We have had donors label the SGO program as “magical”; why is that?
When you donate to the Lutheran SGO, you get a 50% State tax credit that carries forward for 9 years should you be eligible for more SGO credits than you need. This is true whether you itemize or not.
This is magical.
You can make capital gain taxes disappear too if you donate property like stocks and mutual funds if you owned the property for more than a year.
No sleight of hand here!
This magical reality is so important to the school you love so much that it is important for you to know some other rabbits hiding in the hat. Money in a Donor Advised Fund (“DAF”) can be given to the Lutheran SGO and designated for the benefit of your school. Of course, you do not get the magical deduction or tax credit with a Donor Advised Fund, but the school receives this magical money just the same.
More magic!
For those of you over 70 and ½ years old, you can magically use the Charitable Rollover to transfer directly money from an IRA to the Lutheran SGO and meet your Requirement Minimum Distribution (“RMD”) and not report it as income.
SGO money is magical in another respect: your school ultimately controls when your gift is utilized. When one of the schools in our family of schools decides to award SGO money to a student, the school goes online and requests a distribution for those families that have applied, and qualify for SGO scholarships. Your gift is there, ready to be used when needed.
The Lutheran SGO cannot give tax advice so you should consult your tax advisor. Please let us know how we can help you help the school that means so much to you by contacting us at 260-203-4509 or at info@lutheranSGO.org. You can also visit their website and view the brochures, FAQs, etc. at www.LutheranSGO.org.
The author would like to thank Mark Ulmschneider for helping draft this article.
