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A Tax-Saving Way To Start Your Legacy
COMMUNITY
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN NORTHEAST FLORIDA
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A TAX-SAVING WAY TO START YOUR LEGACY
By Kellie Smith, Jewish Foundation Director Jewish Federation & Foundation of Northeast Florida
Are you a charitably minded senior with a traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA)? Struggling with your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)?
Many people know they can deduct donations to charity from their income taxes but increasing your knowledge of tax planning strategies with retirement funds can help to maximize your giving impact as you age.
If you are 70½ years or older, one of the easiest ways you can make a diff erence is by giving directly from your IRA to a qualifi ed charity, such as the Jewish Foundation, which allows you to pay no income taxes on the gift. The transfer generates neither taxable income nor a tax deduction, so you benefi t even if you do not itemize your deductions.
Since the gift doesn’t count as income, it reduces your annual income level. This may help lower your Medicare premiums and decrease the amount of Social Security that is subject to tax.
Gifts of any value, up to a maximum of $100,000, are eligible for this benefi t. This popular gift option is commonly called the IRA charitable rollover, but you may also see it referred to as a Qualifi ed Charitable Distribution (QCD) and many choose to use that pesky RMD to get it started! Beginning in the year you turn 72, you can use your gift to satisfy all or part of your RMD.
One example of optimizing the use of QCD is to establish a perpetual Endowment Fund. By making a QCD donation to an endowment with our Jewish Foundation, you are creating a lasting legacy by investing in your Jewish community for generations to come. Contributions can be made to your new endowment fund at any time during your life or after your passing.
By utilizing these giving strategies, you can make a diff erence and save on your taxes. Your gift will be put to use today, allowing you to see the diff erence your legacy is making in life, while helping to secure Jewish tomorrows in Northeast Florida long after you’re gone.
We want to help you create your own Endowment Fund and maximize your giving impact! Contact Kellie Smith, Foundation Director, at (904) 512-3796 or by email KellieK@jewishjacksonville.org.
By Andy Raitt and Stephanie Butler, Martin J. Gottlieb Day School
For the 2021-2022 school year, Martin J. Gottlieb Day School will undergo a blended learning initiative. Blended learning is a studentcentered approach that facilitates learning and fosters student engagement by creating a learning environment where students control their pace, time, and place for learning. This school year, we are piloting blended learning in math. The purpose of this is to reach all learners through a personalized approach to learning at their current mathematics level. The 2nd through 8th-grade math classrooms are piloting the station rotation model in their classrooms. The station rotation model allows students to rotate through stations on a fixed schedule, where at least one of the stations is an online learning station. Our vision is to better prepare students with the content knowledge, cognitive skills, habits of success, and real-world practice necessary to thrive in school and beyond. The ultimate goal for students is to own and drive their learning experience, thereby making students active participants in their journey. Students will use valuable online resources that will enable teachers to facilitate differentiation efficiently. We will create a set of tools designed to ensure a guaranteed and viable curriculum and deepened personalization of the learning experience. Students express their learning styles and preferences as learners in any unit of study and are offered multiple ways to demonstrate mastery of standards, choice, and individualization. This will allow students to be aware of what they are learning and their progress towards learning standards. Students will reflect on their learning and set S.M.A.R.T. goals, which are measurable and studentcentered. Teachers research and assign various resources for students to use for learning in a blended learning environment, both traditional and online, and tailor levels for each student. Blended learning allows students to become agents of learning and create a personalized connection.
COMMUNITY
RIVER GARDEN RECEIVES GRANT FROM THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR NORTHEAST FLORIDA
By Lisa Poremba, River Garden Senior Services
River Garden received a fi rst time grant from the Grace H. Osborn Endowment at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida. The $10,000 grant was awarded to assist with the reopening of our Adult Day Program (ADP) and specifi cally address challenges precipitated by COVID-19 isolation.
River Garden has provided a successful outpatient adult day program for almost 30 years, focused on the care of persons with dementia and other chronic illnesses, including supervision, activities, meals and supportive personal care services. The program was closed from March 2020 until it reopened on July 19, 2021. As we prepared to reopen the program families shared how the isolation due to COVID-19 wreaked havoc with their loved ones functional and cognitive abilities and contributed to a decline in the person’s activities of daily living.
The plans to reinvigorate our program involves a more focused and holistic approach to activity programming, evaluating all current activities against the six dimensions of Hettler’s Model of Wellness (physical, spiritual, social, emotional, occupational and intellectual), as well as considering the functional capacity of the participant. Funding from the grant will enhance our wander walk area with more outdoor seating and shade, purchase equipment to upgrade interaction with more hands on activities, and provide extra educational opportunities for our staff through the Teppa Snow Positive Approach to Care Organization.
Families are counting on us to assist them in their quest to improve their loved ones quality of life. We are grateful to The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida for investing in River Garden’s Adult Day Program and supporting our philosophy of continual evaluation and improvement towards excellence.
