December is an ideal time to give to the charities you support in order to claim a charitable deduction on this year’s taxes. But what if you aren’t sure which causes you want to support?
Perhaps your business performed better than expected this year, you inherited assets from a loved one or you simply haven’t had time to focus on your charitable giving this season. You know that there are tax benefits to making a charitable donation at year-end, but you don’t want to make a hasty decision simply to meet the Dec. 31 deadline to claim a tax deduction.
Here’s how Arkansas Community Foundation can help:
Take Your Time. When you partner with the Community Foundation, you can create your own charitable fund to benefit the causes you choose. If you make a donation to start your fund (or add to a fund you’ve already created) by Dec. 31, the gift is fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law on your taxes. After the new year, you can spend time considering which charities you’d like to support with grants from your fund. If you prefer, you can support the same organization/s on an ongoing basis, or you can make grants to different charities every year.
Get the Information You Need. If you need help identifying organizations that are working to address the issues that matter most to you, we’ve got tools to help.
- Our donor services staff can help you research charities serving a particular cause or area.
- You can gain a better understanding of the needs in your community by reviewing our Aspire Arkansas report, which provides county-by-county data on dozens of quality of life issues in Arkansas.
- Or, we can even send you grant proposals from local charities who need support for specific projects. There’s no obligation for you to fund any of the proposals unless one interests you.
Support Multiple Nonprofits. With a single gift to the Community Foundation, you can support dozens of nonprofits. Here are a few ways we can help you make a broad impact:
- You can designate that a certain percentage of your fund be used to support specific nonprofits each year. This is a great option if you want to provide long-term support for a handful of favorite charities.
- You can also create a fund that allows you the flexibility to choose different causes to support from year to year. This option is great for families that want to involve their children in the giving process by allowing them to choose projects fund each year.
- You can even donate to the community-based Giving Tree Endowment in your area; grants from these endowments are selected by committees of local leaders and are used to support dozens of charitable projects each year.
It’s not too late to make a difference this year. Contact our development staff to find out how to get started. We’re in the office through Dec. 31 to help meet your charitable giving needs.