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Ignite Rural Philanthropy – Grant Feature

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The Dick and Dorothy Miller Hands-Up Grant is a Godsend for the recipients of this fund. This funding is dedicated to keeping families with children from becoming homeless. The families helped have been single mothers with children; single fathers with children; intact families; grandparents who are, unexpectedly, raising grandchildren.

Last summer, a young woman, (call her Sara) working full-time at a local assisted living facility, contacted BHI looking for financial assistance. This is a hardworking single mother of a school aged boy. Sara’s cousin needed to attend an inpatient drug treatment program and was raising two boys of her own. Sara offered to take in her cousin’s boys while the cousin attended the treatment program. Sara did not realize how much more expensive it would be to care for the extra children. By the time she reached out to BHI, she had already maximized advances from her employer. She had managed to keep her utilities paid, but was behind on her rent. Her dedication to her extended family was close to causing her and her son to be evicted from their home of nine years.

Using the Dick and Dorothy Miller Hands-Up Grant, BHI paid Sara’s arrears in rent and one more month rent. This allowed her to stay caught up with utilities and continue to care for her cousin’s children. This young woman had never asked for help before this incident and has not asked for financial assistance since. She works hard, budgets her income, and cares for her family and those she serves at her place of employment.

The Miller’s set up this fund to help people like Sara. People who are working diligently to care for their families, then a hardship causes them to be strapped financially. The kindness of the purpose of this grant is overwhelming when you hear the sigh of relief from the recipients. Recipients, like Sara, who feel both shame for asking and blessed for receiving.

Ignite Rural Philanthropy – H4C

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Marion County is a rural community in central Kansas that is home to roughly 11,800 individuals. Of these individuals, there are approximately 700 residents under six years of age (Child Care Aware of Kansas). The County has identified the top three challenges residents face as the following: child care, housing, and workforce.

The Hillsboro Community Child Care Center (H4C) Board has been addressing the child care crisis in Marion County, Kansas since 2019. It was initially presented as a workforce issue due to the lack of available child care for employees. According to Child Care Aware of Kansas, Marion County is only meeting 40% of the demand for child care. Within the USD 410 School District, there is one in-home provider and one child care center that offer a combined total of two infant spots. The current child care center wishes to merge with Hillsboro Community Child Care Center upon opening.

The H4C Board conducted a Community Needs Assessment in partnership with K-State Research and Extension in July of 2021. The Board reported the following findings from the Community Needs Assessment: need for infant care, weekday care for birth to five years, and school age care. In addition, the Board reported feedback indicating the lack of child care as a workforce issue, “Many (families) are not able to work or have moved from the community to find available child care elsewhere.” In addition, the feedback indicated the “Lack of child care a deterrent to new young families looking to move into the USD 410 School District.”

Upon reviewing the findings from the Community Needs Assessment, H4C began to devise a plan that would include establishing a child care center for up to 99 children birth through 5 years of age. In January of 2022, the plan began to come to life as H4C was gifted a building from Trinity Mennonite Church with the intent to establish a child care center. In addition to the child care center, the facility would include office space for community entities that support families and youth.

H4C’s short-term goal is to renovate the facility into a child care center. The child care center would not only decrease the need for child care in the USD 410 School District, but across Marion County as a whole. The cost for the renovation is estimated to be over $3 Million.

When looking at the long-term outcomes of establishing a child care facility, up to 99 children would have the opportunity to be engaged in high quality early learning. In addition, the availability of child care could lead to an increase in economic development as more families are able to reside in the community. In turn, this would allow for more families to become invested in the workforce. Overall, the establishment of a child care center in Marion County would benefit not only the families seeking care but the County as a whole.

To date, the H4C board has raised roughly 75% of the total estimated cost for renovation. Over $1.2 million of said funds have been provided by the local community through private donations. The remaining funds have been raised through extramural funding sources including: Child Care Capacity Accelerator Grant from the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, Community Development Block Grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce, and the Child Care Community Partnership Grant through Child Care Aware of Kansas.

The Hillsboro Community Child Care Center (H4C) has truly been a community lead initiative. The need for child care was brought the City of Hillsboro’s attention by the businesses and industries within the community. The understanding and value of child care has only grown since that initial meeting in 2019. Over the past five years, the work has shifted and grown from a group of 15 to 20 passionate community members, to a steering committee, to an official 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit governing board. The H4C Board represents various sectors of our community including: Civic, Education, Public Health, Religious, Business, Parent Representative, Hillsboro Community Foundation, and a Child Care Provider.

The H4C Board has scheduled bi-monthly meetings to ensure progress is being made on the initiative. H4C has hired a General Contractor and is excited to begin renovations this Summer. The renovation is expected to be completed by Spring of 2025.

Ignite Rural Philanthropy – Slate Creek

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Slate Creek Elementary School in Newton is home to the severely multiply disabled (SMD) classroom for the entire Harvey County Special Education Cooperative. SMD students from the cities of Newton, Hesston, and Halstead attend school here from kindergarten through 6th grade. Many of Slate Creek’s SMD students use mobility devices, such as wheelchairs and walkers, and the school’s playground offered them no opportunity to be included in outdoor play with their peers.

This project first began in 2021 when a group of students noticed the problem and began looking for ways to include their friends on the playground. Principal Tenae Alfaro brought a fundraising challenge to the rest of the students and staff – without any promise of trinkets or prizes, the students raised over $20,000, just because they knew ALL kids should be able to play together.

In 2023, parent volunteers Joanna Bjerum, Erin McDaniel, and Sara Rickard from Slate Creek’s PTO, and USD 373 Communications Director Carly Stavola joined Tenae to ramp up the fundraising campaign. We partnered with Newton Community Foundation an affiliate of Central Kansas Community Foundation and established the All Together Now fund to receive donations and grant funding. We then added community representative Chris Conrade, president of Conrade Insurance, to the team, and he connected us with Cunningham Recreation, one of the nation’s leading park, recreation, and playground equipment suppliers.

As we told our story, generous donations started rolling in from amazing organizations like Northview Developmental Services Endowment Foundation, Asbury Park Foundation, Sunderland Foundation, Patterson Family Foundation, NMC Health, Bunting, and many more. The outpouring of support was remarkable.

This generosity allowed us to dream even bigger and pursue a larger playground designed around the 7 Principles of Inclusive Play. It will be the only National Demonstration Site inclusive playground in the entire region. These evidence-based principles move beyond minimum accessibility guidelines to make every aspect of the playground usable for all children to the greatest extent possible. It will include smooth, spongy surfacing to ensure accessibility, ramps to play decks to accommodate mobility devices and those with climbing difficulties, adequate shading to keep people out playing longer, communication panels, cozy spots that help those quick to become overwhelmed or on the Autism spectrum, sensory-rich equipment that will benefit all children’s development, and equipment designed for children of all abilities.

When school is not in session, the playground will be open to the whole community. This playground will open up outdoor play not only for children with mobility differences, but also for parents, grandparents and caregivers. We anticipate it will quickly become a destination play space, attracting people from all over the region.

Having the opportunity to be included regardless of ability is a huge social and quality-of-life issue for children who have differing mobility needs. Numerous researchers have found play is a critical part of child development and is integral to the school environment for both social- emotional and academic development.

Commitment to these principles is what helped our small but dedicated group to raise $700,000 in 2023, and our playground is now under construction. We have all envisioned what our opening day will look like in August 2024.

From our first humble school fundraiser, with kids bringing in their own piggy banks, to our final major donations, this project has been a labor of love. To our supporters, cheerleaders and generous donors, we can’t thank you enough. You have helped us build something magical – a place where ALL children can play together. Caring for one another and striving for equal access to play and inclusion have driven this campaign, whose foundation was laid by the 5- to 10-year-olds of Slate Creek.

Donor Connection: August.2024

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Making a move, the kitchen sink, and getting more out of your giving

Greetings from the community foundation!

We hope summer is treating you well! If you’re already working with the community foundation to organize your giving and make an impact, thank you! If you have not yet established your donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation, we look forward to working together to explore the best options for you and your family.

It’s our pleasure to keep you up-to-date on issues and ideas that can help you make the most of your philanthropy. In this issue, we’re covering three strategies to help meet tax objectives, address community needs, and achieve your expectations for administrative simplicity.

–Unfortunately, many people (as well as their attorneys, accountants, and even financial advisors) are not aware that a donor-advised fund established at the community foundation is in most cases a far better fit for their clients than a donor-advised fund set up at a national financial institution. The community foundation offers much broader services, more personal attention, and deeper connections to the nonprofits whose work is essential to effecting positive community change.

–If you’re planning to leave your residence to your children in your estate plan, you might reconsider because they may not want it! The team at the community foundation can help you evaluate the various options for giving the family home to charity. You might be surprised by the possibilities.

–Building good habits is important in many areas of your life, and charitable giving is no exception. The community foundation is happy to offer tips and suggestions to make your philanthropic endeavors easier and more satisfying, which in turn makes it more fun to add regular giving into your routine.

As always, it is our pleasure to work with you as you fulfill your charitable intentions. Every day, we are inspired by the generosity of our donors and fund holders. Thank you.

–Your community foundation

This may be your best move yet! 

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If you’ve already established a donor-advised fund at the community foundation, you can understand why it’s become such a popular tool to organize your family’s giving and serve as a springboard for so many other ways to make a difference in our region.

Recently, we’ve talked with a lot of donors who work with the community foundation in a variety of ways, such as regularly contributing to a favorite organization’s endowment fund, supporting the community foundation’s operating endowment, making distributions from an IRA to a designated fund, or attending community foundation events to rally around important community priorities. Interestingly, we are discovering that some of these donors also have established a donor-advised fund at a national financial institution and in many cases did not realize that they could have set up their donor-advised fund at the community foundation.

It’s time to set the record straight!

For starters, the community foundation offers donor-advised fund holders the same tax and administrative benefits as a national financial institution, including:

  • Online access to the donor-advised fund to view balances, contributions, and grants
  • Simple process for requesting grants to favorite charities
  • Streamlined tax reporting, often represented by just one letter to provide to an accountant at tax time, even when the donor-advised fund is used to support dozens of individual charities throughout the year
  • All back-office administration, tax receipts, recordkeeping, and other requirements for the donor-advised fund’s 501(c)(3) status
  • Favorable tax-deductibility of contributions to the fund

Unlike standard national financial institutions’ donor-advised funds, though, the community foundation offers high-level, customized services to its donor-advised fund holders, including:

  • Concierge-level service by knowledgeable staff to structure estate gifts to charities and accept gifts of appreciated stock or complex assets such as real estate or closely-held stock
  • In-house experts who have a finger on the pulse of community needs, the strengths of specific nonprofits, and how to structure grant making for the highest possible community benefit
  • Opportunities to collaborate with other donors who care about similar issues and forums to tap into local and national subject matter experts
  • Opportunities to go deep into specific issue areas, both through education and hands-on involvement
  • Assistance with structuring and measuring the impact of grants
  • Family philanthropy and corporate giving services to foster a well-rounded, holistic approach to philanthropy
  • Administrative fees that are reinvested into the community foundation, itself a nonprofit, to help support operations, grow its mission, and help even more donors support the causes they care about
  • Hands-on assistance from local experts who understand both local and distant needs, and welcome the opportunity to research and identify causes aligned with donors’ goals and priorities
  • Staff members who live in the community they serve and often personally know the leaders and staff of grantee organizations and regularly hear about their needs first-hand

If you’ve established a donor-advised fund at a national financial institution, we’d love to chat about moving it over to the community foundation. At the community foundation, your hard-earned assets receive the attention they deserve as you and your family strive to make a difference in the causes you care about the most.

Not even the kitchen sink: Giving your house to charity is worth exploring

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August is national Make-A-Will month and a great time to check in on key components of your estate plan. The reality, as we know, is that all property remaining at death has to go somewhere. And as heartbreaking as it may be for parents of grown children, it’s usually a mistake to assume that you should automatically leave the family home to children in your will or trust. Indeed, your children may not be nearly as attached to your things as you are, and the reality is that they may not want any of them–including the house.

But don’t let this get you down. When one door closes, another door opens. It may be time to explore giving your personal residence to charity. The community foundation can help!

Reach out anytime to discuss the possibilities with the community foundation team. As we begin the conversation, we’ll evaluate which type of gift format might be a good fit for your situation. For example:

  • You can certainly deed your house to the community foundation outright. This might be a solid option if you are planning to sell the house in the near future to downsize or move to a retirement community. This is an especially good option if you do not need to rely on the sale proceeds to fund either your next move or your ongoing living expenses. And, if the total value of all your assets is in a range where you could be subject to estate tax, transferring your house to the community foundation takes the home’s value out of your estate, tax free, because of the charitable deduction. The community foundation will likely list the property shortly after you make the gift. Then, the proceeds from the sale will flow into your donor-advised or other type of fund to help you fulfill your charitable goals.
  • If you’re hoping to get a little money from the sale of your residence, but you don’t need the full amount of its value, you can explore what’s known as a “bargain sale.” This transaction allows you to sell the property to the community foundation at a price below market value, allowing you to receive some income while still making a charitable contribution.
  • Another option is to transfer your residence using a “charitable remainder trust.” You’d transfer title to the property to the trust, and the trust would provide you with income for the rest of your life (or a term of years). Any remaining value would flow to your fund at the community foundation to support the causes you care about. You’d also be eligible for an up front income tax deduction based on the present value of the amount projected to pass to your charitable fund in the future.

If you’re interested in giving your residence to your fund at the community foundation, our team will work closely with you and your advisors to carefully evaluate the opportunities and walk through all of the steps in the process. For example, it’s important to look at factors such as valuation (which must be documented with a qualified appraisal), whether there’s a mortgage on the property that would make a gift more challenging, how long you’ve held the property and your cost basis, and ensuring that a sale is not already formally or informally in the works.

You’ve spent years making your house a home. We look forward to exploring the possibilities for extending the joy your personal residence brings to you and your family by transforming the property into a source for community benefit.

Inspiring good habits: Tips for better giving

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The team at the community foundation is committed to sharing tips and insights that can help you get more satisfaction from your charitable giving and in turn make an even bigger difference in the causes you care about.

Here are three recommendations:

Strive for energetic effectiveness. Whether a gift to charity is $25, $2500, or $25 million, it’s cause for celebration. Philanthropic support of all shapes and sizes can make a difference. What’s even better, though, is to apply discipline to those dollars so that the strategy matches the enthusiasm. Certainly media-based philanthropy efforts are effective to raise the overall awareness about charitable giving, but awareness is just the beginning. At the community foundation, our team is dedicated to helping you apply your charitable passions to make a meaningful impact, especially by helping you address root causes with your giving, above and beyond providing immediate relief to those in need.

Give from the heart. A recent Rolling Stone article illustrates how philanthropy can shape leaders by instilling values of empathy and responsibility. The author shares a heartwarming perspective based on participating in charitable activities as a child to rally around a sister with Down Syndrome. This makes such an important point: When your philanthropic efforts mean a lot to you, you’re more likely to stay engaged for the long term, resulting in significant cumulative community return on your personal investments. It’s really inspiring to see charitable individuals view their contributions as part of their personal and professional development.

Get your kids involved. The community foundation is always striving to offer ways for fund holders to involve their children and grandchildren in charitable giving. This is really important in light of the decline in charitable giving, especially among younger generations, which is becoming a significant concern. We encourage you to explore the factors behind this trend and reach out to the community foundation to discuss potential solutions and ways you can help.

Thank you for your commitment to philanthropy! If you’re already a fund holder, we are grateful that you’ve made the choice to organize your giving by working with the community foundation. If you’re considering getting started, we’d love the opportunity to work together.

The team at the community foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation. 

New Hire for Peabody Community Foundation

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Paige Barnes
Associate Director, Peabody CF

Paige was born and raised in Peabody, Kansas. She graduated from Peabody High School and received a degree in Mass Communications from Butler Community College.

She most recently served as the Social Services Director of Peabody Health and Rehab where she had many responsibilities including admissions and discharges, behavior management, facilitating resident council meetings and care conferences, and more. Paige also serves as a member of USD #398 school board and a highlight of her week is delivering meals on wheels for the senior center.

She has an immense love for children and seniors and is excited to learn more about the housing initiatives in Peabody to improve the community.

Paige currently resides in Peabody and enjoys spending time with her nieces. In her spare time, you can find her participating in all things outdoors including fishing, hunting, camping, and hiking or sitting on the porch enjoying the company of good friends.

2024 Scholarship Season a Success!

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What a successful scholarship season! CKCF and affiliates together granted $111,150 to 100 students from 58 competitive scholarship funds in the 2024 scholarship cycle. El Dorado Community Foundation had the largest amount of scholarships awarded at $28,200, and Halstead Community Foundation came in close behind, granting $21,900 and they also had the most open competitive scholarships this 2024 cycle and 16 scholarship recipients.

With the rising costs of education and other living expenses, scholarships are a vital component in educating the youth in our communities. It is not too late to speak with us about taking the first steps in establishing your own scholarship or adding your donation to an existing fund.

Did you know that scholarships & educational funds make up nearly 23% of funds held by CKCF? Your generosity makes a world of difference as you will see in the note below.

“My name is Quinn Houseman, I am a graduate of El Dorado High School, and I plan to major in Mechanical Engineering at Wichita State University in the fall. I am writing to express my heartfelt gratitude upon being selected as a recipient of the George Trimble Special Need Fund for the Fall 2024 semester. Your generous support is not only seen as a financial aid, but as inspiration and encouragement to further my studies. This scholarship has significantly eased my financial burden and has allowed me to explore the capabilities of my education. Thank you once again for your generosity and investment in my future. I am truly honored.”

Thank you!

Donor Connection – July.2024

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Tax laws up in the air, philanthropy personalities, and forward-worthy reading material

Hello from the community foundation!

In this issue, we’re covering topics that tend to be popular as we head into the second half of the year. The summer months are a great time to regroup with your family about your charitable giving plans and also ensure that you’re coordinating with your advisors to accomplish key estate and financial planning priorities before the year-end rush is upon us.

–Election years are interesting for many reasons! For philanthropists and their advisors, election years can be tricky because it’s impossible to predict what might happen with the tax laws. That’s certainly the case in 2024. The community foundation can help you and your advisors navigate various approaches to charitable strategies, even when the tax laws themselves are up in the air.

–Whether you’ve been involved in philanthropy for many years or you’re just starting out on your charitable giving journey, you’ve likely noticed that there are many, many ways to support the causes you love. The community foundation can help you evaluate various giving vehicles based on your own “charitable giving personality type.”

–The team at the community foundation wants to help you help your advisors stay up-to-date on legal and tax developments that might impact the charitable giving components in your estate and financial plan. We’re happy to offer tips and reading material to share with your attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors, and our team is always available to join a discussion.

Whether you’ve already established a donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation, arranged for a bequest to the community foundation, or are currently evaluating whether to work with the community foundation, we are here for you! Please reach out anytime to review your charitable plans. We’re here to help you make a difference in our region and support local nonprofits that are working every day to improve the quality of life for so many people. Thank you for the opportunity to work together!

–Angie Tatro, CKCF CEO

Up in the air: Charitable planning in a shifting tax landscape

It’s an election year, which means you may have more questions than answers as you work with your advisors to build out your financial and estate plans. In particular, the looming sunset of key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 has created a tremendous amount of ambiguity.

For many taxpayers, the potential sunset of the TCJA’s higher estate tax exemption is top of mind. Unless Congress intervenes, the exemption is set to fall after December 31, 2025 from roughly $27 million per couple to approximately $14 million per couple (depending on inflation adjustments).

No one has a crystal ball, and it is impossible at this point to know whether or when you should implement planning strategies to address potential changes in the law. Nevertheless, if you are among those who would be affected by the estate tax exemption’s precipitous drop, it’s important to know that charitable strategies can fit nicely into a gifting plan that would help offset the sunset’s impact.

If you’re a business owner, for example, you could explore launching a gifting program now to transfer shares of the business not only to your heirs to take advantage of the higher exemption, but also to a donor-advised or other fund at the community foundation. With these gifts, you could reduce the value of your taxable estate while also executing a business transition and philanthropy plan that aligns with your overall intentions regardless of the tax laws.

Along those lines, some families may decide to lean into annual exclusion gifts ($18,000 per gifting spouse per recipient in 2024) to family members and other individuals to reduce taxable estates without eating into the lifetime gift and estate tax exemptions.

If you’re considering ramping up your annual exclusion gifts, you might consider adopting a parallel strategy for charitable gifts. Gifts to charities are deductible for gift and estate tax purposes (as well as for income tax purposes) and therefore will also reduce the value of your taxable estate without using your exemption. Some philanthropists report that they like the idea of making annual exclusion gifts to family members, and, while they’re at it, making stock gifts of an equal amount into a donor-advised fund at the community foundation.

Given the uncertainty about what might happen with the estate tax exemption, some people are updating their estate plans to increase a bequest to a donor-advised or other fund at the community foundation. This would help blunt the impact of estate taxes, and the bequest can be adjusted during lifetime as planning goals and estate tax laws evolve.

The community foundation is here for you! Our team is happy to help you navigate the opportunities and pitfalls presented by potential changes in the tax law. It is our pleasure to work with you and your family to maximize your charitable goals.

Philanthropy: It’s not one size fits all

Charitable giving traditions are a big part of many peoples’ lives. The ways philanthropic values translate into action and behavior, however, vary widely from person to person. And that’s a good thing! When you align your charitable giving activities with your own personality and the ways you like to do good, you’ll enjoy it a lot more and as a result, you’ll be more likely to get even more involved with your favorite causes.

Indeed, your choice of the causes you support may be based on personal experiences or even how you view your character. You may also find that philanthropy fosters personal growth and self-discovery. Some people find that getting involved in the community creates opportunities for networking and building relationships based on shared values and goals.

That’s why it’s important to acknowledge that not everyone likes to “do good” in exactly the same way. To figure out what mix of charitable activities might best suit your personality, consider reflecting on whether you tend toward an ”investor,” “connector” or “activator” profile.

Here’s what it might look like to be an “investor” type of philanthropist:

  • You like to get involved in community activities where you can act independently, rather than scheduling dedicated time.
  • You may feel that you often have more money than time.
  • You’re happy to write a check or purchase a product that supports a cause.

If you tend toward the “connector” type, this may describe your preferences:

  • You like community activities where you can collaborate with friends and family.
  • You enjoy the opportunity to meet people who care about a variety of causes, not necessarily a specific charity.
  • You like attending charities’ fundraising events, and you might even regularly promote your favorite causes on social media.

If you’re an “activator” type, here’s what that could look like:

  • Your philanthropic passion lies with one or two specific causes.
  • You like the idea of playing a small part in “changing the world” and impacting a single issue that could potentially benefit society on a broad scale.
  • You might enjoy serving on charities’ boards of directors.

Whatever your personality type, the community foundation can help! Whether it’s setting up a donor-advised fund to organize your giving, working with you and your advisors to establish a legacy bequest, or getting your family and friends involved in site visits to favorite charities, we’re here for you!

Summer reading that’s worth a forward

Every week, the team at the community foundation works with a wide range of charitably-minded individuals and families who are either already working with the community foundation or are considering establishing a donor-advised or other type of fund to organize their giving. We also talk with attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors as they work alongside charitably-minded clients. Indeed, many advisors are telling us that they’re taking advantage of summer’s slower pace to get a jump on 2024 tax planning and estate plan updates.

As you work with your advisors over the next few months, be sure to let them know that the community foundation can serve as the hub of your family’s philanthropy by administering a wide range of charitable giving vehicles, including:

  • Donor-advised funds, which are frequently a better fit for your family than a private foundation
  • Field-of-interest funds and designated funds, which enable you to support specific causes and organizations and, if you are 70 ½ or older, can receive a tax-savvy “Qualified Charitable Distribution” from your IRA
  • Bequests and other legacy gifts to help ensure that the causes you’ve supported during your lifetime can continue to benefit from your generosity for years to come
  • Unrestricted gifts to support the community foundation’s work to grow philanthropy and improve the quality of life in our region across generations, especially as community needs evolve

Along these lines, some of you have requested that we provide a reading list to pass along to your advisors to help them stay up-to-date on legal and tax issues impacting charitable giving. Here are a few suggestions you could forward to your advisors:

  • For advisors working with clients who support higher education, it’s important to stay on top of the tax treatment of NIL collectives. The team at the community foundation is happy to talk with your advisors about what’s going on here and how they can follow best practices.
  • It’s becoming more and more popular for philanthropists to explore giving cryptocurrency to charitable causes. Encourage your advisors to reach out to the team at the community foundation as they encounter this issue with clients.
  • A focus on donor intent is especially important as cautionary tales emerge in case law. The community foundation is committed to helping advisors help their clients achieve charitable goals. Our knowledgeable staff and independent board of directors are dedicated to carrying out donors’ philanthropic wishes.

As always, please let us know if you’d like our team to be part of a conversation with your advisors. We welcome the opportunity to serve as the go-to charitable giving resource as you build a comprehensive financial and estate plan that includes philanthropy.

The team at the community foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation. 

Donor Connection – June.24

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Hello from the community foundation!

We can hardly believe the year is nearly halfway over. It’s been such a pleasure to talk with so many donors and fund holders about all the ways you are pursuing your charitable giving plans for 2024. We’re equally inspired by those of you who have reached out to learn more about getting involved with the community foundation by setting up a donor-advised fund, field-of-interest fund, endowment fund, or bequest to align with your charitable priorities.

In this issue, we’re covering a few topics that we think are especially appropriate for summertime.

–Midyear is a wonderful time to check in on a quick punch list of “need-to-know” charitable giving tips. We’ve selected six items that every charitably-minded person really ought to be aware of, whether for purposes of current giving or future giving. You can scan our list of six items in six minutes or less!

–Summer is a great time to dive into deeper reading, while at the same time take a big picture look at industries and issues. We’re doing just that–with philanthropy. Check out our recommendations for studies and articles about the global role of philanthropy and how it hits home through the work of the community foundation.

–It’s not summer without sports! Fittingly, we’re sharing three ways to look at philanthropy as a team effort and perhaps inspire you to add an even bigger dose of collaboration to your charitable giving efforts. Supporting the community, like many worthwhile activities, is better when it’s done together.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you and other donors and fund holders who care about our community and strive to invest in both present and future needs of our region. We are committed to growing philanthropic resources to improve the quality of life across generations.

With Gratitude,
Angie Tatro, CEO CKCF

Six for the summer: Mid-year reminders about charitable giving

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Welcome to summer! We’ve put together six tips to keep in mind as you plan your charitable giving for the coming months, years, and even decades. As always, the team at the community foundation is happy to be a resource!

Donate appreciated stock to your fund at the community foundation.

Yes, yes, we absolutely understand how easy it is to write a check when you want to boost your donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation. If you can remember to pause before you pull out your pen, though, it really does pay off to consider whether appreciated stock would be a better way to add to your charitable giving account. When you give shares of long-term appreciated stock, you can be eligible for a charitable tax deduction at the fair market value of the shares. Then, when the community foundation sells the shares and adds the proceeds to your fund, the fund–a 501(c)(3) charity–is not hit with capital gains tax. By contrast, if you were to sell those shares and give to your fund from the proceeds, you’d have a lot less cash to work with. Please reach out to the community foundation anytime to learn more about how easy it is to take advantage of this tax-savvy giving technique.

Plan ahead for your business exit.

If you own all or part of a private business, keep in mind that charitable giving can factor into your eventual exit strategy. You could be sitting on substantial unrealized capital gains if the business has grown a lot over time. Upon a sale, capital gains tax will be triggered, reducing the proceeds you get to keep. No capital gains tax will apply, however, to the sale of the portion of the business owned by your donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation. Plus, you can be eligible for a charitable income tax deduction in the year of the transfer based on the fair market value of the shares–not the cost basis, as would be the case if you’d transferred the shares to a private foundation. Keep in mind that a strategy like this only works with careful planning, so be sure to contact the community foundation team well in advance of setting a plan in motion. We are happy to work with you and your advisors to help achieve your charitable and financial goals.

Start paying attention now to the estate tax exemption sunset. 

The estate tax exemption–the total amount a taxpayer can leave to family and other individuals during their life and at death before the hefty federal gift and estate tax kicks in–is scheduled to drop, rather precipitously, after December 25, 2025. For 2024, the estate tax exemption is $13.61 million per individual, or $27.22 million per married couple, an increase over 2023 thanks to adjustments for inflation. Later this year, the IRS will issue inflation adjustments for 2025. For 2026, without legislation to prevent it, the exemption is scheduled to fall back to 2017 levels, adjusted for inflation, which would roughly total $7 million per person. That is quite a drop! This means a lot more people–maybe including you–could be subject to estate tax in the not-too-distant future. The team at the community foundation is happy to work with you and your advisors to explore how charitable giving techniques can help you avoid estate tax and leave a legacy for the community, especially if you start planning now.

If you can take advantage of the QCD, do it.

A Qualified Charitable Distribution (“QCD”) is a very smart way to support charitable causes. If you are over the age of 70 ½, you can direct up to $105,000 from your IRA to certain charities, including a field-of-interest, designated, unrestricted, or scholarship fund at the community foundation. If you’re subject to the rules for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), QCDs count toward those RMDs. Through a QCD, you avoid income tax on the funds distributed to charity. Our team can work with you and your advisors to go over the rules for QCDs and evaluate whether the QCD is a good fit for you.

Review your IRA beneficiary designations. 

As you review your assets and how they are titled, perhaps in connection with an annual financial and estate plan review, pay close attention to tax-deferred retirement plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs. Typically, you’ll name your spouse as the primary beneficiary of these accounts to provide income following your death or to comply with legal requirements. But as you and your advisors evaluate whom to name as a secondary beneficiary of these tax-deferred accounts, don’t automatically default to naming your children or your revocable trust. You and your advisors may determine that naming a charity, such as your fund at the community foundation, is by far the most tax-efficient and streamlined way to make gifts to your favorite causes upon your death and establish a philanthropic legacy. A bequest like this avoids not only estate tax, but also income tax on the retirement plan distributions. That’s why non-retirement fund assets may be better-suited to pass to children and grandchildren.

Embrace a holistic approach to philanthropy.

When you work with the community foundation, charitable giving is easy, flexible, and rewarding. As the hub of your charitable giving, the community foundation offers a wide range of fund types, services, and ways for you and your family to get involved with the community you love. Many of our fund holders use a donor-advised fund to organize annual giving to charities. We can also help you establish a designated or field-of-interest fund to complement the function of your donor-advised fund. A designated fund allows you to support a specific charity over the long term, while a field-of-interest fund focuses your support on a particular area of community need by leveraging the community foundation’s expertise. We’d also be honored to work with you and your advisors to structure a bequest to the community foundation in your estate plan to support important causes, as well as the community foundation’s work, beyond your lifetime. We are here to help you make the most of your philanthropic intentions, and it is an honor to work together.

Philanthropy snapshot: A global priority with local impact 

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Summertime can mean vacations, travel, a slower (or at least different) pace, and time to reflect. This year, our team is thinking quite a bit about the significant role of philanthropy across the world and how that widespread enthusiasm drives so much energy for charitable giving right here at home.

If you’re spending time this summer reflecting, you might enjoy digging into a few of the sources we found thought-provoking,

–We really like this post from “across the pond” that analyzes why people give and synthesizes a variety of research studies and articles. Altruism, ego, social dynamics, and FOMO are just a few of the reasons people are motivated to give to charity. For a broad look at the role of philanthropy across the globe, you can check out Indiana University’s research.

–Every June, Giving USA releases its annual statistics on the state of charitable giving. We are looking forward to the 2024 report and digging into the numbers from 2023. Last year’s report showed that while individual giving was down, major gifts were ticking up. We’re curious to see what’s changed!

–Some say context is everything, and that may be why we always enjoy going back to the Smithsonian’s Giving in America exhibit and online resources. Even in its semi-archived and “under construction” format, the site is captivating; every time we revisit the site, something different catches our eye. (This time, we were struck by the side-by-side images from 2014’s Ice Bucket Challenge and the collection box from the early 1800s. And by the way, how can nine years have gone by since the Ice Bucket Challenge?)

–Coming full circle back to our local community, we’d love to draw your attention to what’s going on this summer at the community foundation. View our calendar of events HERE.

As always, the community foundation is here for you! We are honored to work with you and your family as you support the causes in our region that are most important to you. You are making a difference!

Philanthropy: A team sport

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At first glance, you may think of charitable giving as mostly an individual act. Certainly, most of the time, the actual money or asset that constitutes the charitable donation comes from a single person, couple, or entity. Beyond that, though, it likely makes sense to think of charitable giving as a collaborative endeavor.

Here are three examples:

–Serving on the board of directors of a charitable organization is a rewarding activity for many people. And, many people complement their board service with financial support. Dialogue among board members, leveraging board members’ talents, and collective board oversight are important components of a well-run nonprofit organization. Charities are counting on board members’ objective voices in the boardroom, board members’ constructive questions, and the board’s dedication to ensuring that public trust in the charity is maintained.

–For many people, involving other family members in charitable giving is one of the most rewarding ways to instill philanthropic values and transfer these values across generations. Whether you’re teaching young children about the importance of helping people in need, or joining with siblings to develop a grant-making strategy for a family donor-advised fund at the community foundation, you’re experiencing the joy of working together to make a difference in the lives of others.

–Working with the community foundation is itself a collaborative activity. When you organize your giving through a donor-advised or other type of fund, you are working with multiple professionals on our team to help you plan your annual gifts, evaluate impact, structure tax-savvy contributions of appreciated stock, and so much more. Plus, the community foundation team often works alongside your attorney, accountant, and financial advisor to ensure that both your financial and community goals are top of mind.

Thank you for the opportunity to work together to make our region a better place for everyone, now and in the future. If you’re not yet working with the community foundation, we look forward to exploring the options! It would be an honor and pleasure to work alongside you and your family on your charitable giving journey.

The team at the community foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation. 

New Hire for Fredonia Area CF

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Kelly Azevedo
Fredonia Area Community Foundation,
Associate Director

Kelly Azevedo was born in Wichita and raised in California before moving to Fredonia in 2020. She holds a Bachelors in Business Management and Communications from Liberty University where she competed on the debate team. After ranking 4th nationally in her division for 3 years, Kelly transitioned to helping coach novice debaters and fell in love with teaching others how to succeed.

Kelly started her career in construction management and accounting working with firms around California where she lived to take care of aging grandparents. In 2009, she began working virtually for online businesses who needed structure and support but did not live locally.

For the past 15 years, Kelly has owned and managed a coaching and consulting business, working with hundreds of entrepreneurs from all over the world. Specializing in business systems, marketing and creating compelling stories, Kelly is excited to use her skills to share the message of the Community Foundation and grow its impact in Fredonia.

When she’s not working, Kelly is busy renovating her 120-year old home and training (or trying to!) her new dachshund puppy who loves Zoom calls and acting as the official office shredder of any paper that falls within his reach.

New Hire for Halstead CF

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Julienne Erwin
Halstead Community Foundation,
Associate Director

I’m excited to join the Central Kansas Community Foundation team as the Associate Director of the Halstead Community Foundation. With an MPA in non-profit management, I am passionate about serving in the non-profit sector. My volunteer experience includes volunteering at Children’s Home Society of Florida, North Florida Legal Services, city wide special events such as the Chef Sampler and Brewfest, 2-1-1 Big Bend, and as an AmeriCorp VISTA. A combined 8 years (volunteer and employment) at 2-1-1 Big Bend fueled my passion to help others and concreted my resolve to create positive change in my community and beyond. I recently relocated to Kansas to be closer to my immediate family and it is such a joy to begin serving the Halstead community. When you see my smiling face, please don’t hesitate to say hello. You never know what we might accomplish together!