Other Ways to Give

Thank you for considering supporting Marin Art and Garden Center. As a nonprofit organization, the generosity of our community allows our gardens to remain open and free to the public. Below are all the ways you can make a meaningful contribution: 

  • Set up a monthly donation: You can become a sustaining contributor of Marin Art and Garden Center by creating a monthly or annual donation. These gifts offer our organization a reliable source of support and can be created on our donation page, as shown: 
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  • Online payments: You can also make a gift on our donation page using our new payments platform, which accepts all major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AmEx), PayPal, eCheck/ACH transfers, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay on mobile devices.  
  • Give through a donor-advised fund: Support the Garden from a donor-advised fund. You can recommend Marin Art and Garden Center as the grant recipient and provide your name as the grant advisor. Please contact your designated representative for more information. 
  • IRA charitable distributions: IRA owners aged 70½ or over have the option to transfer $100,000 to charity tax-free each year. These transfers offer eligible retirees a great way to support their favorite charities before the end of the year and are known as qualified charitable distributions or QCDs. For those who are at least 72, QCDs count toward the IRA owner’s required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year, lowering their taxable income. 
    • The distribution must be made directly from your IRA to Marin Art and Garden Center. Instruct your plan administrator to send a specific dollar amount directly by check or electronic transfer. 
    • Please note that QCDs and grants from donor-advised funds are fully tax deductible and may not be used for the purchase for any portion of event tickets, such as our annual Edible Garden fundraiser. 
    • If you have questions or need further information to make your gift, please contact our Director of Development, Kelly Miller.  
  • Leave a legacy: Planned giving ensures your charitable contributions continue to support Marin Art and Garden Center beyond your lifetime. Thank you for ensuring that the Garden can continue serving the community as a place of celebration and inspiration well into the future. Please see our Planned Giving page for more details.  
  • Gift a Friends of the Garden membership: Share the joy of giving by gifting a membership to a friend or loved one! Your contribution not only supports the Garden but offers amazing benefits like 10% off our programs and events, a reciprocal membership to the American Horticultural Society, and more. 
  • Honor or pay tribute to a loved one: Honor someone special with a gift in their name or to celebrate a special occasion. You can dedicate a donation by checking off this box on our donation page:
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  • Make a gift of stock: You may be eligible to receive an immediate tax deduction and savings on capital gains taxes when you give in the form of appreciated securities. For instructions on how to transfer stock, please email us at friends@maringarden.org or call our main office at 415-455-5260. 
  • Commemorative Benches: If Marin Art and Garden Center has held a special significance to you or a loved one, a commemorative bench is an enduring gift with a lasting impact. Contact us at friends@maringarden.org, call our office at 415-455-5260, or download this PDF for more information. 

Double your donation

Many companies offer a corporate matching programs which effectively doubles your financial support to the Garden.

We encourage you to see if your company offers matching contributions to double your impact.  To see if your company participates in a matching program, please contact your HR department. The process typically entails a request form submitted to your company which is then sent directly to us.  

If your company will match your donation, please let us know so we can keep an eye out for it and give you credit. 

Once we receive the matching gift from your employer, we will ensure it is applied to your donation and provide you with an updated letter of acknowledgement – we will also increase your Friends of the Garden benefits to the matched donation level! 

If you need any assistance with the matching gift process or have any questions, please contact us at friends@maringarden.org or call us at (415) 455-5260. Our staff are here to help make the most out of your generous support! 

What are the benefits of matching your donation?

  • Maximizes Your Impact: Your support is crucial in enabling us to keep the Garden open and free to the public. When your donation is matched, it effectively doubles your financial support to the Garden. This allows us to expand our year-round programs, enhance our public art and garden initiatives, and broaden our ever-growing community. 
  • Increases Your Friends of the Garden Benefits: If your donation is eligible to be matched, your donation – and benefits – will be increased to reflect this. This means that a matched donation allows you to enjoy even more benefits at the Garden. 
  • Corporate Recognition: Many companies take pride in supporting their employees’ charitable efforts. By participating in a matching gift program, you not only contribute to the Garden, but also help your employer show commitment to social responsibility and community engagement.  
  • Some companies publicly recognize employees who participate in matching gift programs, which can highlight your support for our organization and inspire others to contribute as well. 

What does your donation support?

Marin Art and Garden Center depends on the generosity of patrons like you to keep the gardens open and free to the public year-round. Your contributions allow us to maintain our events and programs that enrich the local community. 

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