The Lutheran Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) of Indiana received more than $1.2 million from nearly 800 donations for the first half of the fiscal year, from July 1 to December 31, greatly increasing available scholarship funds for new and existing Lutheran school students in the state of Indiana.
Those numbers are four times the $290,000 received for the previous fiscal year. Schools are experiencing the multiplying effect of SGO donations as donors increase their support to take advantage of the extremely generous tax advantages. Donors ask if we ever run out of available state tax credits, and we direct them to our website that has a link to the Indiana Department of Revenue and the ongoing tally of available credits. As of February 10, we still have approximately $1.7 million in available credits statewide. Please note, unlike last fiscal year, when only one-half of the credits were taken, next fiscal year we may just be looking at a "first in, first get" situation as current donors continue their support, and word of the benefits spreads exponentially to more and more donors. Schools may therefore want to plan the timing of their SGO promotions accordingly. We also want to remind readers that while the general tax year-end rush is over, SGO donations can still be made through June 30 when the tax credits will be reset to the $7.5 million level again, and also any excess donations this year can be carried over for up to nine years more. The Lutheran SGO of Indiana also is experiencing a greater than expected increase in support from businesses, partnerships, and the self-employed who pay quarterly estimated taxes and can especially benefit from SGO donations to reduce their yearly and quarterly tax payments. Still divided on the benefits of SGOs for your school? Please visit The Lutheran SGO of Indiana at www.LutheranSGO.org for FAQs, donor forms, sample bulletin inserts, online and reoccurring donations, and much more.
