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The Donor Advised Fund, or Giving Fund, is a powerful and amazingly simple way to manage your charitable giving. Thousands of individuals and families choose a Giving Fund because it is: Simple – In minutes, you can open a Giving Fund online, contribute assets, and start recommending grants to your favorite charities, including Idlewild Baptist Church […]

The Idlewild Foundation started with a mission to promote planned giving, strategic estate planning. Estate planning can be complex because it involves the U.S. Tax Code, a set of laws Congress regularly “simplifies.” In fact, Congress has simplified the U.S. Tax Code, Title 26 of the U.S. Code (26 USC) so well that it is […]

No thirty or forty year old looks forward to aging or to the thought of being in either assisted living or a nursing home, or to the problems, aches and pains that come with growing older.  However, you should do some early legal planning and goal-setting to avoid being broke and living off minimal government […]

Practical information in the form of a guide produced by the Christian Legacy Foundation. This is a thorough and well-written guide to estate planning. If you need further information or have any questions, please give us a call at (813) 264-8713.

Legacy is best defined as anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor. Dictionary.com. The word raises a good question. What will your legacy be? It is a question worth asking because everyone leaves a legacy, whether they plan on it or not. To begin to get an idea of your […]

In the last post we began to answer the question asked in the title, “What Will Your Legacy Be?” We looked at the legacy you are forming with your faith, compassion, words, conduct and giving. Now we are going to take this topic of your legacy to another level. Paul has given us what should […]

Let’s imagine a man who wanted to save time and money but still be generous and let’s call him John Doe. John had a 401(k) and non-qualified savings and investment accounts he had built up by being a good and wise steward during his working years. The 401(k) rolled over into an IRA upon his […]

At 68 (as I write this blog article), I have accumulated a lot of stuff. We all do that to varying degrees. Since my wife and I have moved little and our home and work have been relatively stable, we probably have piled up more stuff than most. Cars come and go, but clothes and […]

In a recent article we promoted the idea of giving to an endowment or permanent fund. One immediate concern is whether that will take a lot of effort and time. However, it will not take either time or effort because The Idlewild Foundation already has a permanent fund, an endowment begun several years ago by […]

People with a heart for an enduring gift may want to consider creating and giving an endowment. An endowment is literally a gift that keeps on giving, a gift of a fund that pays the accrued interest but retains the principle to generate interest again the next year, and the next year, and for as […]

But I can barely pay my bills! How can I possibly give? The answer is at the same time both simple and complex – in a thousand different ways (and maybe more than that)! Many people misunderstand what true generosity is and only think of traditional giving, money. For a full explanation of the important […]

Jesus loved the idea of legacy and He left us a blessed legacy through the Lord’s Supper. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 23     For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24     and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is […]

If you own absolutely nothing, don’t care about anyone else, and have no family, friends or loved ones, then no, you do not need a will. For everyone else, you should know what a will can do for you and what happens if you do not have one before you can decide whether you need […]

There are many reasons/excuses for not having a will. They must be good ones since only about 30% of Americans, people in the wealthiest country with the most lawyers, have a will, right? No. There are reasons and excuses, but none of them hold up to any level of scrutiny. Here are just a few […]

If nothing has changed in your wishes, your family, your assets or the law, then it doesn’t matter how old your will is. The problem is that life happens. Circumstances, families, assets and laws change. Many life changes may call for a will and an estate plan to be redone, including: A child or grandchild […]

Giving to Idlewild Baptist Church or to The Idlewild Foundation is easy. Your gifts to Idlewild Baptist Church ensure the continuation of its mission and ministry far into the future. Your gifts to The Idlewild Foundation help us support the ministries of Idlewild Baptist Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Tampa Bay […]

One of the initial incentives for the formation of The Idlewild Foundation was the fact that many members of Idlewild were leaving significant amounts of money to family, universities, hospitals, and charities but not to God. While the hospital where your life was saved or the university where you were educated is a good cause, […]

A few weeks ago I posted a blog that mentioned very briefly a type of gift permitted under the U.S. Tax Code that allows you to give to Idlewild but also receive a lifetime of income. See Leaving to Idlewild Baptist Church is a Blessing. One such gift is the charitable gift annuity. It is a […]

Planned giving is a phrase many hear but few understand. To a degree, it is like estate planning, a phrase often misunderstood itself because it is thought of as just getting a will or trust. True estate planning is far more than just a will or a trust (see Documents (And Protection) Everyone At Every […]

Sometimes it takes a tragedy to catch the attention of the public. Terri Schiavo proved something every lawyer knew but many couldn’t clearly illustrate and that wasn’t widely recognized. In the tragic end to her life, the problem is clear for all to see. While much of the tragedy of the end of the life […]

In previous articles we have looked at advance directives in general and then at the three most common advance directives: the durable power of attorney, the designation of a health care surrogate, and the living will. Often those are the types of advance directives, by those or other names, that are included as a part […]

A Power of Attorney (POA) is a versatile part of an estate plan. It gives another person the legal right and authority to make selected decisions, decisions chosen by the Grantor of the POA. There are different things a POA can do. Let’s start with the most fundamental feature, whether the POA continues to work […]

In addition to what was written about Health Care Surrogate designations in the previous article on Medical Powers of Attorney, there is much to be said about this second very important advance directive, a Health Care Surrogate Directive, also known as a Medical Power of Attorney of a Health Care Proxy. Any competent adult (Maker) […]

In previous articles we have taken an overall look at advance directives as well as two of the most common and important advance directives, the Durable Power of Attorney and the designation of a Health Care Surrogate. Now we look at the third type of advance directive, the Living Will. This is a controversial document […]

This information has been prepared by the Consumer Protection Law Committee of The Florida Bar and the Bar’s Public Information Office and is offered as a courtesy of The Florida Bar and the Florida Medical Association.  it is a suggested form of a Living Will, Florida Statutes Section 765.303, and you should know that a living will may, […]

A Gift That Can Provide You with Income for Life The tax laws of the U.S. are a mystery to almost all U.S. citizens. Their complexity is so great that even tax lawyers end up arguing the fine points. But there are many opportunities that are clear, and one of those opportunities allows you to […]

There are a number of very well written books offering ideas on heaven and what eternal life involves. Among those I have read are Heaven by Randy Alcorn, One Minute After You Die by Erwin Lutzer, and Heaven Revealed by Paul Enns. These are wonderful works and are filled with the insights of years of […]

Physical and mental incapacity is not a fun topic and it is one most people love to avoid. But consider this: A family member develops a serious cancer and surgery is scheduled for debilitating radiation and chemotherapy. During that time and perhaps forever, everyone’s life is changed. A family member has an automobile accident or […]

This is the Donor Privacy Policy of The Idlewild Foundation, adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2017 to ensure to all donors that their donations are well and wisely used and that we are accountable to you!

Terri Schiavo proved something every lawyer knew but most couldn’t clearly illustrate. Now the problem is clear for all to see. While much of that case is viewed as involving highly emotional and spiritual “right to die” issues, the heart of the case revolved around what a twenty-seven year old woman, Terri Schiavo and her […]

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This publication was produced by the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Law and Aging. This document was not prepared by The Idlewild Foundation but it has been thoroughly reviewed by counsel and is filled with useful information about some of the most difficult of all questions.

This is a document from the Internal Revenue Service with helpful tips on charitable deductions.  Please click Download Resource below to access the helpful sites. Always check directly with the IRS at IRS.gov for any updates or changes. Go to www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/charitable-contribution-deductions.

Down load this form an fill it out before meeting with us or your estate planning attorney. That will save time and, of course, money, and make the process of gathering information needed to plan your estate much easier.

This form was produced and distributed by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. This publication can be copied for public use or call our toll-free number 1-888-419-3456 for additional copies. To view or print other publications from the Agency for Health Care Administration please visit www.FloridaHealthStat.com. If you have any questions, please call us at The Idlewild […]