Giving to Pathlight

Pathlight was the first organization in Hampden County to support people with developmental disabilities and their families. We founded the first nursery school, then the first developmental day school in western Massachusetts. Pathlight later established the first community residences in Massachusetts and the first Family Based Living options for individuals and families.

We didn’t stop there. Pathlight expanded services to include programs that strengthen the whole family. Autism Connections was founded as a parent-run program for children with autism, the first autism resource center funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Family Empowerment, a family program that supports individuals and their families joined Pathlight. In 2010 Whole Children, also founded by parents, joined Pathlight and offers a wide range of innovative after-school, weekend, enrichment programs (including Whole Selves, a groundbreaking sexuality curriculum started in 2018). Milestones, an individualized program for adults opened a few years later.

Pathlight Fund. A portrait of a young girl with Down Syndrome and a light skin tone smiles widely.

Pathlight fund

Unrestricted gifts support Pathlight in the fulfillment of its mission.

Your donation helps Pathlight meet the area of greatest need. You may choose to give one time or to multiply your giving and impact by setting up a monthly recurring gift.

We look forward to letting you know how your giving helps to make a difference in the lives of our family members, neighbors, friends, and colleagues with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

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Honoring Those We Love. An older man with a disability and a light skin tone leans his hand on the shoulder of a smiling middle-aged man with a light skin tone while grinning at him.

Honoring those we love

Giving in memory of a loved one or friend is a very personal way of remembering and celebrating them and supporting Pathlight.

There are many ways to honor someone. When someone you love passes away, you may choose to request donations to Pathlight in lieu of sending flowers. Or, you may decide to organize a fundraising event in memory of your loved one.

To explore options for remembering and honoring your loved one, please contact Valle Dwight at 413-270-8948 or email us to learn more.

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Give happiness. Darren Harington, a man with a light skin tone and Down Syndrome, smiles and claps while sitting in front of a birthday cupcake with a blown-out candle.

Give happiness

How ’bout be happy?

It was Darren’s never-ending smile and happiness that filled the hearts of Anne Marie and John with joy when they welcomed him into their family. That joy led them to establish the Darren FUNd in 2007 at Pathlight.

The FUNd’s purpose is to afford others, served by Pathlight’s Shared Living program, opportunities that are fun and bring them joy. As Darren was fond of saying, “How ’bout be happy!”

Over the years, the FUNd has fulfilled this intention in a variety of ways, including vacations trips to Disney World, Arizona, and New Hampshire, therapeutic horseback riding lessons, classes at the Jewish Community Center, membership at the local YMCA, a week at Camp Horizon, music lessons, and the purchase of iPads.

Since Darren’s death in 2014 from Early Onset Alzheimer’s, the FUNd has taken on a new meaning. Sadly, it is now a tribute to his life, and a way to honor his spirit.

Please join us in remembering and honoring Darren’s memory and ensuring that others will receive the gift of happiness and fun.

Give Happiness in Darren's Memory
Give Friendship. A man with a medium skin tone in a yellow shirt and a white bandana on his head is beside two girls in white shirts with light skin tones. All three are smiling toward the camera.

Give friendship

Community, connection, caring

Dances, social skills classes, Café Night, and social groups, to name a few. These are some of the ways that people with developmental disabilities come together, along with their families, to have fun, learn, and grow in friendship.

Your gift will support the ongoing provision of classes, groups, and social events that create opportunities for connection and community for people with disabilities and their families.

Give the Gift of Friendship
Champion Dignity. Three people with light skin tones sit at a table, smiling at the camera. On the left, a younger girl with Down Syndrome presses her face against another adult woman in the middle. Next to her, on the right, is a smiling teenager.

Champion dignity

Living and working in community

Shared Living, Adult Family Care, and Residential and Employment Supports are Pathlight programs and services that support people with developmental and intellectual disabilities to build family and community lives that allow each to experience the fullness of their uniqueness.

Your gift will support the continued extension of these services to people with disabilities so they may grow across their lifespan and experience the inclusion, participation, love, meaningful work, respect, and dignity that we all deserve.

Be a Champion for Dignity
Planned Giving. A man with a disability and a light skin tone sits next to an older woman with long, straight hair. The woman holds her hand against the man’s cheek while smiling toward the camera.

Planned giving

Planned gifts can be cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, CD’s/CDs, and real estate. Donating a planned gift to Pathlight allows you to strengthen and build valuable programs that ensure the quality of life, dignity and community involvement of children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families for generations to come.

Become part of a powerful legacy
As part of your Estate Planning, you can help ensure that future generations of people with intellectual disabilities will continue to receive the support and services they need and deserve in order to live a full, rich life full of opportunity and learning.

Pathlight living legacy society
By making a planned gift, you become a valued member of the Pathlight Living Legacy Society. Those who have made arrangements to include Pathlight in their estate planning are members of The Legacy Society. The legacy family is growing!

Pathlight legacy fund
Help build the Pathlight Legacy Fund, a permanent endowment fund to generate longer-term support from charitable planned gifts. This Fund allows your gift, modest or large, to continue to support the Pathlight mission you believe in. Your commitment allows us to protect and grow your gift.

 

Types of planned giving

Gifts of retirement assets and beneficiary designations
A beneficiary designation is the simplest way to make a legacy gift to Pathlight. When you complete your beneficiary designation form, please name Pathlight as a full or partial beneficiary. These gifts bypass probate and go directly to all beneficiaries.

Some common designation options are:

  • Retirement plans (traditional IRA, 401(k), etc.)
  • Insurance policies
  • Savings accounts

Bequests and wills
Please consider adding Pathlight as a beneficiary in your will. You may be able to add a simple codicil for a charitable bequest to an existing will. Pathlight will honor your intentions to provide a charitable gift through your will and offer you recognition today.

Here are some common bequest options you can use:

  • Determine a specific dollar amount or asset that you would like to leave to Pathlight
  • Name Pathlight as the recipient of a percentage of your residuary estate after you’ve provided for your loved ones
  • Pathlight receives a bequest only in the event of the death of other beneficiaries

Select a bequest that meets your needs. After providing for your loved ones, please decide to leave a provision in your will to Pathlight, designating a specific amount or percentage of cash, marketable securities, real estate, or other assets.

A charitable gift annuity
You can transfer cash or securities to Pathlight and receive a lifetime annuity payment from your gift. The rate is based on your age and the number of annuitants. You receive a charitable income tax deduction based on the age and number of annuitants (generally, the donor or the donor and the donor’s spouse). Your deduction may be claimed in the year of your gift up to the contribution ceilings previously outlined. You avoid immediate capital gains tax on the transfer of appreciated securities, and the annual payment is based on the fair market value of your gift.

A gift of a life insurance policy
You may contribute a life insurance policy to Pathlight that is no longer needed for its original purpose. Simply ask your life insurance company for a Designation of Beneficiary form.

To make an irrevocable transfer that will receive gift credit, you must name Pathlight as the beneficiary and owner. You will receive gift credit for the cash surrender value of the policy and may claim that value as an income tax deduction in the year of the transfer.

young woman with yellow flowers and sister head to head

Matching gifts

Many employers sponsor matching gift programs and will match charitable contributions made by their employees. The impact of your gift to Pathlight may be doubled or tripled. Some companies match gifts made by retirees and/or spouses. Here’s how it works:

Donate
Make a donation and be sure to keep your receipt. Many corporate matching programs will allow you to request a match for up to one year after you make your donation.

Search
Contact your Human Resources department to confirm whether your company matches gifts.

Match!
Ask your employer for a matching gift form. Complete and send the form with your gift receipt. We will do the rest.

Have questions? Email us at development@pathlightgroup.org

cars

Donate a vehicle

Buying a new car? Getting rid of an old one? Selling isn’t your only option. Pathlight has teamed up with Donate for Charity to make donating your vehicle easy. It’s a win for all:  you get a minimum $500 tax deduction (or higher, depending on what your car sells for), and Pathlight receives the net proceeds to support our services and programs.

By donating your car, you’ll avoid the headache of selling a used vehicle. Whether the vehicle is running or not, Donate For Charity can help process the donation.

Thanks for considering this option. Just click on the link below and fill out the  Vehicle Donation Form. If you have questions, please call Donate For Charity directly at (866) 392-4483.

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