National Bank of Arizona will offer $250,000 in corporate matching gifts to leverage an additional quarter million in individual tax credit gifts to benefit low-income Catholic school students.
The match, announced Jan. 30 during the Catholic Schools Week rally at the Arizona State Capitol, applies to all first-time donors to Catholic Education Arizona, the state’s largest school tuition organization, which uses private education tax credits to enable individuals and corporations to redirect their tax dollars and create tuition scholarships. Half of the 12,000 students in K-12 diocesan schools qualify for and receive tuition aid from the organization.
“National Bank of Arizona believes in the importance of quality education, and there’s no question that Diocese of Phoenix Catholic schools deliver,” said Pete Hill, executive vice president of of the bank. “We hope our matching gift offer will incentivize those individuals who have yet to participate to get onboard with the tax credit.”
The match runs from Jan. 30-April 15, with the following terms and conditions:
- It is available to first-time individual gifts of any amount, up to $1,003 (single) or $2,006 (married)
- Qualified gifts will be matched dollar-for-dollar on a first-come/first-served basis up to $250,000 total
- Donors may designate Catholic school(s) of their choice or give to the General Scholarship Fund
- All donations received will be made available to qualified students in the 2013/14 school year
- Match-funds awarded are restricted to students who meet corporate tax credit eligibility requirements
A state tax credit extension allows individuals to make a tax year 2012 contribution to Catholic Education Arizona through April 15, enabling taxpayers to wait until they calculate their taxes to determine how much of their tax liability they wish to redirect to fund scholarships. Contributions of up to $1,003 per taxpayer ($2,006 for married filers) can be taken as a dollar-for-dollar credit against what the taxpayer would otherwise pay the state.
