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Your Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts fuels progress toward gender equity by funding the most promising solutions, collaborating with results-oriented partners, and by elevating the collective power of local women to take charge, and to lead with purpose.

Since 1997, your Women’s Fund has awarded over $2.5 million to more than 150 nonprofit organizations. Your investment helps build long-term, sustainable, change through:

  • Leadership Development – 250+ women trained to lead your communities in public, private and policy leadership roles through our Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact (LIPPI).
  • Local Investment – 3 million women and their families in Massachusetts are impacted through our strategic partnerships and grant making
  • Shared Vision – Over $2,500,000 has been invested by you, and more than 4,000 like-minded donors. Together, we change the game, to change the world.

For information on supporting your Women’s Fund, or to learn more about the impact of your investment, please contact Sarah Monson, Senior Director of Philanthropy, at smonson@mywomensfund.org or 413.206.7947

Ways to Give

Online

Make an impact now by giving online.

Help Us Make Your Dollars Go Further!

Become a Stakeholder in fighting for gender equity by making a monthly, automatic gift to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts. You set the amount and day of your monthly gift and you’ll never have to worry that you’ve missed out on supporting women and girls of Western MA.

Monthly donations benefit you and the Women’s Fund:

  • The financial impact of your gift is spread throughout the year
  • It’s cost effective by keeping our gift-appeal printing and postage costs at a minimum
  • You won’t receive multiple requests for donations in your inbox or mailbox
  • Virtual giving is kinder to our planet – paperless is just as powerful
  • We can make sound decisions about our plan of work with realistic, long-range revenue predictions
  • You’ll be kept up-to-date with what the Women’s Fund is accomplishing with a monthly e-newsletter, quarterly CEO Conference Calls, and invitations to thought-provoking events

Start your monthly donation today by giving online and checking the box “Make this donation monthly.” Help us make your dollars go further and become a Stakeholder in fueling the progress of gender equity.

By Mail

You can also make a gift by sending your check to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts at 333 Bridge Street, Springfield MA 01103.

Gifts of Stock

Gifts of appreciated stock or other securities are a great tax-savings way to make a donation to your Women’s Fund. If you have held a stock for over a year, you can transfer it to The Women’s Fund. We will in turn sell that stock and use the proceeds to fund our work. The benefit to you is an immediate income tax deduction for the fair market value on the date of transfer. If you plan to make a gift of stock, please contact us to let us know and then share the following information with your broker:
Please provide these instructions to your broker to request an in-kind transfer of stock. The bolded items need to be specified by you:

  • Receiving Firm: National Financial Services (NFS)
  • NFS DTC # 0226
  • Specify number of Shares
  • Specify name of Stock/CUSIP/Symbol
  • Receiving Account Number: JAV817517
  • Receiving Account Registration: Corporation
  • Tax Identification Number of Receiving Account: 043342411
  • Legal Address of Receiving Account: 333 Bridge Street, Springfield, MA 01103

IRA Charitable Rollover

IRA charitable rollover gifts are another way to support your Women’s Fund and receive some helpful tax benefits, too. If you are age 72 or older, a qualified charitable distribution made directly from your traditional or Roth IRA to the Women’s Fund may offer some helpful tax benefits including avoiding income taxes on transfers up to $100,000, excluding the amount donated from your adjusted gross income, and not increasing the taxable portion of your Social Security benefits. To make a qualifying charitable distribution from your IRA, contact your IRA administrator to have the gift amount distributed directly to the Women’s Fund.

Joan's Circle of Friends: A Living Legacy

Join Joan’s Circle of Friends

Our Planned Giving Program is designed to provide new and creative opportunities for our community to give to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts. Through our program, those who believe in the Fund’s mission and recognize the positive impact of the Fund’s work in our communities, seek to make the Women’s Fund part of their enduring legacy by including us in their will or estate plan. In turn, their gift becomes part of our endowment and a gift to generations to come.

This is not about one singular gift, but rather a collective of the many voices of folks who believe in empowering a brighter, stronger future for the women and girls in Western Massachusetts. Joan knew we could all do our part.

Joan’s Circle of Friends

Susan Alston
Elizabeth Anema
Joanna Ballantine
Mary Barringer
Marguerite Bedell
Olivia Bernard
Monica M. Borgatti
Sue Bowman
Carol Campbell
Maryjane Canavan

Susan Clopton
Patricia “Chia” Collins
Kim Cook
Michele Ditomassi
Laurie Estes
Liz Feeley
Dianne Fuller Doherty
Dana Gillette
Donna Haghighat
Joan Hastings*

Wilmot Hastings*
Cristina Howard
Amy Jamrog
Cindy Johnson
Elizabeth (Betsy) Johnson
Jennifer Ladd
Susan Lantz
Shela Levante
Eleanor Lord
Arwen Lowbridge

Susan Lowenstein Kitchell*
Sue Monks
Robyn Newhouse
Carla Oleska
Brenda Oppermann
Anne Paradis
Ronda Parish
Mary Jean Picknelly
Jill Paul
Lisa Ranghelli

Martha Richards
Joan Rosenbaum
Lindsay Sabadosa
Pamela Stobierski
Lisa Unger Baskin
Barbara Viniar
Abbie von Schlegell
Anne Weiss
Halina Wiczyk
Anonymous

*Deceased Member

Plan Your Legacy Giving

Making a charitable gift through your will or estate plan may let you support the Women’s Fund more significantly than you could during your lifetime. You may realize the potential of your philanthropy through any of the following options:

Bequests

By including the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts in your will, you can ensure that your generosity will continue in perpetuity. The Women’s Fund pledges to put your gift to the best possible use by increasing our grantmaking and other program work to improve the lives of women and girls in Western Massachusetts. There are several ways to make contributions through your will. You can give:

A Percentage:
“I give, devise, and bequeath to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, Massachusetts, _____ % of my estate to be used for its charitable purposes.”

A Specific Dollar Amount
“I give, devise, and bequeath to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, $xxx,xxx to be used for its charitable purposes.”

A Residue
A residue is what assets remain after other bequests have been granted. “All the residue of my estate, including real and personal property, I give, devise, and bequeath to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, to be used for its charitable purposes.”

Note: The above wording is suggested. Consult your attorney when preparing any legal document.

Life Income

A life income plan gift allows you to make a gift to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts and receive payments from your gift. Such gifts include charitable gift annuities, charitable annuity trusts, and charitable unitrusts. Each plan allows you to help us in the future and enjoy immediate benefits in exchange for your future contribution.

Your benefits include:

  • The opportunity to receive fixed or variable payments for life.
  • The opportunity to provide benefits for a surviving beneficiary.
  • Income-tax deductions can be taken in the year the life income plan is
    established and can be carried forward into as many as five additional
    tax years if necessary.
  • Avoiding or reducing capital gains tax when you use appreciated property
    to fund certain life income agreements.

Note: Savings from estate and inheritance taxes on assets transferred to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.

Retirement Assets

You may find that gifts of retirement assets can maximize the value of your gift while minimizing your taxable income. When you bequeath retirement assets to your heirs, you are leaving them taxable assets. After your heirs pay the taxes due on these assets, their inheritance will be considerably less than the original amount. However, if you bequeath retirement plan assets to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, we will not have to pay income taxes on the assets. This will allow you to make a larger gift and possibly save other nontaxable assets for your heirs.

You may also want to consider setting up a charitable trust with retirement assets, which is described in Trusts.

Note: This information is not intended as specific legal advice. Consult your attorney when considering any legal matter. State laws which govern wills and contracts vary and are subject to change.

Trusts

There are many types of trusts to make the most of the legacy you’ve created. For example, you could establish a Charitable Remainder Trust by transferring your retirement assets to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts as the last beneficiary. The trust can provide payments for your spouse or another loved one for the rest of her/his life. After the death of your beneficiary, the assets remaining in the trust can be used by the Women’s Fund to continue our work. There will be no estate or income taxes imposed on the assets at the time of the gift.

Note: This information is not intended as specific legal advice. Consult your attorney when considering any legal matter. State laws governing wills and contracts vary and are subject to change.

Life Insurance

Life insurance is an underused asset in charitable giving, yet its flexibility makes it possible for virtually everyone to make a meaningful gift. Some possibilities include:

Give a Percentage
You could opt to designate a percentage of your life insurance policy to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.

Give a Paid-up Policy 
Most people own life insurance, and many have policies that have outlived their original purpose. For instance, policies for a college education, those insuring a business, or those protecting a mortgage can make excellent gifts when given to a charitable organization. And the donor can deduct the replacement value of the policy.

Buy a New Policy
Some people find they can make a much larger gift than they could otherwise afford by purchasing a life insurance policy and naming the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts as owner and beneficiary. The future premiums paid are deductible as cash contributions.

Buy Insurance to Replace a Bequest
Some people find they can make a current gift of assets they had planned to bequeath in their wills. They receive the income tax benefits now and replace the assets by buying a life insurance policy for that amount. They enjoy the satisfaction of giving now and receiving the tax deduction now, when they need it most. The beneficiaries will still receive the same amount.

Add a Beneficiary
Regardless of financial circumstances, almost anyone can name the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts as a secondary or final beneficiary of a new or existing policy. This simply means that if the first beneficiary(ies) predeceases you, our foundation becomes the beneficiary. Because the gift is not definite, there are no income tax benefits; but, if any funds do finally go to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, they will be deductible from federal estate taxes.

“

My joy in the scale and scope of our vision is immense. This is not a pilot project, a special needs program, this is the real thing. I feel we are in a position to address larger scale social values as well as provide new opportunities in Western Mass.

Joan HastingsBoard Alumna
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