AGAPE: Love From Above To Our Community Organizational Endowment Fund is part of the Central Susquehanna Community Foundation. Each calendar year, the Berwick Health and Wellness Fund matches the first $50,000 in Endowment contributions dollar for dollar (lifetime matching limitations may apply). Investments are managed by Smith Barney Money Managers.
A Planned Gift offers up the opportunity to leave a legacy and ensure that AGAPE will continue to provide services to low-income families throughout Columbia and Montour counties well into the future. Planned Giving programs provide future income to the nonprofit. There are many options for creating a planned gift, most are appropriate for estates of any size. Whether you would like to make an outright gift today, or if you would like to make a deferred gift that will help us in the future, your gift will make a difference for years to come.
Cash, usually in the form of a check, is an easy and convenient way for you to support AGAPE’s mission. Gifts of cash enable you as a donor to claim a current tax deduction up to 50% of your adjusted gross income in any one year when you itemize deductions, with the excess, if any, carried forward for an additional five years.
Gifts of appreciated securities offer important tax advantages, since their full fair market value is deductible as a charitable contribution up to 30% of your adjusted gross income each year when you itemize deductions. Life gifts of cash, deduction amounts that exceed the limit can be carried forward for up to five additional years. You do not have to pay federal or state capital gains taxes on the appreciated portion of the gift. After The CSC Foundation liquidates the securities, the full value of the gift is available to support AGAPE’s goals.
Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs) and Charitable Trusts can provide both an income and tax benefit, CGAs provide an annual annuity payment based upon the age of the donor(s). Charitable Trusts may be created to provide income to the donor, charity, or other beneficiary.
Naming the AGAPE: Love From Above To Our Community Organizational Endowment Fund in your will or living trust is a popular way to support the community. A charitable bequest can be a specific dollar amount, a percentage of your estate, or what remains after other bequests including those to family members are made. Or, your will can specify that your heirs will receive lifetime income from your estate, with the remainder going to AGAPE for charitable purposes. If you choose, the bequest can flow into a donor-advised fund for your children to carry on your family’s philanthropy.
For a gift through your estate, retirement plan assets are often the best to give because they are so heavily taxed if left to heirs. Income and estate taxes can easily consume over 65% of the account balance at death. By naming the AGAPE: Love From Above To Our Community Organizational Endowment Fund as the remainder beneficiary of these assets, you can leave a very efficient legacy.
For those whose need for life insurance has decreased, making a gift of an unneeded policy can be a convenient and effective way of meeting your charitable goals. When you transfer ownership of a cash value policy to AGAPE’s Endowment Fund, you become eligible for a charitable tax deduction based on its current value. A gift of life insurance can also be a part of your estate planning.
For more information on the many ways to invest in the future of AGAPE, please contact:
Eileen Chapman
Executive Director, AGAPE Love From Above To Our Community
570-317-2210 or execdirector@agape-pa.org.