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Specialty Grant Programs Now Open Five field-of-interest programs, supporting causes like animal welfare and wounded veterans, are open for application through May 15. Learn More

Charitable Giving Options

Working with our tools and your advisors leads to purposeful philanthropy.

How to make a gift by check, cash or credit card

  • Checks are often the easiest way to give. Make your check payable to your fund’s name or the CFO with the fund name in the memo and bring by one of our offices or mail to P.O. Box 8960, Springfield, MO 65801.
  • The CFO does accept cash but asks that any coins or change be converted at a bank before bringing to the CFO office.
  • Credit card donations can be made one-time or recurring on a monthly basis. Click here to give via credit card. You can donate to a specific fund by choosing “Other” in the Gift Designation dropdown menu and then specifying the fund.

How to make a planned gift

There are many ways to ensure your passions and favorite nonprofit organizations are taken care of into perpetuity. Making a planned charitable gift can be simple.

The most common is a bequest of a percentage or fixed amount through a will or trust. Individuals can also name a fund at the CFO as the beneficiary of a portion of a retirement account or life insurance policy. Transfer on death can be added to anything with a title or deed — car, house, vacation home, etc. Pay on death can be added to a checking or savings account.

There are ways to structure planned charitable gifts that also provide life income through charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts. Learn more about planned giving.

How to give stock or appreciated assets

The CFO accepts most publicly traded and closely held stock. Transfers of stock are made in-kind so that the donor does not realize any capital gains associated with the gift. Once the CFO receives the stock, it is immediately liquidated and placed in the fund of your choice.

Please contact the CFO before initiating a stock transfer.

Donor Services

Steps for Creating a Memorial Fund

If you have recently lost a loved one, we extend our condolences. Whether or not the death was expected, we understand that dealing with all the arrangements during a time of grief can be overwhelming. We want to make the process of establishing a memorial fund to honor your loved one as smooth as possible.

Learn More

How to make an IRA gift

Under current tax law, if a donor is age 70 ½ and is required to take a minimum distribution annually from his/her Individual Retirement Account, that gift can be made directly to a nonprofit organization. This allows the donor to avoid claiming the distribution as income while benefiting the charity. These gifts are not allowed into donor-advised funds* but are allowed into any nonprofit agency fund held at the CFO, unrestricted fund, designated or field of interest endowment or scholarship fund.

A reminder the check must be made payable to the nonprofit organization. Please notify the CFO office this is an IRA rollover gift for tax acknowledgement purposes.

* IRA gifts can be made to a donor-advised fund but the donor must first claim the money as income, and then take the tax deduction. In many situations this is not the most tax advantageous for the donor. Please consult your own tax and financial advisors for personal decisions.

How to make a gift of personal property

Gifts of cars, trucks, boats, semi-trucks, livestock and other personal property can be made to the CFO. Each type of personal property has its own set of procedures. CFO staff is happy to explore these options with donors as each gift is unique.

How to make of gift of real estate

Real estate can be gifted through the Ozarks Charitable Real Estate Foundation (OCREF), a supporting organization of the CFO. Your gift of real estate is easily managed. OCREF provides you with a convenient vehicle for making real estate donations to your local affiliate foundation or favorite nonprofit organization.

A donor must have a title search, legal description and qualified appraisal completed in the last 60 days as a starting point.

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