The following is a testimony from a valued Water for Ishmael donor:
“So I was sitting with my financial advisor a few months ago going through an annual checkup. Now this may sound about as exciting as watching paint dry (no offense to you who actually find that exciting) but with the birth of our first grandchild last year, we’re at the stage where we enjoy surprises in areas of life not related to health or finances. Still, while in this checkup I got kind of a big surprise. Here’s what happened:
I was counseled as a young person to make purchase of a life insurance policy the first priority when I got my first full-time job. So I did. And I’ve had life insurance ever since, buying additional coverage as my number of dependents grew from just me to a wife, two daughters and two sons.
Well, now the girls are off and married, and the boys are entering adulthood and will be leaving the nest soon.
So my financial advisor told me I was probably over insured now! That was a surprise.
The main policy is a whole-life, meaning it has and accumulates cash value over the years, and all that accumulation was tax free. So I could have cashed it in but I would have had to give the government a big chunk of it as tax. My advisor suggested I donate it to a non-profit. The non-profit cashes it in for its full value and I get to write off that value against my taxes just like a cash donation. Except that it only cost me a fraction of that because I had been paying on it for years while at a lower income tax rate and it also grew in value over that time.
One of the great things about our country is that, at least for some of your money, the IRS gives you the option of sending it to Washington or to a great non-profit like Water For Ishmael where it can make a very real difference. This is true for not only for cash donations but even more so for items that have appreciated in value such as stocks, bonds or life insurance policies like mine.
So what to WFI is a significant contribution, frankly I don’t think our government will miss very much.”