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Ways To Give

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Stock Gift

Make a stock gift to Plan USA today, and help support the work of our programs tomorrow.

PHOTO: Diana Barnett

Make a stock gift to Plan USA today, and help support the work of our programs tomorrow.

PHOTO: Diana Barnett

A gift using appreciated securities is an excellent way to maximize a charitable contribution. You may take a tax deduction for the stock’s market value even though the cost basis may be much less. In making a stock gift to Plan USA, you also avoid capital gains tax if you have owned the securities for more than one year.

The most popular way of making a stock gift is by electronic transfer of the securities. Ask your broker to notify us by telephone, fax or letter that a gift is being electronically transferred into our account. Or, you may call us toll free at 1-800-556-7918. This will help us identify you as the donor and provide you with a receipt for tax purposes. Obtain stock transfer instructions.

Some donors are in possession of stock certificates they want to deliver to Plan USA. The certificates need to be signed on the back, and a stock power form and a stock authorization need to accompany the certificates. To ensure secure delivery, the unsigned certificate and stock power should be sent in separate envelopes.

Should you sell the stock and give Plan USA the proceeds, you will not avoid capital gains on appreciated securities. However, you may benefit from a capital gains loss if the stock has decreased in price.

Donor stories
Ed Chalom, a caring sponsor for 31 years, was recently asked why he chose to direct his charitable giving through Plan USA. "I wanted to make a difference in the world," he said proudly. Plan is Ed's favorite charity — as he simply states: "I have seen the results of my support with my own eyes."

In 1996, Ed was able to meet one of his sponsored children, Alexandra while visiting Plan programs in Ecuador as part of a group sponsor field trip. Subsequently, in 1998, he accompanied seven sponsors who visited their sponsored children and Plan programs in Honduras and Nicaragua.

Ed remembers how impressive it was for him watching the families in one community work together with Plan staff to dig a two kilometer trench. This trench would house new piping and transport water into the families' homes.

Just recently, Ed was reminded of how great an impact a few encouraging words can have on a young mind. He received a letter from Alexandra. She recalled their visit eight years earlier when they read a story together about a little girl whose cat had died. Ed told her at the time that she could write a story like that someday. Indeed, Alexandra had written a story about her family and Ed enjoyed reading it immensely.

Today, Ed has no doubt that his support is making a difference in the lives of children and their families in developing countries. He sponsors four children, and has supported Plan's work through gifts of appreciated securities. Plan has invested these securities into a Pooled Income Fund and a Charitable Gift Annuity for Ed.

Aside from knowing that his generous acts will someday help support the work of our programs which he strongly believes in, Ed was able to provide himself with supplemental income (a portion of which is tax free), receive a charitable tax deduction, avoid capital gains taxes on the appreciated portion of his gifts, and is also able to satisfy his charitable intent at the same time. Ed's most recent mission is funding a school repair project in El Salvador.

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* These donor stories are for illustrative purposes. Each story is based on an actual gift case or a combination of cases. The pictures and names may be representative of the actual donors who were involved in either the cases or the combination of cases.

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