You Can Help Chillicothe Youth Groups and Help Yourself, Too!
Oct 01, 2022 03:58PM ● By Ginny Molleck, Chillicothe Optimist and Chillicothe Town Theatre Board Member
Although the weather is still warm and there are still leaves on the trees, we know December 31st will be here before we know it and part of wrapping up the year is getting our year-end financials ready for the tax man in January. Sometimes by increasing our charitable gifts, we can benefit from having a nice tax deduction instead of paying extra taxes. One of those areas of charitable giving is to the youth of Chillicothe—our future generation—and our local Optimist Club is focused on giving back to our local youth organizations every year.
As a goal to be able to give back to the youth even more, the local Optimist Club purchased the Chillicothe Town Theatre in 2009 with the intention to take all profits from its operation to further insure larger donations back to our LOCAL youth organizations. Prior to the pandemic, the Chillicothe Optimist Club / Town Theatre had given as much as $15,000 each year to our local youth organizations along with maintaining all the operation expenses of running the theatre. But, since the pandemic, the Town Theatre has had a significant decrease in attendance which has affected their bottom line for profits. Attendance is slowly coming back, but due to the nature of operating a theatre business, there is inevitable maintenance needed on the projectors and other equipment along with the maintenance and repair of a historic old building. The income the Town Theatre is able to currently incur has been needed to take care of those needed expenditures.
I’m sure you all know that the Chillicothe Optimist Club / Town Theatre currently does not have the 501(c)3 non-profit tax status. However, the Chillicothe Optimist Club is a part of the Optimist International Foundation which is a 501(c)3 and has a program that enables the local Optimist Club to run donations through them so our donors can receive a tax credit for donations. This is done at no charge to you nor the local club, and the Optimist International Foundation will “flow” ALL the money back to the local club plus interest. Unlike many other 501(c)3 groups, 100% of the money donated to the Chillicothe Optimist Club will go into the Local Optimist / Town Theatre’s “Kids Count” fund that is donated back to our local youth organizations. Nothing is retained for any operating or administrative expenses. Many other national non-profits use as much as 20–40% for operating expenses. You can go to www.charitywatch.org to see who is most thrifty with your donations.
With the end of year coming up, the Chillicothe Town Theatre is asking for your charitable giving to help them achieve their goal of giving back to the Chillicothe Youth in 2023. We all want the Town Theatre to remain a vital part of Historic Downtown Chillicothe and they need our help. Please consider helping them by including the Chillicothe Town Theater in your end of year donations—in any amount. With your help we can work together to help our local kids be involved in positive growth and safe activities. We’ve all watched national news and seen what happens to the kids without having the right resources. Let’s not allow this to happen in Chillicothe. Please consider donating toward the Chillicothe Town Theater’s “Kids Count” fund. Your kind donations could help the area youth, help you balance out your charitable giving before the end of the year, and help the Town Theatre in the process.
If you are interested in making a charitable donation, please make your check payable to: Optimist International Foundation. Please put in the memo it’s for “Town Theatre Kids Count” and mail to P.O. Box 72, Chillicothe, IL 61523. You will receive a receipt from the International Optimist Foundation that you can use for your taxes.