Ways to Give
When you make a gift to the Kaskaskia College Foundation, you play a pivotal role in helping us continue the college’s tradition of excellence. Through your generous donation, you can help ensure a more promising future, improve our community, and enhance the lives of our students. Gifts of all sizes are appreciated and can be made in a number of ways.
Gifts of Cash
Gifts of cash usually take the form of currency, money orders, or checks made payable to the Kaskaskia College Foundation.
Gifts Pledged Over Time
A pledge enables a donor to consider a more significant gift than may have been possible with a one-time donation. Pledged gifts allow the donor to spread payments over a period of time.
Foundation Scholarships
Establishing a scholarship through the Kaskaskia College Foundation is your opportunity to recognize your organization or family's commitment to education or remember or honor someone special in your life. Currently, there are two types of scholarships offered through the Foundation:
1. Endowed Scholarships - Endowed scholarships are established to provide lasting scholarship opportunities for Kaskaskia College students.
2. Annual Scholarships - An Annual Scholarship may be established for a minimum award of $500.
Annual Fund
The mission of the Annual Fund is to build participation through yearly gifts. Gifts to the Annual Fund support areas that will have the most significant impact on the institution and bring immediate benefits to the College and our students.
Matching Gifts
Matching Gift Programs are designed to be how companies support employee charitable giving by matching donations their employees make to not-for-profit organizations such as the Kaskaskia College Foundation. Please check with your employer to see if they offer this giving opportunity. Matching gifts may double or even triple your contribution to the College.
Memorial and Tribute Gifts
Making a gift to the Kaskaskia College Foundation in honor or memory of a family member, mentor, colleague, or friend is a thoughtful way to remember someone special and create a living legacy.
In-Kind Gifts
In-kind contributions consist of non-monetary goods or services from corporations, individuals, or other foundations. An in-kind contribution may consist of either a tangible asset or an expenditure incurred directly by the contributor. In-kind gifts are only accepted if they support current or future academic programs or technology. Examples of in-kind donations are gifts of equipment such as computer hardware, software, laboratory instrumentation, use of facilities, or professional services and expertise in the form of staff time. The value of an in-kind donation is based on market value as determined by appropriate documentation.
Planned Giving
The Kaskaskia College Planned Giving Program allows individuals to ensure the financial well-being of Kaskaskia College by making gifts that provide a maximum benefit for the College while decreasing the income tax, estate, and gift tax burdens upon their estates and descendants. With the advice of your tax and legal advisors, Kaskaskia College can assist you in making a difference in the future while you gain the greatest benefits today.
The various types of Planned Giving Opportunities are listed below offered through the Kaskaskia College Foundation. You may plan now for future gifts or take advantage of one of several opportunities for planning current gifts:
Future Gifts
1. Current Will – A bequest to the Kaskaskia College Foundation through your will is the most straightforward plan you can make. It may be for any amount of money. The gift will help provide financial assistance to students in need or for other purposes you may specify, such as facilities, technology, equipment, etc. A bequest permits you to make a substantial gift to the Kaskaskia College Foundation without decreasing the assets available to you during your lifetime.
2. Life Insurance – Through a gift of life insurance, you may make a substantial future gift to the Kaskaskia College Foundation at an affordable cost. There are several ways to give a gift of life insurance:
- If you have a life insurance policy you no longer need, you may contribute that policy to the Kaskaskia College Foundation by naming the Foundation as the policy owner and beneficiary. You receive an immediate charitable income tax deduction equal to the policy's cash value. If you give the Foundation money to pay future premium payments, those cash donations are also eligible for a charitable income tax deduction. At the time of death, the life insurance proceeds are not included in your estate for federal estate tax purposes.
- You may purchase a new insurance policy on your life and name the Kaskaskia College Foundation as owner and beneficiary, and arrange to make cash donations to the Foundation for premium payment purposes. Those cash donations to the Kaskaskia College Foundation for premium payments are then deductible on your income tax return. At the time of death, the life insurance proceeds are not included in your estate for federal estate tax purposes.
- You may also name the Kaskaskia College Foundation as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy you continue to own. In this instance, there is no charitable income tax deduction available, but the policy proceeds at your death will not be included in your estate for federal estate tax purposes.
Current Gifts
1. Charitable Remainder Trust – This is the most common type of charitable trust. You set up a trust and transfer it to the Kaskaskia College Foundation. The Foundation serves as a trustee of the trust and manages or invests the property so it will produce income for you. The Foundation pays you (or someone you name) a portion of the revenue generated by the trust property for a pre-determined number of years, as stated in the trust document. Upon your death or the end of the pre-determined period of time, the property in the trust is donated to the Kaskaskia College Foundation. You may qualify for an income tax deduction for the value of your gift, spread over five years. When the Kaskaskia College Foundation eventually receives the trust property, it is no longer considered part of your estate, so it is not subject to federal estate tax. In addition, you would not have to pay a capital gains tax if/when the Foundation sells your property since charitable organizations are not subject to that type of tax.
2. Real Estate – The deed to a personal residence (house, condominium, vacation home, or farm) or land may be given to the Kaskaskia College Foundation while retaining your right (and the right of your spouse) to continue living in the home for life. Upon your death (or your spouse's death if later), the Kaskaskia College Foundation receives the property outright.
- To make a gift of real estate, you irrevocably deed your residence or land to the Kaskaskia College Foundation but reserve the right to live in it for your remaining life and that of your spouse or any other individual(s) you choose. You continue to be responsible for all routine expenses, such as maintenance, insurance, property taxes, etc., and retain the right to rent your home or improve it. You may take an income tax charitable deduction in the year you make the gift. The charitable deduction equals the property's current appraised value reduced by an adjustment for the estimated value of your retained interest. After your death (or the death of the last individual living in your residence), the Kaskaskia College Foundation may sell the property and use the proceeds to further its purposes. The property's value is removed from your estate for federal estate tax purposes, and the Kaskaskia College Foundation would pay no capital gains tax on the appreciation when your home is sold.
3. Retirement Plan – Qualified retirement plan assets are generally made with before-tax dollars and grow on a tax-deferred basis inside the retirement plan. When distributions are taken from the plan, income tax must be paid on those distributions either by you during your lifetime or by your heirs after your death. In addition, the value of retirement plan assets passing to your heirs is included in your estate for federal estate tax purposes. To avoid this double income/estate taxation, retirement plan assets may be donated to the Kaskaskia College Foundation, where 100% of the funds will then be available to support the mission of the College.
- The easiest way to leave the balance in your retirement plan is to name the Kaskaskia College Foundation as the beneficiary of your retirement account. This may require that your spouse execute a written waiver to their right under the law to receive benefits from your retirement account.
- Another alternative is to name your spouse as the primary beneficiary and the Kaskaskia College Foundation as the secondary beneficiary to receive any proceeds remaining at your spouse's death.
- Finally, you may transfer retirement plan assets at your death to the Kaskaskia College Foundation through a charitable trust such as a charitable remainder unitrust or a charitable remainder annuity trust. You then designate the Kaskaskia College Foundation as the beneficiary to receive income from the trust for life or a specific number of years. After that, the remaining trust principal becomes available to the Kaskaskia College Foundation to support our work.
4. Annuities – A charitable annuity gift will allow you to convert assets into income by transferring assets to a cause in return for a promise to receive an annual income from those assets. A charitable gift annuity is a simple, contractual agreement between you and the Kaskaskia College Foundation through which assets are transferred to the Foundation in return for the Foundation's promise to pay you an annual income. An annuity is an attractive way to turn appreciated property into income without being liable for capital gains tax on the appreciation.
5. Stock – Gifts of stocks, bonds, or other securities may be transferred to the Kaskaskia College Foundation with great benefits to the donor. If the stock has appreciated in value, you may avoid paying the capital gains tax by giving it as a gift to the Kaskaskia College Foundation. There are two methods of transferring stock, which depend on how it is currently held:
If the stock is held in a certificate form, then transferring the physical stock will be required. You must endorse the stock by signing it in the presence of your banker or a broker. There may also be a form on the back of the certificate to fill out and sign for it to be rendered non-negotiable and transferable.
If you do not possess a physical copy of the stock, you should provide the brokerage account information to the Kaskaskia College Foundation. Next, you should contact your broker and pass on the new account information that the Kaskaskia College Foundation provided, and order an electronic transfer of those stocks to the Foundation.
6. IRA Charitable Rollover – If you are age 70 ½ or older, you may be eligible to transfer up to $100,000 to the Kaskaskia College Foundation against your minimum IRA distribution. You pay no income tax on your gift, and the transfer generates neither taxable income nor a tax deduction, so you benefit even if you do not itemize your deductions. Your gift may satisfy all or part of your required minimum distribution for the year.
7. Other Planned Gifts – The Kaskaskia College Foundation is willing to work with you and your financial planner to assist you in making a planned gift to the Kaskaskia College Foundation, which will ensure a mutually beneficial plan for both you and the Kaskaskia College Foundation.
