Make a One-Time or Ongoing Donation by Credit Card
Click here and select one-time, monthly, quarterly, or annual for the frequency choice of your donation.
Why I Give
I support the Senior Living Foundation of the Foreign Service to honor my colleagues and thank them for their service to our Nation. Much of my own Foreign Service career involved caring for private American citizens abroad. I feel we can do no less for our own friends and colleagues and I am humbled to be part of the Foundation's great work to address their needs. Please join us!
The Foreign Service has been my family- close friends, colleagues under fire, and partners in life's adventures. That camaraderie is what excites me about the Senior Living Foundation - established by colleagues to support those of our Service who have special needs late in life. They served before us and need our help now. The Foundation keeps the spirit and camaraderie of our Service alive as it reaches out with care and concern to those who went before us.
I still remember the day that I received the dreaded phone call that my mother had suffered a stroke and would no longer be able to live at home. Not knowing where to turn, I called the Senior Living Foundation. They were quick to provide comfort and wise guidance on options to consider and information on trusted service providers to contact. When I started to support the Senior Living Foundation years ago, little did I know how vital they would become to providing support and care for a family member.
It is indeed an honor and a pleasure to serve on the SLF board. Still relatively unknown to the wider Foreign Service community, the SLF makes a significant impact on several lives. Our grants, and the wise counsel of the staff have on some cases made a life altering difference in the lives of those who turn to us for help. It is heartening that we can "give back" to some with whom we have served.
How to Give
Search with Good Search
Complete a free registration with www.goodsearch.com. Designate the Senior Living Foundation as your charity of choice. Then, you will donate to the Senior Living Foundation through your everyday Internet searches. The Foundation receives a contribution every time you complete a search.
Shop with Good Shop
Create an account on www.goodshop.com. Make the Senior Living Foundation your preferred charity. Then, you will donate to the Senior Living Foundation through your Internet shopping. Goodshop works with more than 5,000 stores to provide the best deals and coupons. These top stores donate up to 20% of your purchase directly back to the Senior Living Foundation.
Spread the Word
Copy and paste the following messages to your favorite social media site:
- I donate to the Senior Living Foundation and you can too! Click here here to find out how to get involved.
- If you know me, you know I support worthwhile causes. The Senior Living Foundation changes lives. Visit Click here to find out how you can change a life too!
- I shop through www.goodshop.com to support the Senior Living Foundation. You can too! Click here to get started.
- Donate now! The Senior Living Foundation needs your support. Click here to learn how you can help.
- Make the world a better place. The Senior Living Foundation needs your ongoing support. Click here to learn more and repost this message for others to get involved too.
Give the Gift of a Donation
Have a special occasion coming up? A birthday? An anniversary? Ask your friends and family to give to the Senior Living Foundation instead of a gift. This is a great way to use your special occasion to help those in need.
Create an Ongoing Legacy
Create a legacy that will continue to support the Senior Living Foundation for years to come through your planned giving. Your plans today can help secure the future for many others. Contact us at 202-887-8170 to discuss how you can give to the Foundation. You can also click here (PDF) to learn about our Legacy Action Group.
Donate Appreciated Assets
Long-term assets in which you have experienced a significant increase in value are an ideal asset to turn into a charitable contribution. Your charitable contribution is based on the asset's fair market value at the time of donation, thereby avoiding tax on the increase in value, while providing a greater value contribution to SLF.
Grouping Multiple Years of Contribution
It may be worth accelerating several years' worth of donations into a single year, allowing you to itemize your deductions in a year in which you might not otherwise have been eligible to, while taking advantage of the standard deduction in other years. In this way, you generate more in tax savings over multiple years for the same total amount of donations, while SLF receives contributions sooner.
Qualified Charitable Distribution
If you are subject to required minimum distributions (RMDs) from a retirement account, you can elect instead to make a distribution directly from the account to SLF. The charitable distribution satisfies the RMD, while excluding what otherwise would have been taxable income from your current tax return. The reduction in taxable income may also be beneficial for nontax reasons such as Medicare eligibility and Social Security taxability.
Charitable Trusts
A Charitable Remainder Trust or Charitable Lead Trust can generate current tax savings while still permitting a degree of control for estate or inheritance planning purposes. A Charitable Remainder Trust creates an income stream payable to the donor or designee, with the corpus of the assets going to the organization at the trust's termination (usually with the donor's death). A Charitable Lead Trust is essentially the opposite arrangement: income from the trust goes to a charitable organization for a term-certain, with the residue reverting to the donor or designee.