Giving at Year's End
As the year ends many of us reflect upon our long range estate and financial plans. Life insurance policies, wills, retirement accounts and other planning vehicles are great ways to plan for our future and the future of our family. We ask you to consider SOS Children's Villages in your planning. Recent tax laws allow you to reduce your estate and gift taxes by making charitable gifts.
SOS Children's Villages – USA also graciously accepts gifts of property such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other appreciated assets that have increased in value since the acquisition date. If you donate these assets, you can generally deduct the entire amount, original price and appreciated value, as long as you have held them for one year or more.
Giving through Your Will
Your will can be a way to make thoughtful gifts, in addition to being one of the simplest methods to distribute your estate. By remembering SOS Children's Villages – USA in your will, you can continue to support our work beyond your lifetime. Be sure to use the correct legal name and Federal Tax ID in your document: SOS Children’s Villages-USA, Inc., Federal ID # 13-6188433.
Giving Securities
More and more people are giving stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Because of tax considerations, you can often give appreciated assets, and enjoy the tax deduction, rather than paying capital gains tax.
Giving through Retirement Plans
You may find that you can make the largest gift of your life from “what’s left” in your retirement account or pension plan. This allows you to provide for your retirement first, then support charities, like SOS Children's Villages – USA, that you’ve cared about during your lifetime.
Giving through Life Insurance
People often have life insurance policies they no longer need. Policies taken out to protect mortgages which have since been paid or educational plans that have been completed, for example make excellent gifts. Help assure that we can continue to give orphaned and abandoned children permanent, loving homes and prepare them for independent lives with your lasting gift of a bequest, annuity, or other legacy contribution to SOS Children's Villages – USA.
Giving through a Life Income Gift
Family obligations and the need to provide for retirement, coupled with the high cost of living, make it difficult for many people to consider substantial charitable gifts now. But there is a way to have the satisfaction of making a meaningful lifetime gift without sacrifice. In fact, you can get current income tax and financial benefits. It is called a life income gift. You irrevocably transfer some assets to SOS Children’s Villages-USA now, and in return, you (and a survivor, if you wish) receive income for life. As a result, the assets are used to carry out our mission.
By making a life income gift to SOS Children’s Villages-USA, you will receive the following benefits, in addition to the pleasure of knowing the good work your gift will do. The benefits include:
- A charitable deduction in the year you make the gift for the present value of our right to eventually receive the assets.
- Your effective yield is increased by substantial income tax savings.
- Income can be taxed more favorably in some plans.
- Your probate and estate administration costs may be reduced.
The most common income life gift is the Charitable Gift Annuity. Your financial advisor or SOS-USA can assist you with determining which life income gift best suits your situation.
Giving through an IRA Rollover
The IRA charitable rollover permitted our friends over age 70½ to rollover tax-free from their IRA to charity up to $100,000 per year. This excellent gift plan was used by many IRA owners in 2006 and 2007.
Extending the IRA charitable rollover to 2008 requires action by Congress. The IRA charitable rollover for 2008 was passed by the House in November of 2007, but not by the Senate. As a result, it expired December 31, 2007. There are 30 tax benefits (extenders) like the IRA rollover that must be passed each year by Congress. All existing extender tax provisions have been passed each year for the past decade. It is very likely that Congress will pass the IRA charitable rollover and the other extenders in 2008.
So we ask that you continue to plan for a potential IRA charitable rollover in the fall of 2008.
Help us build the foundation today to sustain SOS Children’s Villages into the future. Please contact Mr. Mark Neidig, Chief Development Officer by phone at (202) 470-5171 or by email at mneidig@sos-usa.org to find out how you can make a planned or legacy gift.