Gifts of Cash are the easiest way to obtain a charitable deduction by helping Return to Freedom. A majority of the gifts made to RTF are in the form of cash through a check written by the donor. If you itemize, your outright gifts of cash are fully deductible for Federal Income Tax purposes up to 50% of your adjusted gross income. If your total gifts exceed this limitation, the excess may be carried forward for tax purposes for up to five years.

Gifts of Stock give you a two-fold tax-saving. First, you avoid paying any capital gains tax on the increase in value of the stock. Second, you receive a tax deduction for the full market value of the stock on the date of the gift. For income tax purposes, the value of such gifts may be deducted up to 30% of adjusted gross income with an additional five-year carry forward. If the stock has depreciated in value, ask your tax advisor if you should sell it in order to report the deductible loss, and donate the proceeds instead, in order to preserve the maximum tax deductions.

The Bequest is a donation made through a will, and is one of the most common planned gifts to RTF. You can designate a certain percentage or a fixed amount of cash from your estate to be given to Return to Freedom. Additionally, you can leave stock portfolios or personal property as part of a bequest. We can be named as a beneficiary in a will in any one of a number of simple ways. In many cases you can easily add us to your will through a simple amendment called a codicil, so that your entire will does not have to be redrafted.

The Federal Estate Tax has not been determined at the time of this publication, but it has historically been at a much higher rate than the income tax. It definitely pays to do some advance planning with your attorney and financial advisors. Please consider Return to Freedom in your estate planning.

The following text is a suggestion for how you can give horses a “Gift of Freedom” in your will. “I give and bequeath to Return to Freedom, American Wild Horse Sanctuary, federal tax number 06-1484961, located at PO Box 926, Lompoc, CA 93438, the gift of ———” (insert cash amount or describe real or personal property in the blank).