President PHIL GUTT called the meeting to order right on time.

 

KEN LIGHT gave the invocation. ROBYN FREY led us in a stirring rendition of the  “Star Spangled Banner” accompanied by GARY HIRSCH on the piano.

RUBY PECKFORD introduced our many guests and visiting Rotarians from California, Minnesota, Oregon, and Mexico.

 

Happy Birthday to JIM MURPHY, who thankfully did not need his full three minute Past President’s time exemption; ALLYN BULZOMI, who inadvertently revealed that he had been held back in high school not one but two years; and MIKE ORCUTT, who thanked the club for allowing him to not be at work for two hours once a week.  Also, Happy 17^th Birthday wishes to Cristina Del Rosso, our exchange student from Italy. Many thanks go to JENNIFER HOFFMAN and family for hosting Cristina.

 

ROGER HARWELL presented car show tickets to all the Doubletree staff as a thank you for their smiling faces and good service. The Mystery Editor was less than pleased at this development since the presentation held up delivery of his (or her) delicious lunch.

 

GARY HIRSCH presented MATT BLAIR with a framed Rotary El Tour de Tucson jersey and CHARLOTTE HARRIS presented a Paul Harris fellowship to MATT for all of his generosity and time spent on the ride to end polio.

 

KEN TUCKER introduced Dr. Richard Carmona, the 17^th Surgeon General of the United Sates and the first to be unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate.  Dr. Carmona regaled us with stories from his time as Surgeon General, one of which ended with “I’ve had many conversations with Bill (Clinton) since then and that is one of his biggest regrets”. We should be honored to have had Dr. Carmona speak to us.

 

President PHIL adjourned the meeting right on time.

 

Our Rotary club and Rotary International both support a wide array of programs to help a diverse collection of beneficiaries. Many (most?) of those programs involve raising funds needed to pull off the effort. Those funds ultimately come from two principal sources: fundraising (i.e. other people’s money) and donations from Rotarians.

 

Occasionally, Rotarians would like their large money donations to be made anonymously. Why? Here’s a short-list of reasons: to avoid any spotlight; to support a cause that may not be in favor with a friend or relative; to lessen the chance other charities will mark them as major donors; or, to avoid subsequent appeals from the recipient organization. That last reason is particularly pertinent as the group most often to respond positively to a request for donations is “previous donors.”

 

If you make a large enough donation to a non-profit that files a 990 federal tax return, your name, address and amount of donation will have to go onto that return’s Schedule B. While Schedule B is not required to be made public, some groups do so unwittingly. Plus, within the organization, someone – and probably several people – will see Schedule B as part of completing and signing the 990. Finally, most groups have no policy about which of their members may see the Schedule B and so readily show it to any member who asks. Once a few hundred, or even a few dozen, people know who wrote the check, the information seems to become close to common knowledge.

 

A not-so-minor aside: the biggest reason not to donate anonymously is the loss of any chance of deduction on one’s income tax return. That’s a giant factor that you just can’t readily get around.

 

It’s relatively easy to donate all but huge sums without your name attached. Buy money orders and don’t have your name put on them. For The Rotary Foundation, mail them to Evanston, omitting a return address. (There’s even a simple way to have the postmark on that letter come from another city, if you want to be overly thorough.) For the Rotary Club of Tucson Foundation, drop the envelope containing the money orders (or cash) through the mail slot of the Rotary office door. You can impose restrictions on what your donation can be applied to via a written note accompanying the money order. (If you can’t feel certain those instructions will be followed, don’t make the donation to begin with.)

 

But what if your aim is to make donations of such a size that anti-money-laundering regulations forbid a money order without an I.D.? There is another method. The IRS advises that giving money to your attorney, who in turn writes a law firm check to the charity, breaks the connection between you and the group with regard to that contribution. In fact, the amount can be listed on Schedule B under “anonymous.” (As before, if you can’t trust the attorneys to keep your confidentiality, find another attorney.)

 

If you don’t want the recognition and don’t care about the loss of a potential tax deduction, you can still give generously. Does that remove the last obstacle to that whopper donation from a few of you?

Enjoy a first time ever performance of, "Henry Porter and the Sorcerer's Secret" at the Gaslight Theatre, Sunday, November 1st at 12:00 noon.  Price for tickets is $18.  This is first come, first serve.  So sign up on Clubrunner under Upcoming Events on the Rotary Club of Tucson's website.  Go to www.tucsonrotary.org.