Connie Smith Siegel Legacy Retrospective

Connie Smith Siegel was an accomplished artist and teacher, using art as activism, color as healing, and landscape painting as a way to honor the earth and the sense of place. After Connie’s passing on August 4, 2020, the breadth and legacy of her work was truly realized. This retrospective collection pulls from over a thousand pieces covering miles upon miles of California landscapes and beyond.

Connie is quoted as saying, “Being an artist is a political statement,” and this melding of art and activism is more relevant than ever before. In a time when people locally, nationally, and globally are rising up to meet the threats of climate change, Connie’s work brings forward the history of this movement and honors the climate and beauty of the earth through her admiring lens.

Connie’s work remains relevant to the new and ongoing challenges related to the current
climate crisis and peace activism.

Connie Smith Siegel left the majority of her estate to the San Geronimo Valley Community Center, a local nonprofit organization. Connie’s desire was to protect art and creativity in perpetuity in the San Geronimo Valley. This is the largest legacy gift in the Community Center’s 53 year history and has allowed them to expand art programs immediately, invest funds to protect art into the future, and to begin the exploration of a performing arts center with the Lagunitas School district.

IRS Guidelines for Gifts from Donor Advised Funds to Support MAGC Events

Thank you for your interest in giving to the Marin Art & Garden Center events from your Donor Advised Fund (DAF) or Family Foundation.

We sincerely appreciate your generosity and support!

To ensure your gift follows the current IRS guidelines for DAF/Family Foundation support of an event, we would like to share the below guidelines with you.

  • Raffle tickets, tickets to galas and other special events, auction items, and benefits conferred in connection with a DAF/foundation grant are not permitted.
    • IRS has specifically ruled that fair market value associated with fundraising events cannot be separated, a practice known as “bifurcation.”
      • For example, with Edible Garden, if the price of the ticket is $200 and the FMV fair market value (non-tax-deductible amount) is designated to be $50, the donor must pay from sources other than her DAF/foundation for the full value of the ticket ($200) and not just for the non-tax-deductible amount ($50).
    • We recommend you confer with your financial advisor to confirm if any of these examples of how donors may still use their DAF to support an event would work for you:
      • A donor could sponsor the event, and not attend, and pay fully out of the DAF/foundation.
      • A donor could sponsor the event using DAF/foundation funds and attend by purchasing an individual ticket through non-DAF/foundation funds.
      • A donor could sponsor the event, join the event as a guest of another donor/table guest, and pay fully out of the DAF/foundation.
      • A donor could sponsor the event and host the afforded number of people at their chosen level as long as they pay for the seats at the lowest ticket price ($200 for Edible Garden) outside of their DAF.
        • As an example, a $1,500 sponsor that covers 2 guests, could pay for their sponsorship with $400 from a different source of funds, and then give an additional gift of $1,100 out of their DAF.

 

Please email Tod Thorpe, Director of Development at tod.thorpe@maringarden.org to discuss your gift to Marin Art and Garden Center