Please consider a gift to CASA of San Mateo County to ensure that we can care for our children into the future.

Serving more children on our waiting list is our main goal, and that requires recruiting, training and supporting CASA volunteers. To do that, we are seeking donors who are compelled by our mission and extend their generosity to us year after year.

There are a number of tax-smart methods of giving. These include ways to make CASA part of your legacy, ensuring these deserving children benefit from your generosity after your lifetime.

The tax-smart methods explained briefly below enable you to minimize the cost of giving while maximizing the value to CASA of San Mateo County. If you are interested in making CASA part of your legacy, we would be pleased to provide more details.

Gifts of Appreciated Securities

You can avoid capital gains tax by donating securities such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds that you’ve owned for more than one year.

Investments that have appreciated the most are the best candidates for this type of gift.

You get a tax deduction for the full market value without having to pay any capital gains tax. And, if you can’t use the deduction all in one year, you can use it anytime over the following five years.

Gifts of Real Estate

Any type of marketable real estate can be donated, including primary residences, vacation or second homes, and any investment property.

Property you give must not be mortgaged, in order to avoid tax and other complications. You will get a deduction for the fair market value of the property.

You can even give a home to CASA and continue to live there as long as you or your spouse chooses.

This gift arrangement also offers the ability to carry over any unused tax deduction for the following five years.


You can name CASA of San Mateo County in your will or living trust and specify that a certain percentage of your estate, a dollar amount, or other asset go to support our cause.

This is estate tax deductible at your death. Bequests generally are not subject to state inheritance tax. To make a bequest, you can either create a new will or add a codicil (appendix) to an existing will or amend your trust.

Gifts from an IRA

You can give all or part of your interest in a retirement plan, IRA, Keogh plan, tax-deferred annuity or other such qualified plan.

One way you can do this is by naming CASA as a beneficiary of the plan. Upon your death, your interest in the plan passes to CASA without any income tax or estate tax due.

This is a valuable tax break because these plans typically are hit hard by income and estate taxes.

Charitable Remainder Trust

This type of trust allows you to give CASA something of value and keep it, too!
You can give real estate, securities, cash, or other assets by placing any of these in the trust.

You can design the trust to last for your lifetime or for a specific number of years.

Right up front you get an immediate tax deduction for the contribution, including avoiding capital gains tax on appreciated securities.

Then, throughout the term of the trust, you receive regular income payments. Many people use this as a source of retirement income.

At the end of the trust, CASA receives the balance of assets.

A Charitable Remainder Trust has become a very popular vehicle for giving because of its powerful tax advantages and income feature.

Charitable Lead Trust

Each year, this trust pays income from its assets to CASA for as long as you designate. After that, trust assets are paid out to you or your beneficiaries.

You can deposit a number of income-producing investments, including securities, real estate, partnership interests or a combination of these.

First, no capital gains tax is due on assets placed in the trust. Also, you get an immediate, charitable gift tax deduction for the present value of the payments to CASA.

As the income is paid out, no tax is due on any investment return earned by the trust. Plus, no gift or estate tax is due on appreciation of trust assets.

Life Insurance

You can make a gift of life insurance by naming CASA as the beneficiary of a policy. By doing that, you qualify for an immediate tax deduction for the lesser of the cash value of the policy or the total premiums you’ve paid.

Which of these alternatives is best for you?

All of these creative ways of giving help keep CASA of San Mateo County financially secure and provide attractive tax advantages to you.

They present a lot of features and advantages to compare.

If you are interested, a good idea is to consult your financial, legal, and/or tax advisor to help sort through the advantages with your particular situation in mind.

If you don’t currently have an advisor, CASA will be happy to provide a list of independent, licensed professionals from which to choose.

Please contact Nkia Richardson, J.D. with any questions you may have:
650.517.5842 or