/fall11 by Iowa State University Foundation

The Best Thing About the Holidays? The Joy of Helping Others

ew pleasures in life offer more personal satisfaction or endure longer than helping others live better lives. As you think about holiday gifts for family and friends, remember that making year-end charitable gifts can be one of your most heartwarming experiences.

Receive Tax Benefits In addition to the immense personal satisfaction you gain from knowing that your gifts help students and programs at ISU, you may also receive tax benefits. Depending on the gift arrangements you choose, you can reduce your income and future estate taxes; increase your spendable income; eliminate capital gains tax; and attain no-cost, worry-free asset management.

Timing Is Everything Make your gifts to the ISU Foundation by Dec. 31 and you will see a tax break for this year when you itemize deductions on your federal income tax return. To better help you plan, following is a breakdown of when your gift is considered complete.

5 Ways to Make a Difference in 2011 Give cash. Cash is an easy way to give each year and can be used to prepay a pledge. To document a cash gift of any amount, you must have a dated receipt from us. A cancelled check provides sufficient documentation only for gifts by check if they are less than $250.

• Cash contributions sent through the mail are usually deductible if they are postmarked on Dec. 31. • Securities are generally deductible on the date they are transferred (if done electronically) to our books — not the date you ask your broker to make the transfer. • Real estate gifts, in most states, are considered complete on the date a properly executed deed is delivered to us. • Tangible personal property gifts are complete once the property is delivered to us. • Life insurance gifts are considered complete on the date you sign the paperwork transferring ownership to the ISU Foundation, assuming you properly forward the form on to the insurance company.

The information in this publication is not intended as legal advice. For legal advice, please consult an attorney. Figures cited in examples are for hypothetical purposes only and are subject to change. References to estate and income taxes include federal taxes only. State income/estate taxes or state law may impact your results.

SCHOLARSHIP STICKS TO ROOTS

We Can Help Contact us at 800.621.8515 for more information about the many ways you can make a difference with a gift to ISU this year.

Special Opportunity for Your IRA Ends Dec. 31

f you’re 70½ or older, your chance to make tax-free charitable gifts from your IRA for 2011 ends Dec. 31. You can transfer up to $100,000 directly from your IRA to a qualified charity like the ISU Foundation.

Continued from page 1 was directly responsible for Cargill’s barge business. Prior to moving into the transportation department, Allen was a commodity trader for Cargill where he traded soybeans, oil seeds, and sunflower seeds. It was a long way from a high school classroom, but it was a career in which Allen thrived. “I enjoyed trading,” he says. “It really gets under your skin.”

that you’ve owned longer than a year to fund the gift, you will be entitled to an income tax deduction based, in part, on the charitable portion of the securities’ full value, in addition to eliminating up-front capital gains taxes.

Give real estate, artwork, Give appreciated stock or other or other tangible personal property. When you give stock property. Give property that would have or property to the Iowa State University resulted in the greatest capital gain if Foundation, we sell it, allowing you to eliminate you had sold the asset instead. all the capital gains tax you would have paid Donate an insurance policy. had you sold it. Your gift will be deductible at A gift of a life insurance policy its full fair market value on its date of delivery you no longer need makes a perfect if you have held it for more than one year. year-end gift. To qualify as a deductible Invest in a life income plan. A life gift, the ISU Foundation must become income gift, such as a charitable the policy owner. For most types of gift annuity or charitable remainder trust, insurance policies, your tax deduction provides you with payments for the rest is usually the cost basis or the fair of your life and Iowa State with support market value of the policy — whichever thereafter. If you use appreciated securities is less.

A CHANGE IN PLANS

How This Benefits You • The transfer generates neither taxable income nor a tax deduction, so you don’t have to itemize to take advantage of this opportunity.

• The transfer may count against your unsatisfied required minimum distribution from your IRA. • You can see firsthand the difference your philanthropic dollars make to our students, faculty, and staff. Note: The legislation does not permit direct transfers to charitable trusts, donor advised funds, charitable gift annuities, or supporting organizations.

In addition, this opportunity applies only to IRAs and not other types of retirement plans.

NEXT STEP Don’t let this tax-wise opportunity pass you by. If you have a question or would like to make a gift, please feel free to contact us. To learn more, visit www.foundation.iastate.edu/ira. We look forward to hearing from you.

When it came time for Allen to establish a scholarship at Iowa State, he knew exactly the area he wanted to support. Allen and his wife, Jean, have created the Housh Scholarship for Agricultural Education and Studies. “I wanted to continue the relationship I had already established at Iowa State in agricultural education,” he explains. “I had done really well in this area while I was a student, and I thought it was important to follow up by establishing a scholarship in that discipline. “Agricultural education gave me a good foundation for my career, and hopefully this scholarship will help Iowa State students in their career paths.” The Housh Scholarship was established through an initial gift and has been awarded to students majoring in agricultural education since 2004.

The couple has also ensured that the scholarship will continue in perpetuity, thanks to a deferred gift of IRA assets. “The most logical thing we could do with the IRA was to give it away rather than have our estate pay taxes on it,” Allen says. “I guess philanthropy is in my blood,” he adds. “My dad was very civic-minded and my mom was also philanthropic. It felt really good to be able to do this for today’s and future students of Iowa State.”

YOU CAN HELP STUDENTS THRIVE Give us a call at 800.621.8515 to discover how you can create a scholarship that will help Iowa State students thrive.

Samantha Selness Senior Agriculture and Life Sciences Education Mabel, Minn. Recipient of the Housh Scholarship for Agricultural Education and Studies

GIFT IMPACT “During my time at Iowa State, I participated in a department of horticulture trip to Italy and also studied abroad in Ireland this past summer. The Housh Scholarship made it possible for me to go on these

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Your gift, large the or small, helps , students, faculty a w Io and staff of . State University

“ Hopefully this scholarship will help Iowa State students in their career paths.” — Allen Housh

trips and have a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I truly appreciate what the Housh family and others do to fund this and all scholarships that make it possible for me and other Iowa State students to realize their educational and career goals.”