Clinch Memorial receives over $500,000 in donations from Georgia HEART tax credit program
Donors from all over the state of Georgia chose Clinch Memorial Hospital as their rural hospital of choice through this year’s Georgia HEART (Helping Enhance Access to Rural Treatment) tax credit program.
A grand total of $538,275 in financial support has been pledged to Clinch Memorial Hospital through the Georgia HEART program for this year.
“Thanks to these generous donors from all over the state of Georgia, including our local community, we can finance plans for opening a family health clinic and continuing to expand hospital services,” hospital CEO Angela Ammons said of the money raised. “We received donation applications totaling more than $900,000 this year, but because the overall program is capped, we’ll receive funds totaling $538,275. We hope the Georgia Legislature will study increasing the maximum amount of donations allowed under this program. I’d also like to remind donors to please get their paperwork in on time, so that their donations can be duly processed; we lost out on $31,000 in donations for that reason this year. We’re very grateful to all the people who chose Clinch Memorial Hospital and gave so generously this year.”
Donors hailed from as far away as Atlanta, Savannah and Macon, and there were supporters in Homerville, Valdosta and throughout Georgia. The Georgia HEART tax credit program allows donors to offset their tax liability and choose where their money is donated.
While the credit limit has been reached for this year, Georgia HEART will begin taking pre-applications at 9 a.m. on Oct. 1 for the 2019 tax year. Because the program is capped each year, donors are encouraged to apply early to take advantage of the 100 percent tax credit.
The Georgia HEART program is helping rural and critical-access hospitals take advantage of an opportunity to increase their funding and their ability to provide for the health care needs of thousands of Georgians. For many years, due to demographic, economic and health care industry challenges, Georgia’s rural hospitals have been facing a financial crisis jeopardizing the access of rural Georgians to adequate health care.