Making a gift of your appreciated assets (instead of cash) can provide tax savings while maximizing your philanthropic impact.
The Mojave Desert Land Trust is a 501(c)3 charity. Its official name is the California Desert Land Conservancy, doing business as Mojave Desert Land Trust, and its Federal Tax ID number is 72-1603033.
As the Mojave Desert Land Trust may not offer legal or tax advice, we recommend that you work with qualified financial and legal advisors before making your gift.
Donate Stock
Donating stock is a smart way to give because you can benefit by saving on capital gains tax and take a charitable deduction if you itemize deductions. For those interested in donating appreciated securities, please complete our Securities Donation Form.
Planned Giving: Join the Desert Stars
Create a legacy through planned giving. Planned giving is any gift that is not a current cash gift. Many planned gifts are simple bequests. Other types of gifts include real estate, stocks, IRA distributions, and life-insurance proceeds.
Desert Stars will be acknowledged in our annual report and on our website. If you are interested in making a planned gift, we would be honored to work with you and your advisors to carry out your wishes. If you have already planned a bequest to MDLT, please let us know so that we can thank you and recognize you as a Desert Star. Email Donor Relations Manager Kellie Flint at [email protected] for more information.
You are eligible to join The Desert Stars if you have arranged for one or more of the following planned gifts:
- Bequests & Wills – click here for language to include in your codicil or will
- Charitable Trusts
- Life Insurance
A planned gift to MDLT is a way to continue your support for desert conservation and preservation. Such a gift can provide tax advantages to you and your estate and leave a lasting impact for future generations. Planned giving is any gift that is not a current cash gift. Many planned gifts are simple bequests. Other types of gifts include real estate, stocks, IRA distributions, life insurance proceeds, and charitable lead and remainder trusts.
Giving from your IRA
Individuals over the age of 70 ½ can make charitable gifts directly from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and avoid taxes on withdrawals.
IRA gifts offer a variety of benefits for you and for the charities you support. Charitable distributions from your IRA (often called “charitable rollovers” or “qualified charitable distributions/QCDs”) are an easy way to give from your appreciated assets.
When these gifts are made directly from your IRA to a charity, the distribution is not included in your taxable income. This means you can avoid federal income tax that would otherwise be due on IRA withdrawals. Plus, any gifts you make directly from your IRA will be counted toward your annual required minimum distribution.
To qualify:
- You must be 70½ or older at the time you make your gift
- The transfer must go directly from your IRA to the Mojave Desert Land Trust to avoid income tax obligations
- Your total charitable giving from your IRA cannot exceed $100,000 annually
IRA gifts often arrive to our office without identification, so please email Donor Relations Manager Kellie Flint at [email protected] to let us know that your gift is on its way. We will need to know your IRA administrator and the amount of your distribution so that we can easily identify and acknowledge your gift.
Giving from your Donor Advised Fund (DAF)
Donor advised funds (DAFs) are an increasingly popular way of making charitable contributions. This simple and tax-efficient giving vehicle enables individuals to make a contribution to the DAF, receive an immediate tax deduction, and recommend grants from the fund to their favorite charities over time.
Many donors to the Mojave Desert Land Trust recommend gifts from their DAFs held at Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, and Vanguard Charitable.
If you have a DAF, you can recommend grants directly to support the Mojave Desert Land Trust.
Donate or sell your land to MDLT
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit and non-governmental organization, the Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT) can offer you a variety of tax benefits with a land conservation acquisition of your property that a traditional real estate sale would not.
MDLT accepts certain gifts of land to assist in support of our mission. Lands identified as strategic conservation priorities are accepted as conservation land donations. Other land donations may be accepted for their financial value in support of the work of MDLT.
If your property is accepted, you would be able to deduct the current market value of your donated property. You can significantly reduce your legal and tax liabilities on the properties while also supporting MDLT’s mission.
Contact our Acquisitions Manager, Dustin Scott, today for a personal consultation: [email protected] or 909.797.5496.
Outreach and Public Engagement Programs
Our passion and pursuit is to educate the public about land conservation, stewardship, increased environmental literacy and desert habitat awareness. We believe that environmental education encourages individuals to become informed, engaged, and responsible land stewards. Environmental education promotes scientific inquiry and knowledge; with this knowledge, communities are then enabled to see the human-ecosystem connection. Our outreach education programs empower individuals to develop the skills and confidence to become active citizen scientists, land stewards, and community members. Your support gives others a deeper appreciation for our fragile and beautiful desert.
Desert Discovery Learning Kits for Field Studies
Each Desert Discovery Kit provides a student with all materials and supplies to perform eight hands-on, experiential science lessons that increase knowledge and awareness of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts’ unique ecological values. Topics for the kit include desert habitats and ecosystems, desert animals, light pollution Native People’s use of the desert lands and ecosystem management. With their environmental education focus, Desert Discovery Kits connect young students from underserved communities to the desert where they live and provide hands-on learning opportunities.
The Young Desert Steward Adventure Book is a stand-alone tool that encourages youth who aren’t able participate in a Desert Discovery Field Studies program at school to engage with nature. The Young Desert Steward Adventure Book provides environmental lessons and activities students can do at home or with their learning partners to understand more about the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. When students investigate and share their discoveries with others, they learn faster, understand better, and retain information for longer. MDLT will provide the workbooks to service agencies like the Boys & Girls Clubs for distribution. We’ve created the book but need help covering the costs of printing 500 copies.
