Ways to Give
When you make a gift to Queen Margaret’s School, you have flexibility in determining how the funds will be used, as well as many options for making your gift.
Unrestricted gifts are among the most valuable to QMS, because they allow the school to allocate funds wherever the need is greatest, and to take advantage of unique opportunities as they arise.
Directed gifts allow you to designate your gift to a specific school program or area. When you make a directed gift to QMS, you enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting a program that is personally meaningful to you.
Types of Gifts:
Outright Gifts
When you make an outright gift to QMS, your contribution can be put to work immediately — either providing funding for current programs or creating a reliable source of future income. An outright gift may be composed of almost any asset of value:
- Cash gifts — the simplest and easiest gifts you can make — can be made through credit card, cash, cheques, or money orders made payable to Queen Margaret’s School. In addition, our online “Make a Gift” option for credit cards makes giving quick and simple.
- Gifts of appreciated securities, stocks, and bonds also provide considerable tax advantages when transferred to QMS before they are sold. QMS has an account with a major brokerage firm that will assist in making the transfer directly.
You also may make a gift of mutual funds, or closely held stock. If you wish to transfer stocks from your account please contact Courtney Gillan (in our Advancement office for information about giving stocks or securities. - Gifts in Kind: Support for the Queen Margaret’s School does not always come in the form of cash. Donations physical assets such as artwork, books, equipment, or other tangible personal property may also assist the school in supporting its mission.
These assets may then be used by an appropriate department or sold and the cash proceeds utilized.
A tax receipt for the fair market value on the date that the gift is received by the school (to be determined by one or more professional appraisers) will be issued. Note that a gift of professional services does not qualify under The Canadian Income Tax Act for a tax receipt. - Gifts of real estate — including personal residences, second homes, income property, and vacant land — offer a wide variety of tax and other benefits.
Planned Gifts
To learn about deferred or planned gifts, including bequests, and other options for your estate — please contact Courtney Gillan in our Advancement Office for further information
Matching-Gift Programs
An easy way to double or even triple your donation to QMS is to find out if your company has a matching-gift program. As Queen Margaret’s is a registered charitable organization, many such programs will match all or a percentage of employee contributions to charitable organizations, making the employer a partner in employees’ personal philanthropy. Simply obtain a matching-gift form from your employer’s personnel office, fill it out, and provide it to QMS with your contribution.
Gift Pledges
QMS welcomes your gift through a pledge — a formal statement of intention to make a gift to the school. With a pledge, you may complete your gift by making regular payments over time, allowing you to give more generously than you originally may have considered. What is more, each payment on your pledge is eligible for an income-tax charitable deduction.
