Cash
You can establish a Fund with the Community Foundation in your name or any name you choose and write a check to it at any time. A Fund has great flexibility and affords an immediate tax deduction. Cash gifts may be deducted for income tax purposes up to 50% of adjusted gross income (AGI), and contributions over that limit can be carried forward for up to five subsequent years. Generally only the income in accordance with current foundation spending policy is distributed. And, we provide the added benefit of assuring that the charities you wish to support are legitimate and appropriate.

Publicly Traded Stock
Gifts of appreciated securities can produce significant tax savings for you while allowing you to be more philanthropic you ever thought possible. That's because you receive a double benefit: of an immediate charitable deduction for the fair market value of the securities donated, and avoidance of any capital gains tax on the appreciation. The fair market value of contributed securities can be deducted up to 30% of your adjusted gross income in the year of the gift. In addition, if the amount is larger than you can use in one year, the surplus can be carried forward and used as a charitable deduction over the next five years. When making gifts of stock to the Foundation through your broker, it is important to notify the Foundation staff to insure that your gift is deposited and accounted for correctly and in a timely manner.

Mutual Fund Shares
Mutual fund shares can also be excellent assets to contribute to the Community Foundation. Like gifts of publicly traded securities, gifts of mutual fund shares are deductible up to their full fair market value. Some mutual fund companies have special procedures for gifts of mutual funds. The Community Foundation's Donor Services Department will advise and assist donors and their advisors on the process of making a gift of mutual fund shares to the Foundation.

Closely Held Stock
Owners of closely held or family businesses are often very involved in the community. Many think about creating a family foundation—but discover that there are restrictions applying to private foundations and closely held business interests. A partnership with the Community Foundation for Muskegon County is a cost-effective way to maximize and target charitable involvement while minimizing tax liability. The Community Foundation can be helpful in the following instances:

Helping to pass ownership of the company to children or key employees while not straining available assets and liquidity.
Selling the company and planning to minimize estate and capital gain taxes.
Getting equity out of the company to provide income for you.
Creating a family philanthropic program using the assets of your business.
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Tangible Personal Property A Fund at the Community Foundation can be established by contributing tangible personal property such as works of art, jewelry, silver, antiques, and coin or stamp collections. This type of gift can be very attractive, as this item are often costly to insure and often times difficult or unprofitable to sell. There are special rules that govern the giving and acceptance of gifts of tangible property. Please call Chris McGuigan - President, Community Foundation for Muskegon County, for more information.

Real Estate
Gifts of real estate can include a home, apartment building, farm, vacation home, commercial buildings and income-producing and non-income-producing land. A donor can make an outright gift of all or a portion of real property now or through the estate—or use it to fund a charitable remainder trust that provides income to the donor or the donor's children. Gifts of real estate typically require certain procedural steps, including a site visit to the property, a qualified appraisal, a preliminary title report and an environmental assessment.

Life Estates
Donors can benefit today from the future gift of a home, be it a primary residence or vacation home. The donor can deed the property to the Foundation, continue to live in the home for life and take an immediate income tax deduction. The Community Foundation will ultimately sell the property and use the proceeds to support the charitable organizations or purposes identified by the donor.

Life Insurance Policies
Many people find that the protection offered by life insurance policies is no longer needed later in life. A life insurance policy can become an ideal tool for charitable giving. The procedure is simple—you start by irrevocably assigning your insurance policy to the Community Foundation.The Community Foundation is also named beneficiary of the policy.You can make annual tax-deductible contributions to cover the policy's annual premium. Or, if the policy is paid up, you will receive an immediate tax deduction in an amount equal to the policy's cash surrender value. Any type of fund can be established with a gift of life insurance. This creative strategy can enable a donor to make a much larger gift than he/she might have thought possible.

IRA or Retirement Plan Assets
You have been putting away money for years in an IRA or other qualified retirement plan.If you are like a growing number of Americans, that IRA may be your largest single asset—a nest egg to leave behind for the children's future.But you may not realize the massive tax bite the plan is subject to once it is passed on to the beneficiaries.That legacy intended for your children could amount to just 20 cents on the dollar as a result of combined estate tax and income taxes on the IRA.

Using an IRA for a direct charitable bequest can pay real dividends in the community.

If you already have created a sound estate plan that achieves all objectives and takes care of the family, one lingering challenge remains: What should you do with an IRA or qualified retirement plan? Leaving the children the IRA could result in a combined tax of up to 80%—and you have already provided well for both spouse and children through an existing estate plan (and thus may not see the need for a Charitable Family IRA). However, you may want to provide an incentive for the children to be involved in the community and participate in philanthropy.A good solution could be to create a Named Fund by naming the Community Foundation for Muskegon County as the beneficiary of the IRA or qualified retirement plan.

Using an IRA for a direct charitable bequest can pay real dividends in the community.If you have already created a sound estate plan that achieves all objectives and takes care of the family, generally a challenge remains: What should you do with an IRA or qualified retirement plan?By making a charitable bequest of an IRA plan, you will avoid the double tax bite of estate and income taxes and create a permanent charitable legacy.

For example, donors who create a Donor Advised Fund for their children can help them learn philanthropy and carry on their families' tradition of generosity. And the children can take advantage of our philanthropic and grantmaking services to learn more about the charities serving our community. Alternatively, you could create a Field of Interest Fund, Scholarship Fund, or choose any other type of Fund in the Community Foundation.

Private Foundation Transfers
You have a choice when deciding how to achieve your philanthropic objectives:

Create a private foundation or create a Fund in the Community Foundation for Muskegon County.

Creating a private foundation subjects you to a number of regulatory requirements, including submitting an exemption application to the IRS, ongoing administrative and fiduciary responsibilities, reduced charitable deductions and a lack of privacy.

Many people are unaware of the management responsibilities and rules governing private foundations—a problem that can create many traps for the unwary. The Community Foundation for Muskegon County, on the other hand, simplifies philanthropy.The Foundation has been granted status as a public charity—the various regulations, taxes and administrative requirements required to establish and manage a private foundation do not apply to us.

This chart summarizes some of the most significant distinctions between a private foundation and a Donor Advised Fund at the Community Foundation for Muskegon County.

See a chart showing the differences between Private Foundations vs. Community Foundation for Muskegon County by clicking here.