Dear Friends, As we near the end of the Lenten season, and Holy Week is now upon us, I ask you to reflect on the joy, beauty, and grace in your life with reverence for the sacred and gratitude for life itself. Easter represents a time of peace and renewal in our lives. No matter […]
As we near the end of the Lenten season, and Holy Week is now upon us, I ask you to reflect on the joy, beauty, and grace in your life with reverence for the sacred and gratitude for life itself. Easter represents a time of peace and renewal in our lives. No matter what challenges you might be facing, whether in work or in life, please always remember that you are a blessing to those around you—to your co-workers, to those we serve, and to your loved ones.
As I reflect upon this Easter season, I feel so grateful for each of you, and for the incredible service that you provide at Catholic Charities San Francisco. Thank you for being a blessing in my life. May you be well and share in the inspiration of this sacred season. We welcome the renewal of spring as we witness growth and draw close to our hearts to understand the wisdom of Easter.
I wish you and your loved ones a truly joyous Easter, and hope that you find inspiration in the words of Pope John Paul II:
“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”
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Meet Elizabeth
Teacher at TICDC
When Elizabeth’s daughter Alexa began attending Treasure Island Child Development Center, Elizabeth shared her dream of becoming a teacher with staff who set her up as a teacher’s aide while she completed her certification. When Elizabeth became pregnant with another child, TICDC staff came up with a plan that allowed her to teach the youngest age group so she could be with her new daughter while teaching.
“I think this is the most important thing that has happened in my life, to have this opportunity to work and have my child in the center. Being a single mom with two kids, pregnant, with no job, it was really hard for me…now I really want to thank Catholic Charities for the opportunity to have this job and support my family.”
Long-Term Volunteers
START
Check our website for some opportunities, please contact us for newly added opportunities.
OMI Senior Center Program Activities Assistant Volunteer
Long-Term Commitment (3 Month Minimum)
Our Aging Support Service programs function on the belief that seniors are more likely to thrive when they live among friends and family and participate in their own communities.
Catholic Charities’ OMI Senior Center, assist seniors and disabled adults to maintain their independence by providing a program of activities, socialization, a hot meal, assistance, and support in a safe and engaging environment to prevent isolation and institutionalization.
The OMI Senior Center help the consumer at every point in the spectrum of care, whether it is for outreach or resource information, they receive guidance and support.
Program/Activity Assistants lead a variety of activities and provide assistance with activities of daily living for the physically/cognitively impaired older adults we serve. They work as a team, promoting independence and enhancing the participant’s experience in the program.
What you will do:
Help set up tables and serve snacks and/or lunch as applicable.
Duties will include greeting and welcoming clients in the reception area.
Assist in the oversight of the facility; upkeep and supplies.
Assist with our weekly food pantry distribution.
Assist with the daily lunch sign-in sheet, activity sign-sheet, and electronically scanning senior gold cards.
Attend meetings and training programs, as requested.
Perform general clean-up of the reception area.
We encourage volunteers to share their special talents or hobbies, as they might be incorporated to enhance our activity program.
Preferred Skills:
Enjoys working with the senior community
Patient, friendly and flexible
Detail Oriented
Being bilingual in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, or Tagalog is highly appreciated but not required.
Our Aging Support Service programs function on the belief that seniors are more likely to thrive when they live among friends and family and participate in their own communities.
Catholic Charities’ OMI Senior Center, assist seniors and disabled adults to maintain their independence by providing a program of activities, socialization, a hot meal, assistance, and support in a safe and engaging environment to prevent isolation and institutionalization.
Volunteers are needed to assist with greeting and registering seniors attending the OMI Senior Center program. The Volunteer helps the Program Director and OMI Staff greet program attendees and register them for the activities they plan to participate in during their program visit.
What you will do:
Duties will include greeting and welcoming clients in the reception area.
Assist with daily activity sign-in sheets, lunch sign-in sheet, and electronically scanning senior gold cards.
Attend meetings and training programs, as requested.
Perform general clean-up of the reception area.
Preferred Skills:
Enjoys working with the senior community
Patient, friendly and flexible
Detail Oriented
Being bilingual in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, or Tagalog is highly appreciated but not required.
Demonstrates the necessary attitudes, knowledge and skills to deliver culturally competent services and work effectively in cross-cultural situations.
Volunteers are needed to assist with the program’s weekly food distribution to seniors. The Food Pantry Volunteer helps the Program Director and OMI Staff oversee the implementation of the food pantry distribution.
What you will do:
Duties will include: organizing and distributing food items dropped off at the center from the SF Food Bank
Carry and sort food items.
Preferred Skills:
Enjoys working with the senior community
Patient, friendly and flexible
Detail Oriented
Available Thursday mornings
Able to lift up to 10 lbs.
Being bilingual in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, or Tagalog is highly appreciated but not required.
Charitable lead trusts share trust income with a charity over a period of years. Donors fund a charitable lead trust by transferring cash or other assets to their trust. The trust will then make payments to charity on a fixed schedule for a term of years, such as the life of one or more individuals. When the trust term expires, the remaining trust assets are transferred to non-charitable beneficiaries – usually going back to the donor or family members. Charitable lead trusts may produce tax deductions for donors and may reduce estate and gift taxes to heirs.
Gifts of retirement plan assets
Naming Catholic Charities as a beneficiary of your retirement account can be an easy way to make a legacy gift and reduce taxes to your loved ones.
If you leave your retirement plan to your children, they will have to pay income tax on its distribution. Catholic Charities does not pay this tax, so 100% of your gift will be used to support its mission. Here’s an example of what this can mean to your heirs:
A widower died and left his $300,000 house to charity and his $300,000 retirement plan to his relatives. He should have done just the opposite. The relatives had to pay income tax on the $300,000 in the retirement plan, an $80,000 cost to them. If they had received the home, and the charity had received the retirement plan payment, no one would have paid income tax.
To make a gift of retirement plan assets, simply ask your plan administrator for a beneficiary designation form and name Catholic Charities as a primary or contingent beneficiary of your retirement account.
Gifts that reduce taxes
Impact of CARES Act on fundraising and nonprofits
How the CARES Act impacts donors and charitable giving in 2020
Universal charitable deduction for donors who do not itemize
Donors who do not itemize can deduct cash gifts to public charities of up to $300 per taxpayer or $600 per married couple. Cash gifts include those made by check, credit card, electronic funds transfer, or payroll deduction.
Increase in AGI limit for donors who itemize
Donors who itemize can deduct cash gifts to public charities of up to 100% of their adjusted gross income (AGI). While this deduction is reduced by other itemized deductions, any unused deduction can be carried over for up to five additional years.
Increase in limit on cash contributions from corporations
Corporations can give up to 25% of taxable income in 2020 for cash gifts to public charities. While other charitable contributions reduce this limit dollar-for-dollar, cash contributions more than the 25% limit can be carried over for up to five additional years.
Suspension of Required Minimum Distributions (RMD)
The CARES Act suspends RMD for 2020 from IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s and other defined benefit pension plans. This change helps retirees who would have had to take larger-than-expected distributions or face penalties.
IRA “Rollover” gifts & IRA gifts by designation
IRA “Rollover” gifts allow donors, 70 ½ or older, to use IRA assets to make charitable gifts. IRA Rollover gifts are immediate distributions from a donor’s IRA account made directly to charity – that count toward a donor’s required minimum distribution or RMD. By reducing taxable income, IRA Rollover gifts can lower a donor’s tax bill and may help donors avoid Medicare high-income surcharges. And, as IRA Rollover gifts pass tax-free to qualified public charities, 100% of your gift to Catholic Charities can be used to help our brothers and sisters in the Bay Area.
To make the process of giving from your IRA easy, we have an online resource that allows you to give from your IRA to Catholic Charities. Or, if you would prefer to complete the gift offline, you can download the forms you need. This resource works with all major IRA custodians. Give from your IRA today.
As retirement assets are taxed differently, IRA’s left to loved ones can actually become a tax liability. Leaving some or all of your IRA to a good cause, like Catholic Charities, and other, less tax-vulnerable assets to family or friends can reduce this liability for your loved ones. Simply ask your plan administrator for a beneficiary designation form and include Catholic Charities to receive a specific percentage of your account or as a contingent beneficiary.
Gifts of appreciated stock
When you donate appreciated stock, bonds or mutual funds you’ve owned for more than a year, you’ll receive a tax deduction for the fair market value and avoid capital gains tax. Your deduction may provide you with additional tax savings if you itemize.
If you use appreciated stock to fund a charitable gift annuity or charitable trust, you won’t owe capital gains tax when those assets are sold – and you’ll receive an immediate tax deduction – while creating a stream of income for yourself and/or your loved ones.
Gifts that pay you income
Charitable Gift Annuities
Charitable gift annuities provide donors with guaranteed fixed payments for life and an immediate income tax deduction while allowing them to make a significant gift to a good cause they care about.
Gift annuities are easy to establish and can be funded with a minimum gift of cash or stock of $20,000. The annuity rate is based on your age. Typically, you must be at least 60 when payments begin. Gift annuities can provide lifetime payments to one or two people.
Gift Annuity Example: Mary Richards, age 75, funds a $25,000 charitable gift annuity contract to benefit Catholic Charities. Her annuity rate is 6.2%, giving her annual payments of $1550 for her lifetime. Mary also receives a tax deduction she can use if she itemizes. And Catholic Charities will receive much-needed financial support to continue to serve vulnerable communities in the Bay Area.
Charitable Trusts
Here’s how a charitable trust works in 3 steps:
Step 1: Donors make irrevocable transfers of assets to their trust
Step 2: The trust begins to pay income and provide tax benefits
Step 3: When the trust ends, what remains in the trust account goes to charity
With charitable trusts, donors can convert assets into lifetime income while saving on taxes. And they’ll have the satisfaction of providing significant support to good causes like Catholic Charities.
Assets used to fund charitable trusts (cash, stock, or real estate) are sold and invested to pay income to one or more income beneficiaries for life or a term of years. Your trust can also pay income to your heirs for life or for a term of years.
Owners funding charitable trusts with appreciated assets like stock or real estate bypass the capital gains tax they would have owed had they sold these assets outright. If the assets are highly appreciated, this benefit of charitable trusts can be significant.
And, as assets used to fund charitable trusts are no longer part of the donor’s estate, charitable trusts can reduce or eliminate estate tax. When the trust expires, the remainder is distributed to one or more good causes named by the donor.
Gifts that cost you nothing now
Simple gifts in your will or living trust
The most common legacy gift people make to support the work of Catholic Charities is a gift in their will or living trust, also known as a charitable bequest. There is no need to write a check now and your assets remain entirely under your control during your lifetime. To make a charitable bequest, consider adding language like this to your will or living trust: I give { ___ percent of my estate, OR description of asset, OR _____ dollars } to Catholic Charities, a California nonprofit corporation, 1555 39th Avenue Francisco, CA 94122 (Tax ID: 94-1498472), for (check one) ☐ its general use OR ☐ for the following restricted purpose: ___________________________________________________________________________ . (If you wish to restrict your gift, please contact us to ensure Catholic Charities can fulfill your wishes.) Thank you for supporting our mission with your legacy gift!
Create your gift today
If you are ready to include a gift to Catholic Charities of San Francisco in your will or trust today, use our free, online resource. We’ve partnered with FreeWill to give all of our supporters the ability to create their plans online in only 20 minutes.
Prefer to finalize your plans with an attorney? FreeWill can also be used to create a set of documented wishes to bring to the lawyer’s office, saving you time and money on attorney fees. Get started on your plans.
Easy beneficiary designations
Some assets, like life insurance policies, IRA’s, 401k’s, bank and brokerage accounts, and donor-advised funds can be easily given to charity – once you no longer need them – by designation.
Life insurance: You may have a life insurance policy you purchased years ago and no longer need. You can name Catholic Charities as a full, partial or contingent beneficiary of your policy. You can also sign over a fully paid policy and receive a tax deduction for your gift.
IRA, 401k’s and other retirement plan assets: As retirement plans are taxed differently than other assets, they can become a tax liability when inherited. Designating Catholic Charities as a beneficiary of these assets can reduce or eliminate this liability. You can include Catholic Charities on the beneficiary designation form to receive a specific percentage of your account or as a contingent beneficiary.
Bank & brokerage accounts: Assets like certificates of deposit, savings bonds, bank and brokerage accounts can become wonderful charitable gifts – once you no longer need them. Simply name Catholic Charities as the pay-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) beneficiary.
Donor-advised funds: Final distribution of DAF’s is controlled by beneficiary designation. You can easily name Catholic Charities as the successor of your DAF account – or a portion of the account value – leaving the balance in your DAF to allow children and grandchildren to continue your philanthropy.
Terms & Conditions:
Donation Refund Policy
We are grateful for your donation and support of our organization. If you have made an error in making your donation or change your mind about contributing to our organization please contact us. Refunds are returned using the original method of payment. If you made your donation by credit card, your refund will be credited to that same credit card.
Automated Recurring Donation Cancellation
Ongoing support is important to enabling projects to continue their work, so we encourage donors to continue to contribute to projects over time. But if you must cancel your recurring donation, please notify us.
Privacy Policy
What Information Do We Collect? When you visit our website you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and website use information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our website.
Personal Information You Choose to Provide We may request that you voluntarily supply us with personal information, including your email address, postal address, home or work telephone number and other personal information for such purposes as correspondence, placing an order, requesting an estimate, or participating in online surveys. If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail and telephone.
Website Use Information Similar to other websites, our site may utilize a standard technology called “cookies” (see explanation below, “What Are Cookies?”) and web server logs to collect information about how our website is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our website, and the sites visited just before and just after ours. This information is collected on an aggregate basis. None of this information is associated with you as an individual.
How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us? Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of administering our business activities, providing service and support and making available other products and services to our customers and prospective customers. Occasionally, we may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. The lists used to send you product and service offers are developed and managed under our traditional standards designed to safeguard the security and privacy of all personal information provided by our users. You may at any time to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers.
What Are Cookies? Cookies are a feature of web browser software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a website. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored by a user’s web browser on the user’s hard drive. Cookies can remember what information a user accesses on one web page to simplify subsequent interactions with that website by the same user or to use the information to streamline the user’s transactions on related web pages. This makes it easier for a user to move from web page to web page and to complete commercial transactions over the Internet. Cookies should make your online experience easier and more personalized.
How Do We Use Information Collected From Cookies? We use website browser software tools such as cookies and web server logs to gather information about our website users’ browsing activities, in order to constantly improve our website and better serve our users. This information assists us to design and arrange our web pages in the most user-friendly manner and to continually improve our website to better meet the needs of our users and prospective users. Cookies help us collect important business and technical statistics. The information in the cookies lets us trace the paths followed by users to our website as they move from one page to another. Web server logs allow us to count how many people visit our website and evaluate our website’s visitor capacity. We do not use these technologies to capture your individual email address or any personally identifying information about you.
Notice of New Services and Changes Occasionally, we may use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. As a user of our website, you will be given the opportunity to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers by clicking on a response box when you receive such an offer or by sending us an email request.
How Do We Secure Information Transmissions? When you send confidential personal information to us on our website, a secure server software which we have licensed encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. The information is scrambled en route and decoded once it reaches our website. Other email that you may send to us may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information such as Social Security, credit card, or account numbers to us through an unsecured email.
How Do We Protect Your Information? Information Security — We utilize encryption/security software to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss, alteration or destruction. Evaluation of Information Protection Practices — Periodically, our operations and business practices are reviewed for compliance with organization policies and procedures governing the security, confidentiality and quality of our information. Employee Access, Training and Expectations — Our organization values, ethical standards, policies and practices are committed to the protection of user information. In general, our business practices limit employee access to confidential information, and limit the use and disclosure of such information to authorized persons, processes and transactions.
How Can You Access and Correct Your Information? You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our database by emailing us using the contact form provided to you within the site structure of our website.
Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties? We may provide aggregate information about our customers, sales, website traffic patterns and related website information to our affiliates or reputable third parties, but this information will not include personally identifying data, except as otherwise provided in this privacy policy.
What About Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information? We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.
Permission to Use of Materials The right to download and store or output the materials in our website is granted for the user’s personal use only, and materials may not be reproduced in any edited form. Any other reproduction, transmission, performance, display or editing of these materials by any means mechanical or electronic without our express written permission is strictly prohibited. Users wishing to obtain permission to reprint or reproduce any materials appearing on this site may contact us directly.
Tony Alioto
