Ways to Contribute

1. OUTRIGHT GIFTS
Includes donations of cash, securities, personal property, or real estate.

  • Recognition Gifts - Cash gifts to honor a person or special occasion.

  • Memorial Gifts - Money donated to honor a deceased relative or friend.

  • Special Gifts - Minimum contribution of $500 - money may be designated for a specified area of support.

Donation Forms can be obtained from the Wisner-Pilger District Office.

Donation Form (Link)

2. BEQUESTS

  • A gift by will. Typical forms include the following:

    • Specific Bequest - The donor specifies a dollar amount or percentage of the estate to be transferred to the Fund of the Foundation.

    • Contingent Bequest - The assets of the estate are transferred to the Fund if previously named beneficiaries are no longer living.

    • Residuary Bequest - After all specific bequests have been satisfied, the Fund receives all, or a portion of the remaining estate assets.

3. LIFE INSURANCE

  • This allows donors to change their premium dollars into charitable contributions by assigning policy benefits to the Endowment Fund. Premiums may be tax-deductible, and the policy benefits may be exempt from estate taxes.

4. LIFE INCOME PLAN

  • This plan assists the Fund but also provides cash returns for the donors and their families.

  • Charitable Remainder Trust - Provides income to beneficiaries during their life, and after death of the beneficiaries or a specified number of years, the remainder of the trust is given to the Fund.

5. MARKETABLE SECURITIES

  • Gifts of long-term appreciated securities are the most popular type of outright property gift. The securities are often individual stocks, but may include bonds or shares of mutual funds. Outright gifts of securities can be made quickly and easily . . . and can enable you to do more with your gift because of the tax benefits.

  • In most cases, the full fair market value of the securities given to the Foundation will be allowable as a deduction. For example, if you give stock that is now worth $10,000, you can deduct this full amount on your income tax return even through you may have bought the stock for substantially less.

  • The value of the stock — and the amount of your charitable contribution — is the mean between the highest and lowest selling price on the date of the gift, or the mean between the bid and asked price on the date of the gift. If possible, your gift should be made on a day when the market value of the stock is relatively high.

  • A charitable gift of securities is not considered a sale of the securities and does not result in any capital gains tax. This is an important tax reward provided by Congress to encourage gifts of appreciated property. No matter how much the securities have appreciated in value, a charitable gift will not make any part of your paper profit taxable. The result: a charitable deduction is allowed for profits that have never been taxed to you. The Wisner-Pilger Community Schools Foundation keeps every penny of the proceeds since it is exempt from the tax.

6. CLOSELY HELD STOCK

  • A charitable gift of closely held stock presents a unique opportunity for some of our supporters, especially if the closely held corporation has substantial accumulated profits. The reason: After the gift has been made, the corporation can buy back the stock and retire it. Of course, the fair market value of the closely held stock is immediately deductible as a charitable contribution and there is no capital gains tax no matter how much the stock has appreciated in value.

7. TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY

  • Antiques, artwork, jewelry, grain — these are just a few of the kinds of tangible personal property that can be used in making charitable gifts to the Foundation. The full fair market value of such assets is deductible provided the gift asset is used for our charitable-exempt purpose. Otherwise, the deduction is limited to its adjusted cost basis.

8. REAL ESTATE

  • Real Estate can be transferred in various ways as outlined in topics 1, 2, and 4 described previously. In addition, you may deed a remainder interest in your real estate to the Foundation with a life interest (which would provide income for life) retained by yourself or others.