Ways To Give

ALSC participates in the State of Alaska’s Pick.Click.Give. campaign. You can make a donation to ALSC through your Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend when you sign up between January 1st and March 31st. You can add or alter a contribution after March 31st, as long as you file for your PFD before the deadline.

When you go online to apply for your dividend, you will see the Pick.Click.Give. option. Click and follow the instructions to make your donation.

Please visit the Pick.Click.Give. website for additional information.

If you have a free Fred Meyer Rewards Card, you can help ALSC earn donations just by doing your regular grocery shopping. Fred Meyer donates $2.5 million per year to nonprofits, based on where their customers tell them to give. Here’s how the program works:

• Sign up for the Community Rewards program by linking your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to ALSC on the Fred Meyer Community Rewards website. You can search for ALSC by name or by our nonprofit number: QG921.
• Every time you shop and use your Rewards Card, you are helping ALSC earn a donation! You still earn your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Rebates, just as you do today.
• If you do not have a Rewards Card, you can sign up at fredmeyer.com or pick one up at the Customer Service desk at any Fred Meyer Store.

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way to support ALSC every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same prices, selection and shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate .5% of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization.

On your first visit to AmazonSmile, sign in and select ALSC to receive donations from eligible purchases before you begin shopping. Your selection will be remembered so that every eligible purchase you make on AmazonSmile will result in a donation.

Bagoy’s offers a unique online fundraising opportunity to benefit local non-profit organizations in the Municipality of Anchorage.

Through their Helping Hands program, every flower arrangement purchased through their website can make a difference to community organizations and the causes they serve. Customers can elect to have $2.00 of each online purchase donated to the charity of their choice by selecting it from the Helping Hands menu on the order page.

Whether ordering flowers to be sent around the corner or around the world, with Helping Hands a bit of the love shared with each order stays right here at home.

A planned gift to ALSC can be a great decision and a sound investment – for you, for your family, and for the future of our justice system.
Your contribution will support ALSC’s program, provide you with tax benefits, and play an important role in your financial and estate planning. The federal tax laws are structured to encourage gifts to charitable organizations both during life and upon death.

• Gifts to ALSC made during life can generate current income tax deductions, as well as remove the property from the application of the estate tax at death.

• Gifts to ALSC upon your death can reduce your estate taxes, even though they will not generate a current income tax deduction.

The optimum plan for you will be based on your circumstances and financial goals. There are many alternative ways to combine your charitable-giving goals with your personal financial planning. If any of these ideas seem appropriate to your needs, we encourage you to discuss them further with your legal and tax advisers.

The cornerstone of any estate plan is a will, yet most people are without one. Lack of a will can cause needless loss of time and money. Without a will, the court distributes your estate according to state guidelines, and you have no say in appointing a guardian.
With a state’s “plan,” an intended beneficiary may be disinherited, and gifts to nonprofit charitable organizations are prohibited.
ALSC can be named as a beneficiary in your will through any of the following ways:

• A specific bequest directing that a designated asset pass to ALSC.

• A general legacy providing a specified sum of money to be distributed to ALSC.

• A residuary bequest leaving ALSC with all or a specified portion of your estate after all other bequests have been satisfied.

• Naming ALSC the remainder beneficiary of a trust established for the initial benefit of another beneficiary.

• A contingent bequest permitting ALSC to receive property from your estate only if the primary beneficiaries do not survive you.

Making a provision for ALSC in your will can often be accomplished by a single amendment or a codicil to your will. It might not be necessary to redraft the entire will.
If you are contemplating including ALSC in your will, here are some examples of clauses you might want to consider:

• I leave the amount of ______ to Alaska Legal Services, a charitable 501(c)(3) legal aid agency, Employer ID # 92-0034754, current address 1016 West 6th Avenue, Suite 200, Anchorage, AK 99501.

• I leave ____ percent of the total value of my estate to Alaska Legal Services, a charitable 501(c)(3) legal aid agency, Employer ID # 92-0034754, current address 1016 West 6th Avenue, Suite 200, Anchorage, AK 99501.

• I leave the following specific listed items, _______, to Alaska Legal Services, a charitable 501(c)(3) legal aid agency, Employer ID # 92-0034754, current address 1016 West 6th Avenue, Suite 200, Anchorage, AK 99501.

If you have any questions regarding these clauses or any of the other many ways you may be of assistance to Alaska Legal Services, please contact Executive Director Nikole Nelson at 907-272-9431.

Regardless of the amount or form, ALSC is pleased to accept gifts given in memory of loved ones, friends, or colleagues, or as a means of honoring special persons. You can also commemorate an anniversary or honor someone who has reached a milestone.

To secure our future, the ALSC board of directors established a permanent endowment fund. With $30,000 in start-up money from the Anchorage Bar Association and a percentage of the money raised in Robert Hickerson Partners in Justice Campaigns, ALSC’s endowment has increased almost ten-fold. Our goal is to raise $1 million before using the fund’s revenue to support ongoing operational expenses.

A gift to ALSC’s endowment fund, using any of the planned giving options listed on this website, will benefit our system of justice for years to come. Please send gifts to our endowment fund to:

Alaska Legal Services Corporation
Accounting Office
1016 W 6th Avenue, Suite 200
Anchorage AK 99501

If you own a life insurance policy that you no longer need, consider making ALSC the owner of the policy or the beneficiary of the proceeds. You can name ALSC as the beneficiary and still retain the right to change the beneficiary at a later date.

All proceeds passing to ALSC will receive a charitable tax deduction. To receive a current charitable income tax deduction, you must name ALSC as the owner and beneficiary of the policy.

In this case, you will qualify for a current income tax deduction approximately equal to the cash surrender value of the policy at the time of the gift, and, if you continue to pay the annual premiums, those payments are also deductible each year.

Assets you own that have appreciated over time, such as stocks, bonds, or other securities, can be contributed to ALSC. This type of gift offers double tax savings. First, you receive a charitable income tax deduction at the time of the gift based upon the current fair market value of the property. Also, you avoid paying any income tax on the appreciation in value of the property from the time of its purchase.

For income tax purposes, you may deduct a gift of appreciated property up to 30% of your annual adjusted gross income, with an additional five-year carry-forward.

Sometimes an individual would like to make a gift to charity but wants to retain income from the asset for life or a term of years. CTRs accomplish these twin goals and can be an effective retirement planning tool. A charitable remainder “unitrust” furnishes you with a fixed percentage of the trust’s assets each year. At the end of your lifetime, what remains in the trust can be distributed to ALSC.

With this option, a current income tax deduction is allowed at the time you create the trust. The amount of deduction depends on your age when the trust is created, the specified payment rate, and other factors. Whatever remains in the trust at the end of its designated term will pass to ALSC free from gift or estate tax.

As an alternative to naming ALSC as a beneficiary under your will, you may instead wish to designate ALSC as a beneficiary of all or part of the benefits of your IRA, pension, profit-sharing, or other employee benefit plan.

Designating ALSC as the beneficiary eliminates both the income tax and the estate tax and assures that the full value of the employee benefit plan will pass to ALSC.