the assets transferred to St. Chad’s, without paying capital gains tax. If you were to sell the asset first and then donate the proceeds to St. Chad’s, you could still claim the charitable deduction, but you would have to pay capital gains tax on any appreciation. For
this year only, you can transfer up to $100,000 from your IRA to St. Chad’s or
any other charitable organization without paying the normal tax on IRA
withdrawals. This withdrawal will
also satisfy your annual Minimum Required Distribution (MRD) for 2007.
This option could be an excellent choice for those who are over age 70.5,
are taking distributions from their IRA, and do not itemize their deductions. Consider paying both your 2007 and 2008 pledges this way in
2007, since you will not be able to do this next year. Note that a large withdrawal now would also reduce taxes
later by making your MRDs smaller in subsequent years, assuming your problem is
that you have too much money! You
may also designate St. Chad’s as a beneficiary of your will or trust account.
By so doing, you can specify exactly how the money is to be used, as long
as it’s a church-related purpose of course. Any of
the above offerings can be used to satisfy your annual pledge.
If you are new to the church, we invite you to fill out a pledge card for
the remainder of the calendar year. This
helps your church in its ongoing financial planning.
Please see any member of the Stewardship Committee, the Treasurer, or the
Secretary for a pledge card. Most
of these techniques are also applicable to gifts to the St. Chad’s Foundation,
which is a separately incorporated charitable organization.
Gifts to the Foundation will ultimately be used for the benefit of St.
Chad’s, but you may not designate exactly how those gifts are to be used,
since that is determined by the Foundation’s Board.
Consult any Board member for more information on gifts to the Foundation. Gifts
to St. Chad’s may be designated for any operating or outreach expense,
including specific organizations such as the Storehouse or specific purposes
such as altar flowers. And yes, we
do have a Building Fund, so contributions can be made to this project at any
time. A complete list of funds is
available in the Treasurer’s monthly report. Please consult the Treasurer for details on any of these methods of donating to St. Chad’s. If you would like to discuss any special arrangements for donations, please contact the Rector or the Treasurer, as appropriate. You should also consult your tax or estate planning professional for the applicability of any of these methods to your particular situation. |
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