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FRIENDS
MANY WAYS TO GIVE
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Virginia Wood Photo: Mike Ryan
The Fells – and the Friends – appreciates your help!
There are many ways of helping the Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation to preserve and protect the Fells now and for future generations. The following outline describes common gift methods. For more information, please write: Friends of Middlesex Fells Reservation, 235 West Foster Street, Melrose MA, 02176; or email: friends@fells.org or phone: 781.662.2340
Gifts by Check
Simply make out your check to “Friends of the Fells” and mail it to us at: 235 West Foster Street, Melrose MA 02176. Your charitable gift is tax-deductible.
Direct Contribution
Simply visit the Membership page of this website!
Gifts of Securities
Ask your financial advisor about the tax benefits of donating appreciated securities to the Friends of the Fells.
Matching Gifts
Many employers offer to match the charitable gifts of their employees. If your company has this policy, ask your benefits office for instructions.
Gifts from your IRA
If you are age 70½ or older, you may make cash gifts totaling up to $100,000 a year from your traditional or Roth IRA to qualified charities without incurring income tax upon withdrawal. The provision is effective for tax years 2006 and 2007 only, so you must act by December 31 to take full advantage.
Planned Giving – Bequests
A bequest – providing for the Friends of the Fells in your will – is perhaps the simplest form of a planned gift. In most cases, the language can be brief and straightforward, such as:
“I hereby give Friends of the Fells, a Massachusetts non-profit organization, a bequest of $_____ to be used for its general charitable purposes.”
Please be sure to let us know about your decision, so your gift can be properly acknowledged.
Qualified Pension Plans
Designating Friends of the Fells as the beneficiary to your IRA, Keogh, or other qualified pension plan can have significant tax benefits to you and your survivors. Assets in these plans accumulate without being taxed, but when they are distributed, substantial taxes can result. Designating a charity as the beneficiary, while leaving other types of assets to surviving family members, can maximize your ability to provide for both your family and the charity.
Life Insurance
Life insurance can be used to maximize the power of the charitable gifts you can afford to make. It can also be a versatile wealth replacement tool for estate planning. For instance, if you name Friends of the Fells as the owner and the beneficiary of your life insurance policy, all premiums you pay will be tax-deductible gifts and, upon your death, the Trust will receive the full benefits of the policy. Additionally, the cash value of the policy, accumulating over time, can be accessed should the charity need it.
Nature needs protection!
For more than two decades
he Friends of the Fells has
worked to uphold the
spirit that honors the
precious natural beauty –
the wildness – of the Fells.
During a time of rapidly
vanishing open spaces it
has been rewarding to unite
with citizens who have joined
in the mission to value and
protect this rare oasis.
Development threats:
The campaign to protect
the Fells from impacts of
the “Langwood Commons”
project proposed for the
former hospital site across
from Spot Pond has now taken a new turn. In 2011 the Mass Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the citizen claims regarding potential environmental impacts from proposed development project must be heard by the lower Court. The Friends will continue to require the project to comply with state statutes and regulations requiring continued environmental impact review.
This means that our campaign to ensure that whatever the developers build at the site is harmonious with the Fells and its historic parkways will continue. This unprecedented citizens campaign to protect the Fells has been successful so far because of your generous donations – we have seen firsthand that there is power in giving!
Educational Programming is Important!
We ask for your continued support for the many Fells hike and educational programs which provide opportunities for young and old alike to learn about and experience the beauty of the Fells Reservation in all seasons.
Please make checks payable to the Friends of the Middlesex Fells, 235 West Foster Street, Melrose, MA 02176. You can
also contribute directly from the Membership page of this website!
Thank You!
Mike Ryan, Executive Director
Bryan Hamlin, Board Chairman
All donations are tax-deductible, the Friends of the Fells is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization.
Check with your employer’s Human Resources Depart- ment to see if they will match your gift!
