Three Great Reasons

DO SOMETHING GRAND FOR YOURSELF, OUR YOUTH AND OUR LAND - TIME-SENSITIVE GIFT OPPORTUNITIES

TAKE A MOMENT RIGHT NOW TO EXPLORE 3 GREAT REASONS TO ACT BEFORE THE YEAR IS OUT!

1. Increase your income and save taxes with a life income gift - learn more
2. Donate appreciated stock or mutual fund shares and avoid capital gains - learn more
3. Are you over 70½? Make a tax-free gift from your IRA - learn more

These are three great ways to help you meet your own needs while supporting hands-on service to the land and building future generations of conservation leaders.

For information about these or other types of gifts or a personal illustration, please contact Hugh Montgomery, Director of Gift Planning by e-mail at hmontgomery@thesca.org or by telephone at 603-504-3241 or toll-free at 888-722-9675 ext. 1151.

Do Something Grand for yourself, our youth and our land – before the end of this calendar year

Opportunity #1 – Increase your income and save taxes with an SCA Charitable Gift Annuity

The popular gift annuity program enables many donors to:

• Increase income for life with a predictable and reliable annuity
• Generate an immediate income tax deduction
• Enjoy the satisfaction of supporting generations of conservation leaders for years to come

A gift annuity is a special way to make a gift to SCA and provide for yourself or a loved one. In exchange for your gift (minimum amount $5,000), SCA agrees to pay a fixed amount each year to one or two individuals of your choice for the rest of their lives. Your gift completed by the end of this year will provide you with a 2011 income tax deduction for a substantial portion of the gift amount. The annuity rate and deduction amount depend on the age of the income recipients. Donors may also establish the annuity now and defer income payments for a period of years, increasing the annuity rate and immediate income tax deduction.

Gift annuities offer a great way to support SCA and plan for retirement. For more information or a personal illustration, please contact Hugh Montgomery, Director of Gift Planning by e-mail at hmontgomery@thesca.org or by telephone at 603-504-3241 or toll-free at 888-722-9675 ext. 1151.

Do Something Grand for yourself, our youth and our land – before the end of this calendar year

Gifts of securities and mutual fund shares may take several weeks to process. Please be sure to allow adequate time for your broker to complete the transaction, especially in December as the end of the tax year approaches!

Opportunity #2 – Donate appreciated stock and avoid capital gains

Appreciated stock or mutual funds are particularly smart assets to use to make an outright gift to SCA. You get an income tax deduction for the full value of appreciated securities you have owned more than one year. You also completely avoid immediate capital gains tax.

Stock held in electronic form can normally be transferred electronically. Please notify SCA before you initiate any stock transfer so we can ensure a smooth process and proper acknowledgement of your contribution. SCA's Federal Tax Identification # is 91-0880684. For Annual Fund contributions, please instruct your broker to transfer the shares to SCA via First Clearing DTC #0141 using SCA's Wells Fargo account #5961-7769.

Publicly traded securities can also be used to fund a life income arrangement such as a charitable gift annuity. (If you are using stock to establish a charitable gift annuity, please contact me for a different set of transfer instructions.) This can enhance your income for life. If you don't need income immediately, your gift can be structured to enhance your future retirement income. Either way, such a gift can provide significant income tax and capital gains tax savings.

Please note: Depreciated securities should not be donated directly to SCA. It is more advantageous for you to sell the shares and donate the sales proceeds. You can then use the capital loss to offset realized capital gain and then up to $3,000 of ordinary income. Plus you will get an income tax deduction for your gift.

Appreciated stock is a great asset for charitable contributions. For more information, please contact Hugh Montgomery, Director of Gift Planning by e-mail at hmontgomery@thesca.org or by telephone at 603-504-3241 or toll-free at 888-722-9675 ext. 1151.

Do Something Grand for yourself, our youth and our land – before the end of this calendar year

This popular provision of the tax law is scheduled to expire at the end of 2011.  Please be sure to ACT NOW to allow adequate time for your IRA custodian to complete the transaction before the end of December!

Opportunity #3 - Are you over 70½?  Make a tax-free gift from your IRA!

The popular IRA Charitable Rollover enables donors to:

• Make tax-free contributions directly from an Individual Retirement Account
• Satisfy all or part of your Required Minimum Distribution without increasing your taxable income

If you are 70½ or older, you can make tax-free gifts of up to a total of $100,000 this year to SCA (and other public charities, excluding donor advised funds and supporting organizations). Many SCA supporters have taken advantage of this opportunity.  Amounts distributed to charity count toward your required minimum distribution for the year.  Please consider this opportunity before you take your 2011 required minimum distribution.

Click here to download a sample letter to authorize your IRA custodian to make a direct transfer now.

Please note that contributors are not permitted to take tax deductions for these much-appreciated IRA direct transfers because they have been funded with pretax dollars. But the amount transferred directly to charity is not added to the plan owner's adjusted gross income. Not paying income tax on distributions is equivalent to receiving an income tax deduction. Even taxpayers who do not itemize can fully enjoy this benefit.

Note that the IRA Charitable Rollover opportunity is not available for 401(k) or 403(b) plans.

You might also consider making SCA a beneficiary of your IRA (or other retirement plan). Assets in IRA, 401(k) or 403(b) plans pass at the time of your death according to a simple "beneficiary designation form" filed with your plan administrator.  It is easy to designate SCA as a beneficiary of an entire plan or a percentage of plan assets by simply filling in the blanks on that form. Leaving retirement plan assets to charity is not only simple, it is also wise from a tax standpoint. In fact, many advisors consider traditional IRAs and qualified retirement plans the assets of choice to leave to charity because - if left to heirs - they are taxed more heavily than other assets.

IRAs (and other retirement assets) provide great ways to support SCA. For more information, please contact Hugh Montgomery, Director of Gift Planning by e-mail at hmontgomery@thesca.org or by telephone at 603-504-3241 or toll-free at 888-722-9675 ext. 1151.