Skidaway Audubon News:  Audubon Makes Giving Easy

Savvy investors and careful savers who believe charity starts at home, have a new opportunity to make lasting impacts in their community while achieving smart year-end tax strategies.

Skidaway Audubon has established an Endowment Management Account at Merrill Lynch so that donors now can quickly and easily make tax-free distributions from retirement accounts and gift stock to Skidaway Audubon, as part of their asset and tax management plans.

Audubon recently held an informational session on this new charitable giving option, at the Merrill Lynch offices (Skidaway Village Square). It featured Matthew Amman, a certified private wealth advisor with Merrill Lynch.

“Making qualified charitable distributions to Skidaway Audubon is really simple,” Amman said. “It can be done one time, or periodically.”

 He added that monthly donations can help stabilize an organization’s budget. Donors also benefit. Amman shared that certain distributions can reduce reportable income and can be especially advantageous with highly appreciated assets by avoiding significant capital gains.

Skidaway Audubon is a 501(c)(3) organization. It maintains one of the largest network of bluebird houses in the Southeast, the largest Diamondback Terrapin rescue project on the East Coast, a state-of-the-art bird cam with worldwide viewership, an invasive tree removal program, bat houses to reduce mosquito populations, pollinator gardens to increase native habitat, and weather stations to promote water conservation.  Audubon also offers special events to promote environmental awareness, stewardship, and sustainability, to help preserve the island’s treasured environment for generations to come.

Audubon relies on its volunteers and its donors to continue its good work. The popular bird cam, which provides a spectacular, live look at nesting raptors, plus the weather monitoring stations, require high-tech maintenance. Butterfly gardens require additional plantings, bat houses require poles that can withstand hurricane-force winds, bluebird nesting boxes and turtle hatcheries need yearly maintenance, and additional work is needed at the Sparrow Field pollinator berm. Finally, the annual live animal presentations – a community favorite – are a significant cost to the organization.

“We need the support of caring donors, as well as the time and energies of our hard-working volunteers, if we are to continue to protect, enhance and enjoy the natural beauty and wonders that make this island so desirable,” said Skidaway Audubon President Dawn Cordo.

As an all-volunteer nonprofit with no overhead or staff, every penny donated to Skidaway Audubon helps enable the continuation of its conservation and education programs and initiatives. 

For more information about gifting stock or making distributions to Skidaway Audubon, contact Merrill Lynch’s Jennifer Young (912-598-3831 or jennifer.young2@ml.com).  For more information about Skidaway Audubon, visit SkidawayAudubon.org.

(L-R) Skidaway Audubon Treasurer Cathy Adler, Merrill Lynch Wealth Advisor Matt Amman, and Skidaway Audubon President Dawn Cordo at the recent informational session detailing a new, simpler way to make qualified distributions and gift stock to help fund Skidaway Audubon’s environmental programs.