SPREAD HOPE: Give Health, Happiness, Safety Every Month

During 2025, your donation is crucial in helping us provide FREE services and support to keep our children and families safe, healthy, and happy. Join us in helping our communities’ children and families thrive by contributing today. By supporting our mission to protect and strengthen families, your gift directly provides life-changing services such as:

• Healthy Families Home Visitation Program: Parenting Support for children prenatally to 5 years of age.
• Child Advocacy Center: Conducts Forensic Interviews of children for child abuse or have witnessed a crime.
• Public Education Programs: Body Safety; Safer, Smarter Kids/Teens; Stewards of Children
• Family Support Collaborative: Supports anyone in a caregiving for children
• Covering Kids and Families: Navigators help you learn about healthcare coverage
• Prevent Child Abuse LaPorte and Porter Counties: Working to roll out Indiana's framework for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect.

100% of program participants receive support to strengthen their families and help access resources. This year your support is needed now more than ever as we continue to spread our support to more communities. Healthy Families home visitation service will expand into Starke & Pulaski Counties, and our Child Advocacy Center forensic interviewing and family advocacy services will expand intervention services into Lake County.

All gifts, regardless of size, will have an impact, so thank you in advance for considering how you can contribute to our 2025 fund goal of $400,000!

To Donate with a Credit Card, click the DONATE button above.

To Donate with a Check:

Please make checks payable to: Dunebrook, Inc. 7451 West Johnson Rd., Michigan City, Indiana 46360

To Make a Recurring Gift or for other Questions:

Contact Cathy Laughlin, Development Director

Email: Cathy@dunebrook.org

Call: (219) 369-0309

The Dunebrook Story

Dunebrook is a 501(c)(3). For 35 years, we have been providing support to keep every child and family: safe, healthy, happy. In October 2024, we shared the story of visionary heroes in our documentary. These heroes laid the foundation of Dunebrook crafting a legacy of hope and transformation that has become a trusted resource in our community for families and children. Three decades later, Dunebrook serves over 45,000 individuals in 7 counties and 100% of the children and parents received support to strengthen their families and help access resources. Just as our founders did, we will continue to advocate for the safety, health, and happiness of families and children. To see the documentary scroll to the bottom of this page.

Alternative Ways to Give:

Donate Directly from Your Retirement Account (IRA/401K) – Your retirement fund can be taxed if left to heirs, yet a gift to Dunebrook is tax-free.
If you own an Individual Retirement Account and are over age 70 and a half, you are eligible to receive tax benefits if you transfer up to $100,000 directly from your IRA to Dunebrook. The transfer will count toward fulfilling your required minimum distribution from your IRA and will not be considered part of your gross income for federal tax purposes.

For more information on donating from your IRA, just give us a call at (219) 874-0007 and we’ll give you the information you need to make the transfer. Then simply contact the financial services company that serves your IRA custodian and let them know that you would like to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution to Dunebrook from your IRA.

Stock Giving – Did you know that giving stock can be more beneficial than giving cash?
Securities and mutual funds that have increased in value and been held for more than one year are popular assets to use when making a gift to Dunebrook. Making a gift of securities or mutual funds offers you the chance to support our work while realizing important benefits for yourself.

When you donate appreciated securities or mutual funds in support of our mission, you can reduce or even eliminate federal capital gains taxes on the transfer. You may also be entitled to a federal income tax charitable deduction based on the fair market value of the securities at the time of the transfer.
Securities are most often used to support our work in the form of:

- An outright gift. When you donate securities to Dunebrook, you receive the same income tax savings that you would if you wrote a check, but with the added benefit of eliminating capital gains taxes on the transfer, which can be as high as 20%.

- A transfer on death (TOD) account. * By placing a TOD designation on your brokerage or investment account, that account will be paid to one or more persons or charities after your lifetime.

Donor Advised Fund (DAF) - Support families and keep children safe, healthy, and happy by opening a Dunebrook Donor Advised Fund.
A donor advised fund (DAF), which is like a charitable savings account, gives you the flexibility to recommend how much and how often money is granted to Dunebrook and other qualified charities. You can recommend a grant or recurring grants now to make an immediate impact or use your fund as a tool for future charitable gifts.

You can also create a lasting legacy by naming Dunebrook the beneficiary of the entire account or a percentage of the fund. With a percentage, you can create a family legacy of giving by naming your loved ones as your successor to continue recommending grants to charitable organizations. Contact your fund administrator for a beneficiary form.

Bequest from Life Insurance- Life insurance can be an effective and convenient asset to give.

Gift your life insurance policy to Dunebrook, or designate Dunebrook as a beneficiary of the policy. You will avoid potential estate taxes if you own the policy and make an extraordinary gift. This can be done easily by completing a Change of Beneficiary form to name Dunebrook as a beneficiary. Contact your accountant to determine the charitable deduction for donating a policy.

Planned Gifts from Your Will or Estate - A simple designation in your will or living trust to Dunebrook, is the gift that costs you nothing during your lifetime.

A bequest can be for a specific dollar amount or percentage of your estate. A bequest made for general purposes provides Dunebrook the ability to utilize the funds where they are most needed at the time. We can provide you with simple bequest wording for your document.

Distributions to Dunebrook are tax free but will be subject to income tax and possibly estate tax when left to a spouse, child, or loved one.

Gifts from your will or estate are easy to revoke if your situation changes.

Contact your legal representative to plan this life changing gift.

Questions

Contact Cathy Laughlin, Development Director

Email: Cathy@dunebrook.org

Call: (219) 369-0309

Thank you for your support!