Donating to the Acorn School
Why You Should Give?
· Make a significant long-term impact on a child’s life, and an investment in society
· Help children of low-income families, locally and nationwide
· Receive most of your donation back through State and Federal Tax Benefits
Significant Long-Term Impact
Children that receive better early childhood education tend to have better health, perform better in future schooling, are at lower risk of crime, and the list goes on.
The Acorn School puts great efforts into providing the best possible education and care for all children as well as continuously improving its curriculum. As a result, The Acorn School is one of only a handful of 4-Star Qualistar Rated Centers in Boulder County (3 out of over 100 centers!).
High quality early childhood education has been proven to provide significant returns for a child’s future well-being and society as a whole. Results from a great amount of research is summarized and referenced in an article by Professor Nancy Folbre at http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/the-ultimate-growth-industry/.
Helping children of low-income families, locally and nationwide
Over 50% of all families whose children attend Acorn receive scholarships for their children to attend. Part of Acorn’s mission is to ‘providing accessible high quality early childhood education’, and we take this very seriously. In fact, with the recent economic woes, Acorn has even increased its budget for scholarships to help families that otherwise would not be able to attend Acorn.
In addition to being committed to accessibility to Acorn itself, the Acorn School is very involved and devoted to increasing access and developing curriculum on a state and national level. Staff and Board members are regularly invited to speak at various meetings and conferences. In 2010, a case-study of Acorn was completed as it is still a fairly unique example of a school providing the combination of high quality education while being committed to accessibility. For a copy of the report, see http://www.dkfoundation.org/PDF/ECE-CaseStudy-AcornSchool-7-2010.doc. How does Acorn do it? By maintaining incredible teachers and staff.
You can get most of your donation back through State and Federal Tax Benefits
Making a cash donation to The Acorn School for Early Childhood Development this year provides you a unique and significant tax advantage. While Acorn, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, is not able or allowed to give individual tax advice, we do want to provide some information. Here is how the tax advantages could work:
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For example, donate $100 to Acorn and receive: |
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+$35.00 |
back from a reduction in your Federal taxes (assumes 35% tax bracket) |
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+$4.63 |
back from reducing your Colorado income taxes |
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+$50.00 |
back as a special 50% tax credit from the State of Colorado |
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$89.63 |
You get almost 90% of it back! |
In the end, your $100 donation only cost you about $10!
In fact, if your employer has a matching contribution program, every $100 you give becomes $200 for Acorn and you can get most of it back whether they match or not. Plus, your company is also eligible for the 50% credit through the Colorado Child Care Contribution Tax Credit in addition to the regular tax savings on their portion of the donation.
Of course, any gift amount will help Acorn provide quality child care and further the development of early childhood education in Colorado and beyond.
As mentioned above, your gift to The Acorn School is eligible for The Colorado Child Care Contribution Credit. As an incentive for contributions that promote child care, the State of Colorado offers a 50% tax credit to businesses and individuals residing in Colorado who make a monetary donation in support of child care. Your cash contribution to The Acorn School will allow you to take advantage of this state tax credit. . Donation amounts under this program can be up to $200,000 – the 50% Colorado Child Care Contribution Credit allows individuals and business to receive up to $100,000 back in tax credit. Note that this tax credit program is in addition to the donation deduction already allowed on both federal and Colorado tax returns.
Any unused credit can be carried forward for up to 5 years.
More information is available on the Colorado Child Care Contribution Tax Credit (which may expire in 2011) is available through the website of the State of Colorado. See Colorado Department of Revenue, Taxpayer Service Division, FYI Income 35 “Child Care Contribution Credit” (Rev 6/05) at http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/Revenue/REVX/1193047059436
How Can You Give?
The Acorn School accepts monetary donations at any time. We offer two easy ways of cash donations:
1. By check
- Please mail your contribution directly to our school. We will send you a thank-you letter and confirmation that you can use for tax purposes.
Our address is: The Acorn School, 2580 Iris Avenue, Boulder, CO 80304
2. By bank transfer
- Please call us at 303-938-8233, and we will be glad to provide you with the necessary information
Thank you for making a donation today! We greatly appreciate your support!