Are you passionate about Tamarack Camps? Would you like to provide impactful experiences for Jewish youth and shape the leaders of tomorrow? If so, please consider a donation to help Tamarack fulfill its mission. As we approach the end of the year, your gift is critical to providing more camper experiences, especially for those families who need financial support. And your gift can also provide you with important tax savings.
- Donating online using credit card or mailing a check are the most common ways to donate.
- You may want to consider if you are able to itemize your deductions each year, so your donation can help to reduce your federal taxes. As the standard deduction was significantly increased several years ago, fewer people can itemize every If you can’t itemize every year, you may want to consider bunching your donations every other year, so you may be able to itemize in one year and then use the standard deduction in the other year.
- The Tamarack staff can help you to bunch your giving to assist you in saving taxes while helping Tamarack at the same time!
- Contributing publicly traded stocks, mutual funds, or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have gone up in value is a great way to save taxes and help Tamarack. You get tax benefits; you do not have to use up any cash and Tamarack gets the investment proceeds. If you have “appreciated securities” that you have held for more than one year, you can claim the fair market value as an itemized deduction on your federal tax return.
- By donating appreciated securities, you will get the charitable donation and avoid paying federal capital gains tax (and possibly state income tax), on the gain you would have incurred if you were to sell the appreciated security.
- If you are interested in donating appreciated securities, please contact the Tamarack office as soon as possible, so this process can be completed before year-end. You can donate a portion of a mutual fund or stock that you own. For example, you could donate 200 shares of 1,000 shares that you may own in ABC mutual fund or XYZ company.
- If you have an IRA and need to take Required Minimum Distributions annually (an RMD), you can satisfy some or all your RMD requirement by donating to Tamarack directly from your IRA account (up to $100,000 per year). This Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) can have some tax benefits, particularly if you cannot itemize this The amount donated as a QCD is not considered taxable income.
- If you are interested in making a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA or IRA rollover account, you should work with your financial advisor or investment institution as soon as possible, so this can be completed before year-end.
- If you have established a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), you can make a grant from your DAF to Tamarack.
- Another great way to support Tamarack in longevity is to establish your own endowment fund or donate to an existing Tamarack endowment fund, which can target your specific passion while addressing one of Tamarack’s needs.
- You get a tax deduction when you donate to the endowment fund and provide a legacy for Tamarack when they receive annual distributions from the endowment fund.
- Endowment funds can be created starting at $10,000, and pledges can be made to establish and fund it over several years.
Tamarack is an important part of our community, and your support makes a difference. If you have any questions or are interested in donating to Tamarack, please contact Lori Semel at 248-952-9118 or semel@tamarackcamps.com.
Disclosure: Before implementing anything discussed in this article, you should consult your tax, legal or financial advisor.
Article written by guest contributor, Brad Wasserman, a longtime Tamarack Camps board member who has served on numerous committees. He is currently co-chair of the inaugural Endowment and Planning Giving Committee and is a longtime Finance Committee member. Brad is the founder of Wasserman Wealth Management, a financial advisory firm based in Farmington Hills. His three adult children were all Tamarack lifers, as both campers and staff.