Memorials to WCCF Make a Difference

When Judge Robert Roth died last year, Marge Roth made an important and wise decision: she designated the White County Food Pantry’s Endowment Fund at WCCF as the recipient of memorial donations to her late husband. Since the Food Pantry’s ability to meet the heart-rending need of White County’s families is stretched to the limit, the Roth family’s decision to name the Food Pantry’s Endowment Fund as the recipient of memorials was timely: the memorial contributions add to the Food Pantry Fund’s ability to grow to a point where the Fund’s annual earnings will cover operating expenses. When that self-sustaining level of endowment is reached, the Food Pantry can use every donated dollar for food and let the Food Pantry Fund pay for operations.

When Ruth Ann Chitty died in October of this year, her family made a similar decision to memorialize her by accepting donations to organizations about which she cared deeply. The Chitty family named WCCF’s 4-H Endowment Fund as a beneficiary of donations made in her memory, an especially fitting expression of Ruth Ann’s personal involvement in 4-H and her commitment to seeing that her students and grandchildren reach their potential through participation in 4-H.

We hope that more and more people, faced with difficult decisions in difficult times, will also decide to invest in White County’s future with memorials to departed loved ones.

Founding Contributors Help Meet Community Needs

WCCF Donors Ann and Fred Shidler made a compassionate decision to direct the earnings of their permanent Endowment Fund to the victims of last spring’s floods. Each year, donors of Advised Funds at WCCF recommend recipients of their fund’s annual earnings. In 2008, the Shidlers realized how desperately in need were victims of the terrible White County floods, and directed the earnings of their Pine View Snowball Golf Fund to their aid; the gift was to the White/Cass County Chapter of the American Red Cross. This is enlightened giving at its best…an Endowment Fund that will keep on giving and helping to meet community needs … forever!

Good News for Givers!

Congress has just extended the popular provision that allows IRA owners age 70 ½ and older to make a tax-free charitable contribution of up to $100,000 to non-profit organizations such as your White County Community Foundation. The funds are transferred or “rolled over” from an IRA directly to the non-profit organization. That’s good news for givers, because it allows them to help an organization in which they strongly believe while paying zero tax on the gift withdrawn from the IRA, thereby reducing their taxable income. Please remember that if you are 70 ½ years of age or older, you are required to distribute a minimum amount from your retirement accounts before year-end. If you don’t, you will owe the IRS a stiff penalty. The transfer transaction is very simple: you need only order the transfer directly to WCCF and you will avoid the otherwise required income tax on the withdrawl. Consult with your tax advisor for details when you consider a gift. Why not gift the White County Community Foundation with your IRA distribution, and pay no taxes? There’s no time like the present!