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Invest in Kids Program

CTF IL makes sure your charitable donation is recognized by the Illinois Department of Revenue and that you, the donor, receive a tax credit for that donation.

This program is two fold~ provides a IL tax credit for donors and is also a scholarship organization for those in need.

Dear HCA family,

As you know, we are a school devoted to blessing you and your children. We understand this is a big task and we pursue this mission with the Lord before us. There are often times that these blessings depend on scholarship money to keep our students enrolled. Amazingly, the state of Illinois enacted the Invest in Kids Scholarship Tax Credit Program in 2017. This act allows taxpayers to contribute to scholarships for the school(s) of their choice. This program offers a 75% income tax credit to individuals and businesses that contribute to qualified Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). The SGOs then provide scholarships for students whose families meet the income requirements to attend qualified, non-public schools in Illinois.

The scholarships must go to students whose families meet low-income thresholds. Meaning, these scholarships are designed to help our students who would not be able to attend HCA without a scholarship. In order to fund these scholarships, this new program allows taxpayers to receive tax credits of up to $1,000,000! The program is capped at $75 million which may seem like a lot, but that funding will go quickly. Donors interested in receiving a tax credit should register as soon as possible with mytax.illinois.gov in order to apply for the tax credit. Individuals can designate their contribution to HCA directly (Region 2).

This program is now in the fourth year and we hope to have more student’s tuition funded. For 2018-2019, HCA was granted five student scholarships and for 2019-2020 HCA was granted four student scholarships based on the donations given to the program.

For any questions, please refer to the Children’s Tuition Fund to understand this organization further. Also, this contribution example illustrates the tax credit calculation.

In His Service,

Talbott Behnken

 

For more information, please refer to these links:

2021-2022~Tax Credit Scholarships

The Tax Credit Scholarship will cover up to 100% of private school tuition up to a maximum of the average Illinois cost to educate which is roughly $13,000. Key information about the program and donating to these scholarships can be found below.

Scholarship amounts vary according to the family income.  Refer to this chart which shows income levels by family size and the corresponding scholarship amounts.

For the 2021-2022 school year, the federal poverty guidelines are:

Household Size 100% 185% 250% 300% 400%
1 $12,490 $23,107 $31,225 $37,470 $49,960
2 $16,910 $31,284 $42,275 $50,730 $67,640
3 $21,330 $39,461 $53,325 $63,990 $85,320
4 $25,750 $47,638 $64,375 $77,250 $103,000
5 $30,170 $55,815 $75,425 $90,510 $120,680
6 $34,590 $63,992 $86,475 $103,770 $138,360
7 $39,010 $72,169 $97,525 $117,030 $156,040
8 $43,430 $80,346 $108,575 $130,290 $173,720

(released Feb. 1, 2019)

These guidelines will serve as a pre-qualification for applications. In addition, the priority for the 2020 scholarship applications are:

  1. Those who received a scholarship from us in the 2020-21 school year (and are within the 400% level of the poverty guidelines)
  2. Those within the 185% level of the poverty guidelines or currently living in a focus district
  3. Those above the 185% level of the poverty guidelines

 

Applications will open in January 2021.

2020~ Tax Credits

Individual and corporate donors may receive a credit for their Illinois state taxes equal to 75 percent of donations to an SGO.

  • A taxpayer donates $10,000 to an SGO; they are eligible to claim a $7,500 tax credit on their 2019 taxes.

Tax credits are capped at $1 million per taxpayer per year; a donor can contribute about $1.33 million to receive the maximum tax credit allowed. Donors cannot receive a federal deduction for gifts made through this program, but the net tax benefit to all donors is expected to be greater than ordinary charitable donations of an equal amount. Total tax credits are capped at $75 million per year statewide, which equates to $100 million in donations and scholarships. Please consult a tax professional to determine how such gifts will affect tax liability.

Individuals can specify that they want their scholarship dollars to go to Harvest Christian Academy. However, businesses cannot specify a specific school, only that their donation benefits a particular region, such as region 2, where HCA is located. Those who desire to contribute can visit childrenstuitionfund.org/contribute/

Contact Mrs. Kristy Weidman, Director of Admissions, with questions!  Please note this program is different and in addition to our own HCA Scholarship Fund program.

 

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS

Harvest Christian Academy admits students of any race, color,national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.