Leave a Lasting Legacy to West Hills Community College Foundation
If you’re thinking of gifting to or leaving money in your will to a worthy local organization, look no further than West Hills Community College Foundation!
The West Hills Community College Foundation (WHCCF) gives you a multitude of gifting options; some of which allow you to gift now and enjoy the benefits of regular payments for life for yourself or another person you designate!
Benefits of Giving
Gifts of cash are generally deductible in amounts up to 50% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and gifts of appreciated assets are generally deductible in amounts up to 30% of your AGI. When securities and certain other properties you have owned for more than a year are donated, you are entitled to a deduction for their full value, not just their original cost! And, many times when you make a gift of monetary value, it not only benefits the college, but helps you maximize your tax benefit by saving you the capital gains tax you would otherwise have paid if you sold the assets instead.
What To Give
Donations
If you want to give a gift now, you can simply donate money to the foundation or choose to create a named scholarship, donate to an existing scholarship, or leave a Living Memorial – a legacy in honor of someone for whom you cared. You can also name your own endowment or choose to add to an existing endowment account which provides predictable revenue for scholarships, faculty development, instructional support, library acquisitions and/or campus growth and enhancement.
Planned Giving
You have a variety of options of what to give. You can leave cash, gifts of stocks and bonds, real estate, retirement assets, and insurance to WHCCF.
How to Give
There are a variety of of planned giving options including: Bequest, Charitable Gift Annuity, Charitable Unitrust, Charitable Annuity Trust, Charitable Lead Trust, Sale and Unitrust, Bargain Sale, Give it Twice Trust, Life Estate Reserved, and IRA Rollover. All are explained in detail on their “How to Give” web page. Many of these trust accounts are set up to give either you or your beneficiary income for life or a substantial charitable deduction lowering your taxes due in the future. Each is explained in more detail on the linked website.
Checking Out Your Gift Options
If you would like to explore some of your options, the WHCCF “Create Your Plan” website lets you check out which type of plan would best meet your needs and goals. You can also gain more information about wills and explore different gifting amount options with the “Planned Gift Calculator” on their website. You can even “Plan Your Will” on the Foundation’s website. This begins with a video and then walks you through a step-by-step process of creating your will.
Other Resources
If you would like a free “Will Guide”, you can download it here to record your family information and your estate distribution plans. You can also sign up for their weekly eNewsletter that features news from Washington, Savvy Living, gift stories, finance news and timely articles. If you would like to check out how others have made gifts to the Foundation, read their “Donor Stories.”
To contact the Foundation directly, call Frances, A. Squire, Executive Director, at 559.934.2134. She or one of their Planned Giving Team members will be very pleased to answer your questions.
What’s Next?
Once you have an idea of what you want to gift and what it will be for, the next step would be to discuss your plan first with your tax accountant and then your attorney. Bressler & Company Certified Public Accountants would be happy to sit down with you and discuss your options. Give us a call at 559.924.1225 to schedule a consultation today.
