Do you want to gift stock, but avoid capital gains taxes? Or do you give to multiple organizations, but find all those year-end giving statements frustrating? National Christian Foundation can simplify your giving, and make your gifts stretch further.
NCF is a non-profit that helps donors give more wisely. They have offices in Indianapolis, IN and Seattle, WA, where many Last Bell donors live; but anyone can contact their national office in Alpharetta, GA.
Last Bell recently spoke with Steve Boles, who is a ministry liaison with NCF Indiana.
“National Christian Foundation exists to help God’s people be more generous with the resources He’s entrusted to them,” he said.
He also explained donations through stock sales, which is NCF’s primary service to donors.
Let’s say you want to sell $1,000 of stock you’ve held for more than a year and donate the proceeds to Last Bell or another charity. If you sell it outright, you’ll lose part of the sale to capital gains taxes – up to $300! And you’ll only be able to write off the amount you donate.
However, if you transfer the stock to NCF, which is a nonprofit, NCF can liquidate the stock for free and make the donation for you. You pay no taxes, get a bigger write-off, and your charity receives the full $1,000 value of the stock. (According to NCF, if you like the stock, simply re-buy it immediately, which raises your cost basis.)
NCF can also help you donate the proceeds from real estate sales or high-value automobiles, and can assist you with making business donations.
It makes sense for most donors to give simple monetary gifts directly to Last Bell. However, NCF can also be helpful to cash givers who donate to multiple organizations. If you give to your church, Last Bell, and several other organizations regularly, and make one-time donations to other charities throughout the year, you’ll have a big stack of giving statements to interpret when it’s tax-return season.
But if you let NCF donate to those same charities on your behalf, you’ll just see one tax statement at the end of the year – much easier for itemized deductions!
NCF has a very helpful video about how the stock donations work. Click on the “Watch a video” button on the NCF stock page.
If you sign up for NCF, be sure to look for Last Bell’s profile!
Thanks to everyone who makes the choice to give to Last Bell, no matter what size your gift or how it comes in. Every dollar helps us change the lives of orphanage graduates in Ukraine. God bless you!