Nonprofits – Looking to Diversify Your Funding During the COVID Crisis? Think ‘Crop Gift’!

Are there any Kern County charitable organizations out there with grower friends in our county’s large and influential ag community?

Consider reaching out to them with information about Kern Community Foundation’s Crop Gifting Program: a way for farmers to turn their crops into cash for charity – perhaps to benefit your organization!

Especially during our challenging COVID-19 times, when agencies are desperately looking for new funding streams, a Crop Gift could be a game changer. Crop Gifting provides an innovative financial vehicle whereby growers enjoy a considerable tax break while creating long-lasting community impact by helping local charities. It’s a great way for farmers to “grow philanthropy” by doing what they do best: growing crops!

Here’s how Crop Gifting to charity through
Kern Community Foundation works:

• You introduce the program to a grower who believes in your organization’s work and mission. You can use the letter template and our downloadable pamphlet which you can access per the links below. And Kern Community Foundation’s Staff will be available to answer any questions you or your benefactor-grower might have.
• The grower then identifies an unsold crop with no prior sale commitment and contacts Kern Community Foundation.
• They transfer title of the identified crop to the Foundation, which will assume responsibility of their gifted crop through final sale via a broker.
• Net proceeds from the sale will be placed into a fund. This can be a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) used to manage the grower’s charitable donations. They get to direct the investment of the fund, receive quarterly statements, and can specify charities where their gift(s) will be donated—and, naturally, with your introduction, we expect they will choose to benefit your agency through their crop gift.
• The Foundation will assess a one-time fee of 0.5% per crop gift in addition to its regular fee schedule of 0.5% to 2% annually, depending on the balance and use of the fund.
• They achieve significant tax savings by making a pre-sale crop gift (as opposed to selling their crop(s) and then making a cash donation to charity), because gifted crops are not recognized as income, and federal, state and self-employment taxes are not assessed on their value.
• You, as a charitable organization, can turn your benefactor-grower’s Crop Gift into scholarships for youth, spay-neuters for dogs and cats, hot-cooked meals for seniors, personal protective equipment to prevent COVID-19 community spread, and so much more!

Reach out to potential benefactor-growers before harvest time.

Click here to download our suggested Crop Gift Request Letter Template.

Click here to download our official Crop Gifting Pamphlet.

You are welcome to contact Kern Community Foundation with specific questions by calling 661.325.5346 or writing to info@kernfoundation.org.

Happy Growing Community and Growing Philanthropy through Crop Gifting!