Rick Scofield used to find himself in the same situation every December – rifling through his charitable records, trying to put together a complete list of the year's charitable donations. Where had he and his wife, Margaret, donated? And how much? Were they getting the full tax benefit for their gifts?

When a longtime friend told Rick about the Omaha Community Foundation as they were cycling one day, Rick immediately recognized an opportunity to simplify his family's giving.

With a Charitable Checkbook Account, the Scofields could write one check to the Foundation, make as many donations throughout the year as they like and then let the Foundation team take care of the details. Rick was eager to get the Foundation's help with an appreciated stock donation to their church, Northwest Hills United Church of Christ, before the end of the year. They'd already experienced how complicated a donation like that could be.

"Before, we'd have to set up a stock account for the church, and then make the transfer to the stock account," Rick said. "After that, the church had to go through selling it, which was not a routine function for them. The Foundation makes the process so much easier for everyone involved."

As it turned out, the only complicated part of managing their account was setting it up while Margaret, a pharmacology professor, was on a research trip to Antarctica. After a series of emails and 2 a.m. phone calls, the details were ironed out – and the Scofields were able to set up their Foundation account in time to get help with their generous donation.