November 19, 1998 | Read Time: 1 minute
“Put away the checkbook,” Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine (December) tells charity donors. “A non-cash gift gets you more bang for your giveaway buck.”
The magazine outlines the benefits of particular non-cash gifts, including the following:
* Stock and mutual-fund shares. Stock donations have been especially popular as a way to avoid capital-gains taxes. Mutual funds are a bit more complicated for charities to accept, because they must open an account with the fund — but many are willing to do so to accept a gift, says the magazine.
* Retirement accounts. “Donating your 401(k) plan or I.R.A. [individual retirement account] is the best gift you can give,” Kevin Flatley, director of estate planning at BankBoston, told the magazine. “It can save the 55 per cent estate tax and up to 39.6 per cent in income tax that would be paid by your heirs.”
* Artworks. While museums are the major beneficiaries of such gifts, other charities also are happy to receive such donations. The Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California, for instance, recently received artwork worth $140,000 and put it on display in its offices as a way to cheer up youngsters who come to visit. The donor required the charity to hang on to the art for at least two years, but after that it is allowed to sell it or to keep it in the offices.
