Happy New Year from the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation!

The non-profit community has been very active over the past couple of months working with elected officials to preserve the deduction for charitable gifts in the fiscal cliff negotiations.

We can inform our local donors and non-profits that with the passing of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, the charitable deduction will continue to be coupled with an individual's or household's corresponding tax rate. The tax rate will increase to 39.6% for individuals making more than $400,000 a year and households making more than $450,000. The previous rate for those earners was 35%. There is no cap on charitable deductions. For example, under the new tax law with the highest tax bracket at 39.6%, affected earners can deduct 39.6 cents for every dollar donated.

Another positive attribute of the new law is the extension of the Individual Retirement Account (IRA) charitable rollover through December 31, 2013, permitting tax-free distributions to a charity from an IRA held by someone age 70 ½ or older of up to $100,000 per taxpayer, per taxable year, retroactive to January 1, 2012. The retroactive extension also allows donors to make distributions directly to eligible charities before February 1, 2013 and elect to have such distributions treated as qualified charitable distributions in 2012. Individuals who have already received an IRA distribution in 2012 can count that distribution as a 2012 IRA charitable rollover if they transfer the amount in cash before February 1, 2013 to an eligible charity. Community Foundation Donor Advised funds do not qualify for the IRA charitable rollover but Designated, Agency, Field of Interest, Scholarship, and Unrestricted Funds do qualify.

The estate tax will have a $10 million exemption for couples, $5 million for individuals, and a top tax rate at 40%.

A Snapshot of Community Donations Making a Difference

Hmong Senior Program for Good Health & Longevity

The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, along with partner donors, provided a grant to N.E.W. Curative Rehabilitation Inc. for the Hmong Senior Program (Tsev PovFwm), which began in June 2011. The Hmong Senior Program is a partnership with N.E.W. Curative Rehabilitation Inc., the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Brown County, and the American Red Cross for transportation. The mission of the program is to create a culturally harmonic environment for Hmong elders to promote trust, values and well-being within the Hmong community. The program provides social group activities, nutrition, education, advocacy, resources and transportation services to the elders, and works to break down the cultural and language barriers faced by Hmong elders by building their self-esteem.

The Hmong Senior Program has seen great success, with 120 unduplicated participants (55 and older) in the eighteen months that the program has been in operation. The average weekly program session has between 50 and 60 participants. More than twenty volunteers assist with the meal, activities, health screenings, and education. Among the volunteers are a physician, several nurses, pharmacist, chiropractor, musicians, social workers, a school counselor, health educator, and others who assist with crafts and cooking. Read other Community Impact Stories. 

• New Arts & Culture Fund. The greater Green Bay area community realizes that programs promoting arts and culture create a high quality of life in a community and attract individuals to our area for business and pleasure. The arts are central to human development from early childhood. Arts and culture bring joy, new perspectives, richness, and innovative ideas to all aspects of community life, from business and community development to leisure and extra-curricular pursuits. The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation has created the Arts & Culture Fund for Greater Green Bay, which will bring visibility to arts and the cultures into our community allowing for expressions of creativity and a clearer sense of place. This includes, but is not limited to, visual and performing arts, participatory performing arts, literary creative expression and cultural diversity, and the preservation and celebration of material culture. Targeted funding will help us build a richer and more diverse greater Green Bay. Make a donation today.
• Non-Profit & Economy Survey. We are conducting the fourth Non-Profit & Economy Survey to examine trends in corporate and individual donations, as well as how non-profits are adapting to economic challenges. Non-profits will receive a survey link this week and the deadline to complete the survey is February 11. We appreciate your assistance in completing the survey. The Non-Profit & Economy Report will be released at the end of March.
• Calendar of Events. Send us your upcoming fundraising events to be added toGGBCF's Calendar of Events. Email event details to ggbcf@ggbcf.org.   

• Online Giving Grew Rapidly in 2012. According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, although online giving remains a small share of the total dollars that charities raise every year, organizations using websites to seek donations are seeing healthy growth for their efforts to attract new donors and persuade donors to give multiple times. During the second quarter of 2012, nearly 51,000 charities reported a 10.9% jump in total online gifts. This was an increase of nearly $204 million for these organizations. While the number of charities raising money grew, as did the number of donors, the average gift size was flat at about $77. Online giving still accounts for less than 10% of the dollars collected by charities.

Visit the GGBCF Website Today