A periodic donation to Immanuel may be set up to be automatically withdrawn from you bank account. Fill out the form available at the church office,

For those over 70 1/2 years old with IRA investments, there is a way to contribute to charitable organizations and still have significant income tax savings. Instead of taking a normal distribution from your IRA (which is taxed as ordinary income) and then contributing that money to a charity (which MAY result in a deduction, but only if you itemize), a better procedure might be to use a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) to move the contribution directly from your IRA to the charity. In that way, the distribution is excluded from your taxable income whether you itemize or not. That may also reduce your Medicare premiums and increase your untaxed Social Security benefit amount by reducing your AGI.

This is especially important to consider if you are over 72 and still have an obligation for an RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) from your IRA before the end of the year and you can afford to make a contribution.

Using a QCD may also reduce your state income tax.

Please consult with your financial advisor, tax accountant, or banker for advice on whether a QCD is appropriate for you and how to set it up properly since there are specific rules you need to follow to qualify. Major brokerages and other financial institutions (such as LCMS Foundation and Thrivent) have on-line QCD forms to use if your IRAs are deposited with them.

A Donor Advised Fund or DAF may be used to facilitate donations to any 501-C3 recognized charity. The advantages of using a DAF are:

• potential income tax savings

• tax free investment growth

• efficient research of charitable organizations

• concise record keeping of donations and contributions

DAFs allow you to make a single contribution into your account and then direct proceeds from that account as multiple grants to charitable organizations over many years. In this way you could make a large contribution in one year (e.g. making a gift of appreciated stock or from an inheritance, etc.) taking the itemized income tax deduction in that year. Then you could direct the payments (grants from that account) to various charities over multiple years. This is useful to bunch your charitable income tax itemized deduction into one year since the federal standard deduction was significantly increased several years ago.

Another advantage with a DAF is that it streamlines your charitable giving process. Charities can be researched, contributions and grants are recorded, periodic contributions can be set up to be periodic – all in one place. You don't need to have an acknowledgment letter from each charity for every donation; only the record of your contribution into the DAF needs to be retained. You can specify that your grants be anonymous as far as the charity is concerned. You can also specify your desire of how you wish the charity would use you donation (e.g. for the general fund, for scholarships, for a specific capital project, etc.) The charity receives a conventional check in the mail attached to a letter specifying whatever grant particulars you've defined.

Major brokerages and other financial institutions MAY include DAF accounts as part of their services; LCMS Foundation has that capability. (Search on-line “LCMS Foundation DAF”) Thrivent Financial also provides this service. (Search on-line “Thrivent DAF”) Some institutions have a nominal annual account maintenance fee. Some offer various investment growth opportunities. Most allow you to set up an account and make your contributions on-line. Some restrictions apply: the charity must meet 501-C3 requirements and your donation may not be a QCD from an IRA. Please consult with a banker or other financial adviser for details before setting up your own DAF.

If you have appreciated stock, you may donate that stock to a charity directly and get a tax deduction based on its current fair market value; you pay no income taxes on the capital gain. This is especially useful to fund a DAF as described above. If you wish to donate stock directly to Immanuel, the church office has forms from LCMS Foundation to facilitate that transfer.

Consider adding charitable organizations, such as Immanuel, as beneficiaries to your estate - insurance policies, financial accounts, and property. Since everyone's circumstances are different and assets are treated differently for taxation by state and federal governments, you need to consult with an attorney or financial advisor to determine your best options.

LCMS - Iowa District West has a Gift Planning Counselor on staff who can give you advice on Christian estate planning.

Donations may be designated to be added to Immanuel's endowment fund, the "Heritage Fund," which is a permanent fund separate from the normal church budget. The fund is invested to generate income. That income, but not the principal, is allocated to support special projects as selected by a standing committee of the church. In this way your donation continues to support Immanuel Lutheran for years into the future.

Tax deductible donations may be made to Immanuel's CDC (Child Development Center), Joyful Journeys, which has a separate budget from the church and which is governed by a separate board. Donations to the Joyful Journeys may be used for general operating expenses or you may wish to designate that your donation be to the scholarship fund to help defray tuition costs for families with lower incomes. Since Joyful Journeys has the same TIN (Tax Identification number) as the church, make sure you indicate which entity you want to receive your donation.

Although Immanuel does not accept donations of clothing for distribution, it does accumulate clothing donations which are periodically transported to Orphan Grain Train.

Immanuel often hosts seasonal drives for clothing, groceries, and other household items for other agencies such as Upper Des Moines Opportunity Inc., or Union Gospel Mission (homeless) Sioux Falls.

Please consult with the church before making a donation of large items such as used furniture or appliances.

There can be significant tax savings for donating grain to a charity rather than selling the grain and donating the cash proceeds. This applies to cash basis farm operators who use itemized deductions. The rules are somewhat complicated; please consult this and your tax advisor.