View from HQ
Joyce Hager Executive Director
Maybe the following information can help you next year.
Another tax season has come and gone. Did you have to pay Uncle Sam?
Let me introduce some opportunities for you to give to your organization and provide you with a tax benefit.
- Gifts of cash: The majority of the gifts to the Academy of Model Aeronautics, Inc. are in the form of cash. An unrestricted gift for the greatest needs of the Academy is of particular benefit, but the donor may designate gifts for specific purposes.
- Gifts of securities: Gifts of appreciated securities can provide special tax advantages. Capital gains tax may be avoided completely, and the fair market value of the stock may be claimed as a charitable deduction on your income tax return—up to 30% of your adjusted gross income, for those who itemize.
The simplest way to make a gift of stock is to instruct your broker to transfer it to the Academy. The broker should be asked to contact the Academy’s office to determine whether the stock will be held or sold.
An alternative, if you have the certificates in your possession, is to send them by registered mail, unsigned, to the Academy. In a separately mailed envelope, send a stock power form signed by you in the presence of your broker or banker.
Instructing your agent to reissue the stock in our name often causes a delay. This can be a problem when a year-end gift is involved since the delay could result in a different valuation than intended.
- Memorial and honor gifts: Gifts to remember or honor a relative, friend, or fellow club member may be designated for specific purposes or made to the general fund. Acknowledgment will be made to the family of the deceased as appropriate.
- Matching gifts: Some of our friends are able to increase their gifts to the Academy through their employers’ matching gift programs. If your employer has such a program, your gift may be multiplied once, twice, or even three times. Usually the corporation’s personnel department can provide information about a matching gift program and forms with contributions.
- Gifts of insurance: Gifts of homes, farms, and other real property can receive the same tax treatment as gifts of securities: no capital gains tax plus a tax deduction equal to fair market value. The Academy will normally accept gifts of real estate if there are no restrictions placed on selling the property.
- Estate and planned gifts: While outright gifts provide valuable support for current programs, estate giving provides substantial support for future programs. This form of giving is particularly suited to those desiring to make larger gifts through their estates rather than during their lifetimes. The allowable estate tax deduction for charitable gifts remains unlimited under the tax laws.
- Wills: The most frequent form of an estate gift to the Academy is a specific bequest in a will. Important tax savings can result from this type of contribution since such bequests qualify for an estate tax charitable deduction. The drafting of your will should be arranged with your attorney. Academy representatives are available upon request to confer with you and your attorney in drafting the appropriate bequest clauses. The following is a simple form for an outright bequest.
“I give, devise, and bequeath to the Academy of Model Aeronautics, Inc., a charitable corporation located in Muncie, Indiana, the sum of ___ dollars [or other personal or real property appropriately described] to be used as it shall deem advisable to best promote the organization’s objectives.”
- Gifts in trust: Benefactors who wish to receive income during their lives while providing a significant gift should consider establishment of a charitable remainder annuity trust or a charitable remainder unitrust. Under this approach, cash or securities are transferred to the Academy in exchange for our commitment to the donor to make payments for his or her lifetime or that of another designated individual.
- Life Memberships: To purchase a Life Membership in the amount of $1,500, also tax deductible, contact Colleen Pierce, membership supervisor, by telephone, mail, or E-mail at [email protected].
- Walk of Fame: The Academy is offering the opportunity to purchase a brick that will be placed in front of the new administration building. The individual bricks cost $100, $500, or $1,000. Information can be found on our Web site, www.modelaircraft.org, or feel free to call me.
The first 250 bricks purchased have been placed in the new walk, and it looks great! Wouldn’t you like to see your name there? This could be a good gift for that person who has everything.
Happy flying,
Joyce Hager Executive Director [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
