How To Maximize Your Donation
QUIZ
What’s the scariest time of year?
Is it…
☐ Halloween
☐ Day of the Dead
☐ Tax season
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If you checked the third box you are correct!
But fear not …Leaders2Give is here to save the day because along with the joy of giving comes the benefit of tax deductions.
I know that we don’t give to charities to get the tax benefit, but it sure doesn’t hurt.
First and foremost, when we donate, we want as much of our donation as possible to make it to those who need it.
Leaders2Give has a number of means available to accept donations that reduce, and frequently eliminate, third party fees (such as checks, wire and Zelle transfers, and others have zero third party fees). And since the Leaders2Give team is 100% volunteer, the overhead costs are minimal.
But like I said, it doesn’t hurt to get a tax benefit for the donation and with Leaders2Give you get just that (for US tax payers.) All Leaders2Give donors, receive a 501c3 gift acknowledgement letter / receipt that supports the tax deduction for the donation.
In addition, Leader2Give can receive donations that have even greater tax benefit to you. Here are a couple examples:
Donating Securities
Donating stock or security via transfers can bring a significant benefit to your taxes. And there are zero fees! This works for Stocks, Mutual Funds, ETFs, etc. that have been in your portfolio for 12 months or more (long term) and have appreciated in value.
You could save significant taxes by donating your security and transferring it to Leaders2Give rather than selling and then donating the proceeds.
In short, by transferring the securities, you will not incur the Long Term Capital Gains.
In the example below, the left side shows the out of pocket costs if you were to sell $50k of a security that has a $30k cost basis and then donate the $50k. The right side below shows what happens if you were to transfer the $50k of stock rather than selling it first.
Making a donation from your IRA
Making a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) assets can again save on your taxes. If you’re age 70½ and older, you can direct up to $100,000 per year tax-free from your IRAs to operating charities through QCDs regardless of whether you itemize deductions or claim the standard deduction. Depending on your tax bracket, you could save up to $37,000 on your Federal Taxes alone! Depending on your State Taxes, this savings could be more.
In addition, by decreasing the IRA balance, a QCD may also reduce your taxable income in future years, lower your taxable estate, and limit your IRA beneficiaries’ tax liability.
Please note that QCD requests generally should be initiated by early December at the latest to ensure processing is complete before the end of the year.
The Leaders2Give Choice
Make Leaders2Give your choice for getting the most out your donation while also getting your greatest tax benefit. Again, helping those who need help is important and ensuring as much of your donation as possible makes it to those who need it most is paramount.
As I mentioned, we are a 100% volunteer-run board and currently, do not have any employees. That means approximately 96% of donations received are used to run our programs and support our partners. Only a very small amount goes toward the necessary expenses involved in making an impact. See the chart below comparing our admin fees to the giving fees of ICF (The International Community Foundation) a non-profit that many of Leaders2Give’s partners have also partnered with. The chart below is for illustrative purposes only; ICF also supports several important causes in Baja California Sur and we respect what they do.
For more information visit our donations page. If you have any questions regarding the above or any other means of making donations, please reach out to Leaders2Give Treasurer, Ian Gibson (Ian@leaders2give.org or 775.233.3677)
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Updates On Our Initiatives & Partnerships
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The John Gullo Home For Children
John Gullo, a generous friend of Leaders2Give, pledged a $100,000 gift to Leaders2Give Inc. to help ensure that our ambitious project to build a temporary home for children in BCS, Mexico whose families are experiencing a medical crisis becomes a reality.
As you probably know, Baja California Sur, a fast-growing destination for vacations and beautiful homes, is also a fast-growing home of the vulnerable.
Many families, often with single mothers, live in slums surrounded by high crime and unimaginable poverty. When a serious illness strikes, the mother often needs to abandon the care of one child to seek medical care elsewhere for another. If the mother is the one needing care, she may have to abandon all of her children.
There is an alarmingly high occurrence of these situations in BCS. The John Gullo Home for Children will provide a safe home for these children throughout their families’ medical crisis.
To release the $100,000 gift, John has tasked Leaders2Give with raising an additional $230,000.00 (on top of the $150,000 raised to date.) Those amounts, including John’s gift, will cover all capital costs required for construction.
Please know that every dollar counts! Donations of $50, $100 or $200 all add up and will collectively make a significant and measurable improvement in the lives of these deserving kids.
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New Creation Kids Children’s Home
Who doesn’t love seeing photos of the kids smiling? But what makes our board members smile is seeing operations at the facility moving towards self-sustainability. In our last update, for example, we shared that New Creation Kids weathered the recent storms really well and that there was minimal to no damage to infrastructure.
This is in part due to the careful rebuild of the home to code after hurricane Odile. This reduces their reliance on donations for repairs and maintenance each time a storm rolls through.
In addtion, the solar panels that were installed helped provide electricity during the day when the power was wiped out. Unfortunately, power from the panels can only be used when the sun is out. Recently, we applied for a third-party grant to buy batteries to take the facility completely off the grid which will greatly reduce their operating expenses (more on that to come.)
Another way we help to guide NCK towards self-sustainment is by recruiting volunteers to help raise awareness and to take on various projects that focus on self-reliance and sustainability. You may recall that a group of volunteers raised funds and rolled up their sleeves to install a large organic garden.
We also supported the construction of a wood working shop where the kids learn a trade and make crafts to sell at local markets. These are all examples of working in partnership towards self reliance and sustainability.
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The East Cape Health Center
After a quiet summer, the East Cape Health Center is once again looking toward the future by endeavoring to reach even more of our ever-expanding community. This time they will be providing two additional, high-quality services:
Women's health room: A new room is being configured within the Clinic to provide a private environment for gynecological evaluations. The room will feature a 3D ultrasound with specific accessories to evaluate pregnancy terms and fully diagnose women's health issues.
New office in La Ribera: The East Cape Health Center is establishing a satellite clinic in La Ribera. This new office will provide La Ribera with high quality medical, laboratory, and pharmacy services. The office will be located on Cabo Pulmo Road, just across from Pemex, the delegation, and centro de salud.
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The East Cape Guild
The East Cape Guild is funding 143 high school students and 75 college scholarships for the 2022-23 school year.
Partly due to fundraising challenges during Covid years and partly due to expanding scholarship demands, the Guild has used up substantial reserves that had been accumulated in past years.
They now need to raise money to cover future scholarships on a current basis. Fundraisers are one of the primary ways the Guild raises the money necessary to award scholarships to East Cape children. Here are some fun things they have planned:
The Parade of Homes and Poker Run, first held in 2021, will occur on November 30th, 2022. This will again involve visits to six homes, a poker run (where participants pick up a card at each home visited and “play” their hands at the final home) and a silent auction.
Scavenger hunt, first held in 2021, is expected to be held in February 2023 It will be coupled with a dinner. No date has yet been set. The first event was extraordinarily successful, and it lends itself well to social distancing restrictions.
The Guild intends to bring back Monte Carlo night, one of the most popular events in the area. Monte Carlo night will take place in early March at the Spa Rancho Buena Vista, one of the Guild’s longest and most loyal supporters. No date has yet been set for Monte Carlo night and it may be dependent on pandemic restrictions.
Finally, the Guild will host its very first Music Festival the weekend of March 23rd. The event will include a group of song writers from Nashville, Rob Lamothe (a songwriter/performer and lead singer of RiverDogs) and some other talent. It is anticipated that the Guild will host a private, higher ticket, VIP dinner event one night followed by a larger, less expensive “concert” at a yet undetermined location.
Guild annual membership is only $50 USD, and the Guild meets once a month during the season. The Guild’s first meeting will be October 27th at La Playa Restaurant at 11am.
Past Guild scholarship recipients include local business owners, architects, engineers, and community leaders (including the Mayor of La Ribera). The Guild has helped build a better and more cohesive community for the local citizens and expats.
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Feeding The Hungry
Together we did it. Thanks to your generous support of the Los Barriles Feeding the Hungry program they were able to continue their support for two dozen of the poorest of the poor in the community all through the challenging summer months.
When expats leave for the summer, it makes it difficult for those folk who depend on cleaning and supporting work to generate income. The summer months are the most difficult for the least fortunate among us. However, due to your generosity, all the families supported by the Los Barriles Feeding the Hungry charity continued to receive food vouchers all summer long.
There are some very grateful families who know that their sustainment through the summer depended on your gift. It couldn’t have been done without you.
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SNAP - SPAY NEUTER AND PREVENTION
SNAP and Dr. Cristobal are continuing to grow the collective efforts of providing care and prevention for the area dogs and cats. And they’ve been busy. July brought a record breaking 130 surgeries in one month and by mid-October more than 900 dogs and cats that have been sterilized YTD. The current estimate for total 2022 is around 1100, where the total for 2021 was 941.
In further support and appreciation of the SNAP / Dr. Cristobal partnership, SNAP lead a fundraising effort to finance Dr. Cristobal’s acquisition of an X-Ray Machine. A total of $18k was raised, of which roughly $8.5k came through Leadger2Give, $5k of which came from Dan Clemens DAF (Dan was the individual who asked that Leaders2Give consider including SNAP within our partnerships). SNAP will be following up with an update via Facebook for the final tally. With the amount raised, Dr. Cristobal will not only get the X-Ray but will also obtain a blood analysis machine.
Dr. Cristobal’s office is the surgical / veterinarian care behind SNAP. The health & wellbeing (sustainability) of Dr. Cristobal’s business is critical to SNAP. And it is very much growing appreciation within the East Cape community. Note, the business concerns of Dr Gretel were and are considered. Dr Gretel’s office has an abundance of business and the support that Dr Cristobal provides is actually appreciated rather than bringing concerns of competition.
The SNAP leadership team has been busy working in Los Barriles and El Campamento addressing stray animals in partnership with Cortez Rescue and working with local families. Some of the assistance provided over the summer (largely the time when work opportunities are not always available) has included basic needs every animal of maintaining health and prevent the spread of disease.
SNAP will be kicking off 10 fun events to celebrate our 10th year as a group by participating in the Los Barriles Signathon sponsored by Ronival on November 22nd from 4 pm to 8 pm. Further information about upcoming events and clinics will be announced on the Spay & Neuter - SNAP Los Barriles Facebook page. Some of the upcoming events include a Signathon with Ronival, Halloween costume party with Cortez Rescue, and a Day of the Dead Costume & Parade with Crescent Moon.
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Líderes Para Dar
Líderes Para Dar is the Mexican non-profit organization which serves as a sister organization to Leaders2Give. Líderes Para Dar, which translates to Leaders To Give, will assist Leaders2Give in fulfilling its charitable work in Mexico.
The two organizations share the same mission. Alongside Leaders2Give, Líderes Para Dar is over seeing the construction of the El Cardonal Children’s Home Project and will also be sharing oversight of its operation once the facility is functioning.
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I hope these updates inspire you and bring a smile to your face :)
Thank you for your support of Leaders2Give and our partners. We could not do all of this without you.
You are making a difference!
With gratitude,
Adam Greenberg
President, Leaders2Give Inc. info@leaders2give.org
To Volunteer:
Please reach out to our Volunteer Coordinator, Shelley Aibner (volunteer@leaders2give.org), to volunteer or to donate items or services.
To Donate:
Visit our Donate page.