The Giver’s Ledger October 2025 | MO Workers Center + Smart Year-End Giving

First Published: Volume I, Issue 8 by NINA NEEDLEMAN | October 25, 2025

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT

Missouri Workers Center is a Kansas City MO-based 501c3. It’s multi-racial workers fight to advance the rights and power of workers on and off the job in rural, urban, and suburban Missouri. This movement of workers operates under the mantra that all workers, all people of color, can share in and participate in democracy. They help people work through fear to build community and fight for their rights. They focus on collective demands for economic and racial justice as a force of change.

 MWC fights for a Missouri where all workers have what they need to live with prosperity, dignity, and freedom. Through collective action, they’ve won a $15 per hour minimum wage, renters’ right to an attorney in Kansas City’s eviction courts, millions of dollars in raises from billion-dollar employers, and respect, dignity, and safer working conditions for thousands of workers.  MWC was a major force behind the success of Proposition A in St. Louis (for a $15 minimum wage and expanded paid sick leave); it was also a meaningful force in the YES on Amendment 3 battle. See the 2024 annual report HERE.

PHILANTHROPY/PERSONAL FINANCE TIPS

October/November is a good time to schedule a review with your financial planner.

Topics:

• Charitable giving budget for the rest of the year. If your planner or CPA does income projections for you, they can help you figure out how much to donate based on AGI.

• Consider donating to favorite causes with tax credits. Find out from your advisor how much you pay in Missouri tax. For example, let’s say it’s $14,000. Then you can donate up to $28,000 in tax credit donations( if they are 50% donations) to offset your Missouri state tax owed.

How Tax Credits Work:

Missouri tax credits are incentives that allow individual taxpayers to reduce their tax liability based on approved Missouri charitable donations. There are many types, but the three main types include:

1)YOP Youth Opportunity Programs
2) NAP Neighborhood Assistance Programs
3) AHAP Affordable Housing Assistance Programs. Once your advisors verify this is a good strategy for your situation, see what cause grabs you, then confirm with that nonprofit the following: a) availability (amounts are limited), b) eligibility, c) minimums (usually at least $1000, often more). NOTE: Your actual tax benefit depends on your individual tax situation. So don’t take my word for it, consult your CPA.

Here are a few tax credit options available (some have offerings in multiple categories):

YOPs
Kids in the Middle | Variety St. Louis | St. Louis Artworks | Gene Slay’s Boys & Girls Club | Wyman Center | Mission St. Louis | Operation Food Search |
Search all approved YOP Agencies at MO Dept of Economic Devevlopment HERE

NAPs
Lifewise STL | STL Area Food Bank I Peter & Paul Community Services | Jewish Family Services | Operation Food Search
Search all approved NAP Agencies at MO Dept of Economic Development HERE

AHAPs
St. Patrick’s Center | Beyond Housing | Promise Community Homes | Peter & Paul Community Services

Other categories include: The Sheldon 50% | Room at the Inn 70%

UPCOMING NON-PROFIT TRAININGS OF VALUE

November 13, 2025
Beyond Balloons Buffets: Designing Events with Impact, 9-11a
Virtual REGISTER HERE

December 12, 2025
Advocacy 101: Is your Nonprofit Ready?
9-10:30a Virtual REGISTER HERE

UPCOMING EVENTS

NOVEMBER is Native American Heritage Month.
Celebrate St. Louis’ dynamic Native American Heritage.

October 31, 2025 Lecture: Critical Race Theory at the Bottom of the Well. 12:00-1:00p Washington University -Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom, Anheuser Busch Hall, room 310, FREE REGISTER HERE

November 17, 2025 – Economic Impact of Neighborhood Revitalization. Discover how St. Louis leaders are revitalizing neighborhoods through collaboration, housing investment, job training, and shared community spaces. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation! Hosted by Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund at the Delmar Divine, 5:00-7:00 pm. REGISTER HERE

Nina Needleman is a Retired Financial Planner.  She spent the first three-decades of her career in the financial services industry. Now she uses her business skills to help nonprofit organizations with Capacity Building and more importantly--as an educator, teaching people about personal finance and philanthropy.