Page 12 - GW_2020Winter

News Bites continued Mr. Mold-A-Rama
STAFF John Kanzia began collecting
Your Year-End Plans for
Brookfield Zoo Mold-A-Ramas as a kid growing up

There are several special opportunities in Broadview. “My mom brought
available for friends of the Chicago
Zoological Society (the Society) to make me and my three brothers to the zoo often,”
year-end gifts.
he said. “The first Mold-A-Rama I remember
If you itemize, the limit on cash gifts to
charity in 2020 increased from 60 percent of getting was a blue dolphin.” John Kanzia
your adjusted gross income to 100 percent, Today, Kanzia is the Chicago Zoological
which allows you to deduct more this year
without the excess carryover. Society’s Environmental Quality Manager

If you do not itemize, you may take and proud owner of more than 100 of the molded plastic figurines. They are lined
advantage of the new $300 above-the-line
deduction for cash gifts. up in alphabetical order along his office window sill. Many came from the Field

Individuals age 70½ and older may Museum and the Museum of Science & Industry, which he visited often while
choose to make gifts directly from their
IRAs and avoid all the income tax that working at his previous job at the nearby Shedd Aquarium. “I got some last year
would normally be owed on a withdrawal.
Required minimum distributions have while I was in Oklahoma, and have others from friends from the Cincinnati Zoo,
been waived for 2020, but IRA gifts—
known as qualified charitable distributions Milwaukee County Zoo, San Antonio Zoo, Willis (Sears) Tower, and Disney World.”
(QCDs)—may be the best decision for many,
especially those who do not itemize. QCDs “A few of my favorites are the shark from the first year we had sharks at Stingray
are made from income that has never been
subject to tax and avoids all tax in the future. Bay, a Seattle Space Needle, and my mint-green alligator.” The rare mint-green

You can boost your charitable gift— reptile was supposed to be white in honor of Snowflake, the albino alligator that
and possibly qualify to itemize your
deductions—by funding a charitable gift visited the Brookfield Zoo in 2019, explains Kanzia. “Mold-A-Rama loaded the
annuity with the Society. In exchange for
your gift of cash or appreciated stock, you alligator machine with white material, but because that machine always made
will receive fixed payments for life for one
or two people. A portion of your annual green alligators, the molds never came out white.”
payment may be tax-free or favorably
taxed capital gains. In addition, there is a With a total of 13, Brookfield Zoo has more Mold-A-Rama vending machines
charitable deduction for a large portion of
your gift. than any other zoo or museum in Illinois. The company that owns and operates

For further information, visit our the machines is based right here in Brookfield.
website at CZS.org/PlannedGiving.
To become a part of the Edith Rockefeller Nowadays, Kanzia’s mom—who is still a zoo member—brings his niece and
McCormick Society, contact us at
EdithRockefellerMcCormickSociety@CZS.org nephew on visits to the zoo. “Now I get to show them around!” (Read more about
or call us at (708) 688-8174.
Kanzia starting on page 26 of this issue.) n

12 GATEWAYS | NEWS BITES