Probably you can count on one hand the farmers that visit this blog occasionally. But, regardless of the number, I want to do this post today on a "vehicle of giving", that I have come across and am currently using to the benefit of both myself and the benefactors of my giving.
If you click on the title here it will take you to the web site of this vehicle. It is called the "Foundation for Christian Stewardship". And basically how it works, and works well is a farmer can give an amount of grain to the Foundation, and then direct the foundation to give the money to the church or churches, and Missionaries or Ministries of his choice, as long as they meet basic standards set forth by the foundation.
Why do this you ask when I can just write a check for my giving desires and have it over with? Well glad you ask. By giving grain, you can still use the deductions for growing the grain in your farm expenses but you avoid paying federal and state and county income taxes and social security taxes on your giving amount. Because you don't report the value of the grain in your income nor do you report the value in a deduction on your tax papers. But it is legal to still report the cost of growing the grain within your farm expenses. What this means is that you can without costing you one red sent actually give maybe 30% to 50% more money to these organizations of your choice from a liberal viewpoint..Or from a conservative viewpoint you could give the same amount to your choices and actually cost you maybe 30% to 50% less...However you look at this and to what level a giver you want to be is of course up to the individual...I guess truthfully sometimes I look at it one way and sometimes the other maybe depending on how good a year I feel I am having.
I actually started doing this maybe 15 to 20 years ago after reading an article in the Indiana Prairie Farmer magazine on this subject. The article stated that the practice was legal and beneficial to all if one chose to do it. I began delivering a certain amount of grain to the grain terminal in the name of a certain church. I sometimes then directed the church to give a portion of it to maybe a missionary or two that I wanted to support. But some churches do not like to be involved in dispensing money to others in this way. But this foundation that I found this past year works so much better and is designed to do just what we wish to do and that is give a portion of what we have been blessed with back to the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Gifts of Grain is a service of the Foundation for Christian Stewardship. The local chapter is here in West Lafayette Indiana with a phone number of 765 807 2810 and its web site is
www.giftsofgrain.org
I just wanted to share this opportunity with my fellow farmers, I think perhaps there is opportunity to also do a similar thing with other types of property and stocks etc....Have a great day out there....
Consider forwarding this to any Christian farmer you may know that could benefit.
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