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You wish to make a gift during your lifetime > You want a significant charitable deduction > You want your favorite charity to benefit immediately > You want to support worthy small charities, as well as larger ones
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Whether your passion is
funding medical research, supporting an animal
rescue shelter, or some other cause, your
cash contribution will benefit your charity
immediately, and you may receive a tax benefit. |
Sometimes simple is best. Cash is
simple, both for you and the charity. While a
more involved gift can befuddle a small nonprofit
(and that group would be loathe to appear ungrateful
or inept), even the smallest charity can process
a cash contribution. Large nonprofits appreciate
simplicity as well. With a cash gift, the charity
need not sell it or go to extra lengths to manage
it, so cash gifts help keep administrative costs
down for nonprofits of any size. Most importantly,
with cash you can see immediately the benefits
of your generosity in the good works of your charity.
Gifts of cash also provide standard, simple and attractive tax benefits. The IRS allows donors to claim charitable deductions for gifts of cash of up to 50 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). On the other hand, on gifts of property, like real estate or securities, you may claim immediate deductions up to only 30 percent of AGI. While these more involved gifts may provide additional tax incentives, as well as deductions in the five years following the gift, cash gifts often offer the most substantial immediate tax relief.
With most charities, you may make
your cash gift outright or use it to fund a life-income
arrangement, like an annuity or charitable remainder
trust. You may designate a cash gift to benefit
a charity's general operating budget, a special project or endowment fund. However you give it or designate it, cash is generally a charity's favorite gift.
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