New "Giving Book" charitable gift guide released

Great Falls residents have new resource for giving.

About three months ago in this space, we appealed to area nonprofits to get their mission statements and program descriptions together and submit them for publication in The Giving Book, a first-of-its-kind clearinghouse of such information in the Great Falls area.

They did, and the result — a 70-page compendium of local organizations to which tax-deductible contributions may be made — is now available to the public.

Organized by the Great Falls Area Community Foundation, a primary goal in creating the book was to get the complete information into the hands of estate planners, accountants and other professional finance advisers in order to facilitate giving on the part of their clients.

But the clients themselves — people or businesses looking to make charitable contributions and bequests or set up memorials — will almost certainly be interested in it, too.

The Giving Book lists 62 area nonprofits, 21 of which have endowments.

That's an extra feature of the book: It explains how the Montana Endowment Tax Credit works.

You can get a more detailed explanation of that and other types of giving and the range of tax advantages they might offer in the book, or from your adviser, but in a nutshell:

The Montana Endowment Tax Credit provides a credit against state income tax liability of 40 percent of the present value of any planned gift to a permanent endowment of a Montana charity up to a maximum amount of $10,000 per year per taxpayer.

It also provides a credit against state income tax liability in the amount of 20 percent of the present value of any outright gift by a business entity to a permanent endowment of a Montana charity up to a maximum of $10,000 per year per taxpayer.

"There are amazing tax benefits for giving and there is a myriad of groups that are functioning and doing good for the community," said one of the project's organizers, Judy Held, who helped put together a similar book in Sidney a few years ago. "This guide will be a resource not only for people to use for giving, but to also to get involved and provide other support."

It will indeed be a resource, and we encourage anyone contemplating their 2012 giving plans, as well as thinking about writing their will, to pick up a copy and give it a look.

The range of worthwhile causes it lists may surprise you.

Copies are available at the NeighborWorks office at 509 1st Ave. S. in Great Falls.

By Great Falls Tribune Staff January 10, 2012