December Blog

Caring for our Community
What the CARES Act means for your charitable giving

During 2020, the Coronavirus has affected millions of Americans and small businesses. This has resulted in significant federal aid and private donations towards the relief effort. If you have personally donated to a charity during 2020, then you may qualify for a new deduction under the CARES Act. The CARES Act outlines the following changes to charitable giving:

*A new temporary deduction in 2020  for cash donations up to $300, even for taxpayers that do not itemize deductions.  This is an “above the line” deduction.

*For taxpayers that itemize deductions, the adjusted gross income limit for charitable gifts of cash was increased from 60 percent to 100 percent for 2020 only.  This could allow taxpayers to completely wipe out their AGI and their tax liability with a charitable contribution.

If you were subject to required minimum distributions (RMD)  in 2020, the good news is that the CARES ACT suspended the RMD requirement.  But you can still contribute up to $100,000 from your IRA to a qualified charity in 2020.  The check has to be written from the trustee of the IRA directly to the charity.    This way, it doesn’t show up as taxable income and helps prevent the distribution from being taxed in Michigan.

If you have already donated to a public charity in 2020, make sure you received supporting documentation for the donation. If you have yet to donate or have questions, CACF would be happy to help.

Happy Holiday, Doreen

November/December Blog

Dear Friends and Donors,

With the support of our many generous donors in 2020, the Cadillac Area Community Foundation continues to provide support to our community in what has been an extraordinarily challenging year for both our community and our nation.

We live in a community that prides itself in supporting the less fortunate among us as we are indeed all in this together!

At the onset of COVID-19, we provided $25,000 each to Love Inc., in Wexford County, and Community Hope in Missaukee County.  These funds supported the need to provide emergency food and shelter in both communities.

Grants received from Consumer Energy Foundation, DTE Foundation, and gifts from generous donors helped us act quickly to alleviate some of our community’s pressing needs and our non-profits resulting from COVID-19.

Along with our financial support to food pantries, we granted emergency funds to Oasis FRC, Munson Healthcare Cadillac Hospital Patients Needs Fund, and Hospice of Michigan.  Additionally, we provided masks to CAPS students, facemasks, and hand sanitizer to the extraordinary volunteers working at food distribution centers in Wexford and       Missaukee Counties.

We continue to work with our non-profit organizations to find relief efforts and grants to assist them during this uncertain time.

In addition to our contributions to lessen the impact of COVID-19, we continue with our many other community support programs. For our youngest community members, we provide financial support to the Imagination Library that encourages the joy of reading at an early age. For the youth in our community, we provide financial and mentoring support to CACF Youth Advisory Committee. For our future community leaders, we helped support another successful year with the  Leadership Learning Lab.  We provided emergency support for our veterans as needs arise, and we continue to support our non-profit organization’s services and programs.

Nobody knows what the “new normal” will look like; we can hope 2021 will be a fresh start.

The Cadillac Area Community Foundation gives a special thanks to our generous donors and community partners, together, as we continue to impact lives.

Gratefully, Doreen Lanc