Community Foundation of South Central Kentucky

The IRA Charitable Rollover of past years was made permanent on December 18th.

Donors who are age 70-1/2 and older are able to make donations to charity from their IRA without needing to claim that distribution as income.

This provision has been available in years past but was just signed into law on a permanent basis on December 18, 2015, and is retroactive to January 1, 2015.

This is an excellent opportunity for South Central residents to establish a new fund at the Community Foundation of South Central Kentucky to fulfill your charitable goals.  Transfers from IRAs can fund field of interest funds, designated funds, scholarship funds, and agency endowments.  This provision does NOT allow transfers to Donor Advised Funds.

Here is a recap of the IRA charitable rollover rules. You can make a direct transfer if:

1.  You are age 70½ or older on the day of the gift.

2.  You transfer up to $100,000 directly from your IRA to one or more qualified charities. This opportunity applies only to IRAs and not to other types of retirement plans.

3.  You pay no income tax on the gift. The transfer generates neither taxable income nor a tax deduction, so you benefit even if you do not itemize your tax deductions.

4.  The gift can satisfy all or part of your required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year.

5.  The gift may not be used to fund a gift annuity, charitable remainder trust, donor advised fund, or private foundation.

6.  You cannot receive any goods or services in return for the rollover gift in order to qualify for tax-free treatment.

7.  If you make a gift of up to $100,000 directly from an IRA in 2015, the gift will qualify under the new law.

8.  The new legislation does not have an expiration date. You can make gifts in 2015 and beyond.

To transfer a gift from your IRA, please contact your IRA administrator directly.  To create a new (or add to an existing) fund at the Community Foundation, please call Jennifer Wethington at 270-991-6554 or email jenniferw@cfsky.org

Before you call the Community Foundation to open a new donor-designed fund, please review the questions/options below and be thinking of your answers:

• The purpose and focus of the fund—education, fine arts, history, people in need, children, seniors, animals?
• Type of fund
• donor advised*
• designated
• field of interest
• scholarship
• agency endowment
• Endowed (permanent) or non-endowed (pass-through)
• Name of fund (can by anonymous)
• Initial amount of gift
• Type of initial gift (cash, securities, real estate, etc.)
• Donor name(s)
• Fund advisor for distributions
• Successor decision-makers

Once you have answers to these questions, setting up a new fund is fast and easy:

1.    Forward the above answers to jenniferw@cfsky.org

2.    CFSKY returns to you an establishing document that include the details outlined above

3.    Sign and return the establishing document with your initial deposit

4.    That’s it!

Gifts of appreciated securities take a bit of time to process, so please contact us for transfer instructions ASAP so that all can be done by the end of the tax year.

Please call Jennifer Wethington at 270-991-6554 if you have any questions!

*not available to be funded with IRA transfers

At a time when public funding, both from state and federal sources, for many nonprofits is shrinking, some Americans are working hard to pick up the slack.

A local organization—the Women’s Fund of South Central Kentucky—stepped up once again Monday and gave a $51,000 grant to Barren River Area Safe Space. BRASS provides help and comfort to victims of domestic violence and was in need of resources to better serve a segment of society that often suffers in silence.

Four agencies were named finalists Thursday for the Women’s Fund of South Central Kentucky’s inaugural impact grant.

The finalists are Junior Achievement of South Central Kentucky, Barren River Area Safe Space, Boys & Girls Club and South Central Kentucky Kids on the Block. The 214 members of the Women’s Fund will decide collectively which organization will receive a $51,000 grant. The other three agencies will receive $3,000 each.

The children and grandchildren of Cal and Laura Turner, founders of Dollar General, opened their historic home for tours for the first time ever Thursday night to kick off the Laura Turner Dugas Fund for Allen County, continuing a tradition of giving back to the community Cal and Laura loved.

“My grandparents were some of the most generous, giving people and they felt like they had been so blessed by this community, and to which much is given, much is expected in return,” said the Turner’s granddaughter and Vice Chair of the Laura Goad Turner Charitable Foundation Katherine Sikora.

The Women’s Fund in Bowling Green, in its first year of existence, is making its presence felt.

In November, the Women’s Fund will award $60,000 to programs that benefit women and children.

The Women’s Fund will award $60,000 in grants in November to programs that benefit women and children.

Together, 210 women have contributed funds toward the new endowment that is part of the Community Foundation of South Central Kentucky.

Those women, combined or singly, have 120 memberships at $1,000 each to start the fund, half of which will go toward grants each year and half into an endowment to sustain the giving program. With lifetime members, that endowment stands at about $92,000, according to Women’s Fund Chairwoman Shannon Vitale.