As the nation approached the so-called fiscal cliff, many Ozarks businesspeople shared their bounty with local charities instead of their Uncle Sam.
An official from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks – an organization that supports hundreds of charitable and nonprofit entities – was among those who reported increases in year-end fundraising via local donors.
“We had a slurry of activity in the last three weeks as people heard and were worried about what changes could come through,” Community Foundation of the Ozarks President Brian Fogle said of the federal negotiations that concluded New Year’s Day and made permanent Bush-era tax cuts for those with incomes under $400,000.
Fogle said the nonprofit experienced a 30 percent increase in the number of donors in December to 1,489 gift givers, compared to 1,152 in the last month of 2011.
Total gifts in December were $6.3 million, down from $7.1 million in December 2011, but Fogle said $3 million of the 2011 figure came in the form of grants. Minus grants, donations were up 54 percent last month.
Morey Mechlin, executive director of Care to Learn, an organization that provides health, hunger and hygiene products to school-age children in need, said total donations increased nearly 50 percent in December and the number of people donating tripled to 214, compared to 70 in December 2011. Mechlin declined to disclose the donation values.
Mechlin noticed many in the Ozarks donating to local charities as a way for them to control where their money went ahead of impending tax hikes in Washington, D.C.
“I think people were turned off by discussion of the fiscal cliff because it was so politicized, and may have went for things they had control over,” Mechlin said. “They chose to take action in areas where they could have influence.”
Fogle said stock market improvements in 2012 also seem to have impacted donation levels at CFO, which supports 440 nonprofits in southern Missouri.
“This year, especially in December, we had a large increase in people giving appreciated stock,” Fogle said, estimating the increase was more than 10 percent compared to the year before. “When I first came here in fall 2008, it was probably a year before I saw a gift of appreciated stock.”
Last month, Fogle said five gifts of appreciated stock came in on a single day.
At Missouri State University, foundation Executive Director Brent Dunn said phone calls from people with questions about taxes were up considerably.
“I think people were uncertain about what it would be like in the future, so some wanted to wait and see and others were comfortable with making their year-end gifts like they normally do,” Dunn said.
As part of legislation to avoid steep tax increases on most Americans, Congress extended an individual retirement account charitable rollover, which Dunn said resulted in a handful of people committing gifts above $10,000 – an oddity for early January. Individuals age 70 1/2 and older, who delayed taking their IRA distributions until December, can have cash donated to charities through Jan. 31 count as all or part of their 2012 minimum required distribution.
On Jan. 11, the MSU Foundation announced its seven-year campaign dubbed Our Promise ended with a late $2 million pledge in December by Norm Shealy. Shealy, an alternative medicine psychologist, donated his 250-acre Fair Grove farm, which includes farmland, livestock and a conference center, to the school’s psychology and agriculture programs.
Dunn said total donations were down in December to $2 million from $2.6 million, as were donors to roughly 4,200 in the month from 5,000 the year before.
While tax increases may have been on the minds of some donors this year, Fogle said there is a constant factor.
“It is a very important time of year, always – it is the spirit of the holidays, as well,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]
