More Ways to Give

Help Us Fight Poverty in Our Community.

Providing a safety net and increasing opportunity for all of the families in Washtenaw County are goals we share. That is why your support is so important; it allows us to continue our work. We recognize that it isn’t always easy or convenient to give. Sometimes the expenses of day-to-day living drain our budget, or we would like to make more of an impact than we feel we can presently afford. That’s why it is important to know the many ways to give.

Help Us Fight Poverty in Our Community.

Providing a safety net and increasing opportunity for all of the families in Washtenaw County are goals we share. That is why your support is so important; it allows us to continue our work. We recognize that it isn’t always easy or convenient to give. Sometimes the expenses of day-to-day living drain our budget, or we would like to make more of an impact than we feel we can presently afford. That’s why it is important to know the many ways to give.

Less is Sometimes More

Explore the following ways to give financially to Friends In Deed.

Recurring Donations

You can elect to make a recurring gift that is automatically charged against a credit card or bank account each month. These kinds of gifts can be set up for whatever amount makes sense for your monthly budget. Even small monthly gifts add up fairly quickly to a meaningful gift.

Thrivent Financial

If you are a Thrivent Financial member, you can recommend where some of Thrivent’s charitable outreach funds go; and Friends In Deed is a participating charitable organization.

Go to Thrivent Financial to learn more or call 800-847-4836 and say “Thrivent Choice” after the prompt.

IRA Distributions

Each year, depending on your age, you may be required under Federal Law to take a distribution from your IRA(s). You can set this up so that a percentage or flat amount is deducted as a donation from the amount you receive. These kind of gifts or charitable rollovers bypass your return as income. Taken as they are from funds outside your day-to-day budget, they also hurt less and give more.

Employer Matching Gifts

Many employers will match an employee’s charitable contributions. While most are dollar-for-dollar, many employers will double or triple the amount of the original donation. There are several online services that help you find out if YOUR company matches donations, including DoubletheDonation.com

A Lasting Legacy

Whether it provides a child with a bed or averts a job loss as the result of an unexpected car repair, your support is invaluable to the families we serve. You can make an even bigger impact through a planned gift that extends your charitable values beyond your lifetime. There are many vehicles through which you can accomplish this, most with tax-savings and probate-avoiding benefits.

A Planned Gift to the Weber Endowment Fund

This type of gift will help secure the health of FID into the future. A gift to the Roy & Carol Weber Fund for Friends In Deed is added to the principal and held by the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation for the benefit of FID. Each year, the endowment will distribute 4% of the income generated by the principal to FID. The endowment is open to donations from anyone at any time. If you are interested in giving to the endowment, contact the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation:

Roy & Carol Weber Fund
For Friends In Deed
Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation,
Fund ID 129103
Shelley Strickland, SStrickland@aaacf.org

A Planned Gift to Friends In Deed

An outright gift to Friends In Deed in a will or through a trust will give us the flexibility to adapt to the needs of the community and the stability to plan for the future. These types of gifts can be made to FID with no restrictions.

Planned Giving Options

Planned gifts (otherwise known as Legacy gifts) can be made in several ways. Listed below are just a few of the most common and simple methods, most of which allow you to change your mind at any time and designate as little or as much as you want without affecting your lifestyle today. While we are including information about several methods/vehicles, we recommend that you get advice from your financial planner and/or attorney. We can also connect you with a planned giving specialist at the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation for more information.

Bequest in Your Will

The most recognizable method of making a planned gift is through your will, a document that controls the distribution of some or all of your property upon your death. A bequest under a will gives instructions about how and to whom a particular asset will pass, whether it be a specific amount of money, furniture, a piece of jewelry or a car. While a bequest often describes a specific asset, it can also provide for the distribution of the “residue” of the property making up your estate after other gifts have been made. Property passing by a bequest in a will goes through probate.

Sample language might be:

I hereby give, devise, and bequeath to Friends In Deed ___________________________(describe dollar amount, percent, fractional interest, or property).

Designate FID as a Beneficiary in Your Revocable Living Trust

These types of trusts are made during your lifetime and become irrevocable upon your death. They are often used to reduce estate taxes and probate costs. A trust controls how and to whom the property it contains passes upon your death. Friends In Deed can be named as one of the beneficiaries under a trust with directions for the trustee to pay the organization a specific dollar amount, piece of property, percentage of the property held in the trust, or residue after other beneficiaries have been paid.

Designate FID as a Beneficiary on a Bank Account, 401(K) or Life Insurance Policy

Probably the simplest way of making a charitable gift and avoiding probate is by designating the beneficiaries on a life insurance policy, bank account, 401(k) plan, or IRA. In many cases, this can be accomplished by filling out an appropriate form through your insurer or bank. For instance, you can designate FID as one of the beneficiaries and describe the property that will pass: specific amount, percentage or residue.

Still Other Planned Giving Options

  • Charitable Gift Annuities
  • Charitable Lead Trust
  • Charitable Remainder Trust
  • Contribution of Life Insurance Policy
  • Pooled Income Funds