Four Great Ways to Make an Impactful Gift to Outdoor Lab
1. Donating Your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)
If you have an IRA and are over the age of 72, you are probably required to take a minimum distribution from that account each year. You may have an option that will help Outdoor Lab Foundation as well as potentially help you avoid the taxes on those distributions. The IRS offers an option called a “qualified charitable distribution” that essentially sends your required minimum distribution (RMD) straight to a qualified charity, such as Outdoor Lab Foundation.
If you have an RMD on your own account (or an inherited account) and you do not need the funds, donating to Outdoor Lab Foundation is a great option. Your required withdrawal will be included in your taxable income and cannot be rolled into other tax-deferred accounts. However, donating your RMD is a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) and will not be taxed up to $100,000. Tax benefits aside, earmarking this income for Outdoor Lab is a great way to expand your giving to support this wonderful rite of passage.
As always, consult a tax or financial professional about your specific situation. The following is information from the IRS website that will also help guide you through the decision to contribute to Outdoor Lab Foundation with your required minimum distribution.
2. Charitable Bequest
For most people, a charitable bequest through a will or living trust can be a great way to create a legacy gift for Outdoor Lab. The future is always unknowable. For this reason, giving through your will makes sense—it preserves your full control over your assets for the rest of your life.
To establish a bequest, you would update (or establish) your will or living trust today. Doing so would create the instruction for your gift, but nothing happens until later, when your estate is settled. In the meantime, if an unforeseen need arises—your assets are there for you. And if everything goes as you’ve planned, a beautiful gift will one day support students at Outdoor Lab.
Bequests are highly flexible, allowing you to determine right balance between your loved ones and friends, and Outdoor Lab. You have total control with your planning. And if you already have a will or living trust in place, it’s easy update your plans. You would contact your attorney to explain your wishes.
Please let us know if you have already established Outdoor Lab Foundation as a beneficiary in your will. Email Kaelib.TeeGarden@outdoorlabfoundation.org for more information or learn more here.
3. Beneficiary Designation of Your Retirement Account
You may not know it, but you can designate Outdoor Lab Foundation as the beneficiary of your 401(k) account (and any other assets you own!). There are many categories of assets that have beneficiary designations that you could support Outdoor Lab through. Life insurance and annuities have beneficiary designations. As do pension plans including your pension plan at your office, your 401k plan and IRAs typically have a beneficiary designation.
It’s a meaningful, effective way to create a lasting legacy, both for yourself and for Outdoor Lab. Email Kaelib.TeeGarden@outdoorlabfoundation.org for more information or learn more here.
4. Gift of Stock or Appreciated Assets
Appreciated securities or mutual fund shares you’ve owned for more than one year are excellent charitable gifts. Each stock gift we handle strengthens our programmatic work while providing tax benefits for supporters.
Donating stock or securities offer numerous benefits:
- A federal income charitable contribution tax deduction based on the stock’s fair market value on the date of the gift (up to 30% of your adjusted gross income) if the stock was owned for more than one year;
- Carryover of the deduction for up to five additional years if the fair market value of the gift is more than 30% of your adjusted gross income; and
- Avoidance of capital gains tax that is due when you sell appreciated stock.
Note: Stock owned for one year or less is considered a short-term asset and usually won’t produce attractive tax benefits.
We recommend that you consult with your attorney or tax advisor about the various tax benefits and restrictions that may apply to your specific situation. We are available to you and your advisors to answer questions or help arrange a planned gift to Outdoor Lab Foundation.
Please fill out this form if you are interested in learning more about the benefits of gifts of stock.
