Here is Your Monthly Newsletter from Seabeck

October 2020 News & Views

Look for News & Views in your inbox every month to see what's happening at Seabeck

News from the Director

There is a glimmer of hope. After seven months of being closed and a loss of revenue of over $1.5 million, Seabeck will re-open on October 9^th. We will host 11 guests over the weekend. While far from paying for the monthly operation, it will be great to host groups again. We will deliver food to the meeting areas at each mealtime. The Lobby and Dining Room will remain closed. It is just fun to start thinking about hosting groups rather than sitting and worrying about the future. That has been my main job lately.

Money is getting tight around here. The Pines project was shut down at the end of August. We are working to gain additional funding so we can finish this great new asset. I am convinced that when opened, it will be the best non-profit conference center building in the Northwest, if not the nation. In the meantime, I am working with our contractor to get it sealed up to survive the rainy seasons ahead. We will finish Pines, it is just a question of when, not if.

We continue to use reserves to pay our monthly bills. We have shut down every system on the property that is not essential. It is even more eerie not to hear the hum of walk-in coolers or the coffee machine in the Lobby. Hopefully the sound of a few guests will help fill the void soon.

We are working on providing some opportunities for families to come stay at Seabeck this fall and winter. We are struggling a little because we couldn’t gather as a large group for programs or events. I can provide a tour of Pines and information about the building. If this is something that might interest you, please let me know and we will see what we can work out.

I really appreciate the support we have received throughout this crisis. It has been very heartwarming to see how many people have thought about us during this awful time. We have money to get us into 2021, but not very far into that year. We will need your continued help to get through this. We will be sending out an appeal letter next month. Please give a little thought about what you might be able to do to help sustain this treasure we all love. I have also added an article about the advantages of giving from retirement accounts.

It’s really a time of mixed emotions for me and the staff. I am excited to be able to host groups on a limited basis, but always with one eye on an uncertain future. It really hurt when I had to cancel the Annual Halloween celebration. Even so, I remain hopeful. I have started signing my thank you notes with this phrase - “Better days are ahead!” I still believe that.

Thanks

Chuck

Tax-Free IRA Gifts to Seabeck

Making a gift to Seabeck Conference Center from your IRA is an easy and tax-wise way to donate. If you are 70½ or older, an IRA Charitable Rollover allows you to make a tax-free Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) directly from your IRA. Gifts up to $100,000 are excluded from your federal income taxes. If you file a joint return, each spouse can exclude up to $100,000 for a maximum of $200,000 each year. Once you are required to take a required minimum distribution (RMD), this charitable distribution will even count toward that requirement with all of the dollars going directly to Seabeck and no taxes paid by you.

These special tax savings apply if:

The distribution is made from either your Traditional or Roth IRA.
The distribution is made to a qualified charitable organization. Seabeck counts!
The distribution is made directly by your plan administrator to the non-profit.

How to Give: Contact your plan administrator and request a Qualified Charitable Distribution to be made directly to Seabeck Conference Center. It’s important to know that if you receive the distribution first and then donate the proceeds, the gift will not count as a Qualified Charitable Distribution. We encourage you to consult with your advisors to fully understand the legal and financial impact of any charitable gift.

Tax Information: Seabeck Conference Center’s EIN # is 91-6011617

Questions? Contact Chuck Kraining, Executive Director - chuck@seabeck.org - 360-830-5010

Instructions for an IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution:

You can make a gift to Seabeck Conference Center from your IRA by completing three simple steps.

1. Initiate the Gift:

The first step is to notify your plan administrator of your desire to make a gift directly from your IRA to Seabeck Conference Center. Ask your administrator to provide us with your name and address as the donor in connection with the gift.

2. Send the Gift:

Ask your administrator to send it to:

Seabeck Conference Center

13395 Lagoon Dr NW

Seabeck, WA 98380-8753

3. Notify Us:

Especially during these times, it’s important that we know your IRA gift is on the way. Please ask your administrator to include your name with the check or automatic (ACH) transfer.

Seabeck Guest Comments

One year I promoted a Unitarian minister from Rochester NY as speaker for one of the two camps. Then the UU Association headquarters in Boston also sent their social action staffer, Bob Alpern.

That conference I remember well for Eugene Levin’s sailboat—he sailed in and took groups of us out every day.

And one day our whole camp went to Bangor to protest.

I asked my sister, Ann Ross, to be camp nurse and she gave workshops. My Methodist mother Ruth Lawson came from Spokane to this godless camp and told me Methodists make good Unitarians.

I started going as a Spokane teenager, then as a Willamette student. My dad went there in college. I was dean three times and registrar many years changing from lined note cards to introducing a computer database that Jim from Canada kept developing as I kept asking for improvements, needed as we kept adding conferences—we had five one year.

Seabeck was like going to Grandma’s—welcoming, caring, unchanging—but glad now to have our own building’s bathrooms, and reading lights, and washcloths, and not having to cross the street to use the payphone at the service station.

I wish my innovation of dancing at the tennis court had stuck, but it was a gaseous evening because chili was for supper. Another was Ted Kaye leading people from Spruce past every house down to the salmon bake—and after a day of doing gimp".

_______________________

"Hello Chuck and Seabeck friends. I first came to Seabeck in ’85 and only missed 2 gatherings with FOR. Thanks to all of you for the HOME you shared with us".

_______________________

"As a long time volunteer during DeafBlind week (which would have just ended), I'm so sad that we couldn't be there this year. Sad for us and all the DB people who look so forward to this week to be in such a beautiful place with full accessibility, and sad for your loss of our business. I LOVE coming to Seabeck, the Hood Canal and the Olympic Mountains! One of my favorite places I've ever gone.

Thinking of you all and already waiting for next year".

Pictures from the Seabeck Community

Wildlife

Sunrise & Sunset? Could be either!

A little bit of wind.

Shouldn't take them too long to get to us if we need them!

A lost rooster in the woods!

A found rooster happily waiting for a ride home!

Special Delivery of seeds from China. Yikes!!!

The Pines Capital Campaign

We have a desire to continue to offer our services for many years to come. Seabeck Conference Center is happy to serve people like you, and we invite you to be a part of our legacy. Your donation will help us build a new Pines (ready by Fall 2020) that will be a place for future generations to gather.

WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT

SEABECK CONFERENCE CENTER

Want to help us lay the foundation for the next decade of Seabeck Conference Center?

There are many ways, not all of them involving huge disbursements of cash.

Here are some creative ideas you might not have thought about:

Cash Donation Today

Tax deductible gifts via check or credit card, in person or online. Please consider

upping your regular gift by another 10 percent.

Automatic Monthly Payments

Gifts can be deducted periodically from your bank account, making larger donations

easier by spreading them over time.

Low-Cost Appreciated Stock

Avoid paying the capital gains by giving full-market value to Seabeck Conference Center.

Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD)

A QCD is a direct transfer of funds from your IRA custodian, payable to a qualified charity. QCDs can be counted toward satisfying your required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the year, as long as certain rules are met. You must be 70 1/2 or older to be eligible to make a QCD.

In-Kind Donation

We are always in need of furniture, lighting, rugs, and much more - the

market value which is tax deductible.

Multi-Year Pledges

A great way to ensure support will be there when we need it year after year.

Designated Gifts

Donate to a targeted project or capital campaign.

Commemorative Gifts

Donate a bench or rocking chair in honor of someone or something important to you.

A Bequest in Your Will

Your gift can be a specific sum or a percentage of an estate after other bequests.

Just add an addendum to your existing will.

IRA's and Retirement Plans

Your estate receives a charitable deduction for the full gift amount on estate and income

taxes, while we receive full donation value. Non-charitable heirs receive only a part of

the value (since inherited assets are subject to estate and income taxes).

Life Insurance and Savings Accounts

Same as retirement plans, except that payments made to Seabeck Conference Center

are exempt only from estate taxes.

All gifts are welcome. Seabeck Conference Center is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and your contribution may be tax deductible. If you have any questions, please contact our Executive Director, Chuck Kraining at (360) 830-5010 or email him at chuck@seabeck.org.

Seabeck Conference Center

13395 Lagoon Dr NW

Seabeck, Washington 98380

360.830.5010 Email | Website