The Green Lake Foundation exists to support the Green Lake Church and its programs and to facilitate and invest legacy gifts from members and friends of the Church. Please contact the Foundation for more information or to arrange your gift.
Cash and Checks
Current assets are always a great way to make an immediate impact and difference in the Foundation's work. Such gifts can always be pledged and paid over a period of time to fit best with the donors cash flow and budget.
IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions
For those over 70 who have IRA funds and need to meet Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) goals, the now permanent Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) allows you to transfer funds directly from your IRA to the Green Lake Foundation to meet RMD obligations without having the distribution count as taxable income.
Gifts of Stock
Gifts of stock are often a smarter way to give – especially if the stock has greatly appreciated in value. Such a gift is easier to make than you might think and may have some great benefits for you as the donor. Gifts of stock will be valued at market value on the date of the gift. Thus your tax deduction will be based on current value even though your basis in the stock may be much lower. You will not have to pay capital gains on the appreciation in value, yet you will be able to deduct the full current value on your tax return.
In order to accomplish this happy result, you must transfer the stock to the Foundation without selling it. With special instructions from the Foundation, your broker can transfer the stock directly from your brokerage account to the Foundation’s account with ease. If you hold the certificates yourself, the transfer is a little more complex but can still be accomplished with the same tax benefit.
A Non-Cash Gift
If you have valuable property, such as a rental property or a home or a painting, there may be significant tax consequences to selling these things. Particularly if you have held these assets for a long time, the capital gains consequences can be significant. Rather than selling the items and giving the proceeds to the Foundation, consider giving your property to the Foundation as in-kind gift. Any gift over $5,000 in value will require an appraisal, but the tax deduction will be for the full market value of the asset at the time of gift and you will not have to claim any capital gain on your tax return. Plus, you will be able to deduct the value of your gift on Schedule A of the tax return.
In-kind gifts to the Foundation are subject to its gift acceptance policy, which includes due diligence procedures to ensure that the Foundation will not involve itself in accepting a gift that will be a liability instead of an asset. But in most cases, both the Foundation and you can “win” on this kind of a gift. You will not have to deal with selling your asset or with claiming the capital gains. The Foundation will sell your asset without any tax consequences, since it is a tax-exempt organization. The full value of your property will then be put to use for the benefit of Green Lake Church.
Your gift may be placed in the Foundation’s General Endowment and the earnings will be used to support the Church on an ongoing basis. Or, if your gift is valued at more than $10,000, you may specify a particular program of the Church that you would like to endow in perpetuity. Contact the Church office for more information about the Foundation and its policies.
Estate Gifts
A bequest is simply a gift made by will or by a will-substitute, such as a revocable living trust. You specify in your will those items or dollars or a percentage of your estate that will go to the Foundation upon your death. You retain complete ownership of the asset until death, at which time the gift becomes effective.
Creating a Charitable Remainder Trust
Perhaps you have assets that you want to eventually give to the Foundation, but you need the current income from those assets. You can contribute your assets – things like real estate, investments, an interest in a business, or cash -- to a trust and receive in return both an income stream and an immediate tax deduction. The ongoing income stream can be for yourself or for any beneficiary that you specify.
On the termination of the trust, either at your death or the death of the last measuring life, or after a certain term, whatever is left in the trust (the remainder) passes to the Foundation. The value of your income tax deduction is the present value of the remainder interest that is passing to the Foundation, calculated at the time that the trust is funded.
Because the trust is not a tax-paying entity, low-basis assets can be contributed to it with no capital gains tax payable at the time of contribution or at the time of eventual sale of the asset. However, the income tax deduction to you is based on the value of the remainder interest calculated with market values. Thus this type of trust can become a powerful tool to transfer significant gifts to the Foundation with major tax savings to you.