Major Gifts/Planned Giving

Leaving a Lasting Mark Your gift to The Florida Center is a lasting investment in the lives of children, families and our community. With your help, The Florida Center will continue to help prevent child abuse and neglect, treat learning and developmental delays and physical and mental disabilities in young children, and provide families with counseling, training and the resources necessary to raise healthy and happy children.

Major gift and planned giving options can easily integrate a charitable gift into a donor’s overall financial, tax and estate planning objectives. Making a gift using one of these options can maximize benefits to both the donor and The Florida Center. Gifts can be either cash or from assets and can be outright or deferred.

Appreciated Assets The simplest way to donate to The Florida Center is through gifts of cash; however, this may not always be the most tax-efficient way to give. Gifts of other assets, especially appreciated financial assets, may help you avoid capital gains taxes. Because The Florida Center is a charitable tax-exempt organization, it can accept appreciated assets and then liquidate them without having to recognize capital gains. The donor, in turn, may be allowed to take a charitable deduction in income tax reporting for the full value of contributed assets.

Bequests The Florida Center receives vital support for its mission in the form of bequests, gifts of life insurance, residual pension benefits, individual retirement accounts and other testamentary gift arrangements. Bequests enable you to specify either a fixed amount or a percentage of your estate. You may also include The Florida Center as secondary beneficiary in your will, retirement and life insurance programs. There is no limit on federal estate tax deductions for charitable contributions.

Gifts of Appreciated Securities This form of giving may allow you to increase the size of your gift while lowering your net-after-tax cost. Donations of publicly traded stocks or other investments that you have held for more than one year generally escape capital gains taxes and allow an income tax deduction based on the fair market value on the date of the gift. Appreciated securities can be given annually or as a one-time contribution.

Gifts of Real Estate Many real estate holdings have appreciated greatly in recent years and may be subject to capital gains taxes if sold. Donation of real estate directly to The Florida Center or through the use of a charitable remainder trust often minimizes these taxes and generally provides an income tax deduction.

Through planned giving, it is possible to make gifts to The Florida Center that you might have previously thought impossible. It is highly recommended that donors consult with their own tax or legal advisors prior to making a planned gift. For additional information, please contact our Chief Development Officer at (941) 371-8820 ext. 1010.