Select the Right Charities for Your Donations

We all give something to charity, but how much of your donation does any good? Did you know that in some instances, 80% of your money goers to pay commissioned sales people that call you or to pay overhead of the charity with only 20% going to the people who need the money?

Now there’s a way to identify charities that put a high percentage of your donations to work with the people who need it. Visit www.guidestar.com. They have financial information on thousands of charities—national and local. This can help you identify those charities which are being financially efficient.

If you want to get greater personal tax benefit from your donations, here are some ideas:

• You can donate your house to a charity at death, but if you do it correctly, get a tax deduction today so that you pay a lot less income taxes
• You can place stocks or real estate in a charitable trust and still get the income and gains, yet pay no capital gains tax on the sale of those assets)
• You can have your own foundation (and get deductions for any assets donated) so that you can decide exactly where to place money in your community

For more information on any of these options, give us a call or check off on the attached coupon.