I am going to offer the list and information on the charities (non-profit 501(c)3 organizations) I am giving to this year if you request it. It is lengthy. I have screened the federal information return, Form 990, for these groups to satisfy myself that most or all of the money they raise actually goes to their mission and not expenses or salaries! I have long been involved in non-profits. The biggest role in a non-profit I ever had was as the founding treasurer 40 years ago of the local Tallahassee Jewish Federation. (After writing this it should have been in the Academia section, but it is intended to trigger action! Sorry for its complexity. It will be worth getting to the end!)
Some years ago, when I was the president of the North Florida Regional Estate Planning Council, Thomas Norman, CFRE, a member, came to me and suggested we publish a guide to the LOCAL non-profits. He said that when people donated money they typically sent it to the NATIONAL organizations, leaving our local groups without sufficient support for our local community needs! It was a brilliant suggestion. The Board agreed to finance it. Tom researched and wrote it. I edited it. We distributed it to as many CPAs, Estate Planning attorneys, Trust Officers and financial advisors as we could find. I have no idea the impact it had.
EXCEPT: some of us attended a lecture by a nationally known estate planning attorney (who I knew from my involvement in the American College) in Thomasville, sponsored by THEIR Community Foundation. Benjamin Franklin endowed the first community foundation in America by leaving 1,000 pounds in his will to the city. Bud Carlson, CLU (זיכרונה לברכה see endnote to explain this) was dismayed that a town of 30,000 had a Foundation and we didn’t! With his leadership the Estate Planning council sponsored the creation of the North Florida Community Foundation.
In 2022 I decided to donate my entire Required Minimum Distribution from my IRA to charity. Why? Well, tax savings! Since the 2017 Tax Act a very large number of taxpayers no longer can itemize. It also means the tax deduction for charitable contributions is limited to $300 for an individual and $600 for a couple. This has had a devastating effect on non-profit giving in the United States.
When you turn 73 (it was previously 70 ½, and in 2032 it goes to 75 if you turn 74 in 2031) you must remove money taxably from your retirement accounts (under certain circumstances … of course nothing is simple!). The penalty is severe: it was 50% of the amount you did NOT withdraw and it has been lowered to 25% and soon 10%!
What motivated it? A nationally noted holocaust scholar and I went to college together. We have been friends for 50 years (he is so famous that for the purpose of false modesty I am not naming him here…some of you reading this know who I mean). I sponsored an appearance by him in Tallahassee last year. It was an impulsive decision during lunch with an educator I know involved in Holocaust education. I am glad I did it! BUT it triggered the idea to do more.
In Judaism one of our tenets is תִּיקּוּן עוֹלָם, Tikkun Olam, the Repair of the World. There is a text purported to be the sayings of the Jewish sages from Moses on down. It is called the Pirkei Avos (a bad transliteration), the Ethics of the Fathers. When I am bored with the service in synagogue (often), I enjoy re-reading it. It consists of quotes from the sages over the millennia. One of its major points is that G-d gives each of us a part of the world, and prayer alone is not sufficient, we must do the WORK of perfecting it! There is no one quote that says this but an example in reference to the idea follows:
Rabbi Tarfon would say: It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it.
Join me in this endeavor!
Endnote:
The Hebrew next to Bud’s name translates as:
“May his memory be for a blessing.”