Akron Life November 2023

PHILANTHROPY

Why Choose It: You can choose to gift through an IRA because of the tax benefits, and it isn’t the best asset to leave to your children. If you keep the money from your required minimum distribution, it counts as income and will cost you or your bene ficiary income taxes. If you donate it, up to a $100,000 donation will be tax-free. “They don’t want to get that income tax level,” says Tracy Burt, the vice president of marketing and communica tions at Akron Community Foundation. “By just transferring it directly to a charity, they’re going to save on the cost-benefit and make a much larger gift than they would probably be able to just writing a check.” Stocks What the Gift is: Gifting stocks can allow you to donate to charity in a way that is easy and won’t put a dent in your bank account like a cash donation would. “You can give appreciated and depreciated stock to charity,” Burt says. “It helps you give more significant gifts while you’re living.” Why Choose It: When gifting a stock, you can receive a deduc tion for the fair market value and also avoid capital gains taxes, which are taxes on the profits of stocks when they’re sold. “A lot of people have stocks that have greatly appreciated in value since when they purchased them. And so they’re going to be a capital gains issue,” Lederer says. “There’s a tremendous tax advantage to gifting stock. … Gifting the stock is a really great opportunity for them to give charitably without even blinking.” akroncf.org

Life Insurance What the Gift is: To give through a life insurance policy, you can transfer ownership of an existing policy to a charity, get a new policy and make a charity the owner, designate a charity as a beneficiary or donate a paid-up policy. Why Choose It: Benefits of this kind of gift include tax advan tages. By donating, you can receive a tax deduction for the annual premium payments or a tax deduction equal to the cash value of the policy. This is also a way to get started on planned giving while you’re still alive. If you’re young and healthy, you might qualify for a new policy and can name Akron Community Foundation as the owner and beneficiary, and the gift can go into a donor-advised fund in which your loved ones are named as successor advisers or to a designated fund where the beneficiaries are named up front. “One of the greatest things about Akron Community Foundation is it combines what they can do while they’re living and then extend into what happens to their money after they pass,” Lederer says. “There’s this legacy of giving.” Qualified Charitable Distribution What the Gift is: If you’re 73 or older, you have to make a required minimum distribution out of your individual retirement account before Dec. 31, and one way to do that is through a qualified charitable distribution.

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NOVEMBER 2023 | akronlife.com