By: Jenny Papageorge, Director of Planned Giving, Cooley Dickinson Healthcare
Vikki Lenhart, Certified Financial Planner, Hart & Patterson Financial Group
As we near the end of a calendar year shaped by a pandemic and consider the causes that we want to support, there’s really no greater time to support healthcare. We wanted to highlight a few tax-smart ways you can support your local community hospital:
1. Rebalancing your portfolio? Instead of Giving Cash, Give Appreciated Securities to Avoid Capital Gains, Maximizing your Gift and Tax Deduction.
When you make a gift of appreciated securities, your gift goes much further! You can avoid capital gains, and will be eligible to receive an income tax deduction for the full fair-market-value of the stock at the time of the gift.
2. Are you over 70 ½ and do you have an IRA account? If so, the IRA charitable rollover (also known as the QCD) is a Great Tool for Giving.
If you are over 70 ½, the IRA charitable rollover allows you to use your IRA to make tax-free charitable gifts directly from the account to eligible charities, like Cooley Dickinson Hospital or Cooley Dickinson VNA/Hospice. Currently, the provision allows you to make qualified charitable IRA distributions of $100,000 per person per year. Best of all, if you are 72 or older (or if you reached 70½ before January 1, 2020), QCDs can be counted towards your RMD for the year.
3. Updating your Estate Plans? Include your Community Hospital.
Thanks to the generosity of donors, the hospital has received several generous bequests—starting with one from Caleb Cooley Dickinson which established the hospital! Bequests have allowed the hospital to purchase diagnostic equipment to help identify diseases before they progress.
4. Want to make a gift, but are Concerned about the Current Economic Conditions?
Split-interest gifts offer an opportunity to retain an income stream while generating a charitable income tax deduction. Although a cash contribution to a split-interest trust does not constitute a qualified contribution for the 100% AGI deduction provisions of the CARES Act, a cash contribution made to a qualified public charity in return for a charitable gift annuity should.
Whether it is naming Cooley Dickinson Hospital or VNA/Hospice as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or gifting other liquid or non-liquid assets, we encourage you to consult with your professional advisor to discuss the options and how they might impact your individual situation.
If you’d like to learn more about these giving strategies, please reach out to our Director of Planned Giving, Jenny Papageorge (jpapageorge@cooleydickinson.org; 413-582-2687).