If you’re planning on making a donation before this year’s deadline, there are a few things you should know that will make the process simpler.

April 18th Deadline

This year, due to a Washington DC holiday, Tax Day is on Monday, April 18th. The due date for Arizona taxes, as well as the deadline to make your ACSTO Tax Credit Donation for 2015 has been extended to April 18th as well because of this.

How to Donate

You can make your 2015 ACSTO donation online, by mail, or over the phone.

If you donate online, you’ll receive an email confirmation of your donation right away, in addition to being able to view your receipts, donation history, and more in your Donor Portal account. However, if the Donor Portal gives you trouble for any reason, you can always donate as a guest. 

If you donate by mail, ACSTO processes your donation as being made on the postmarked date. This means that as long as you mail in your donation card and check on April 18th (if you drop it in a mailbox, be sure to check the collection time!), you’ll meet the deadline.

Our mailing address is PO Box 6580, Chandler, AZ 85246.

You can also make a donation to ACSTO over the phone at 480.820.0403. Our customer service hours are Monday–Friday from 9am–12pm and 1pm–4pm.

What if I’m filing an extension?

Even if you are filing an extension for your 2015 tax returns, your ACSTO tax credit donation must be made by the April 18th deadline.

As always, if you have any questions, give us a call, send us an email to social@acsto.org, or send us a message on Facebook! Thank you for helping to make Christian Education a reality—we couldn’t do it without your support!

Apply for 16-17

Scholarship Applications are now available for the ‘16-‘17 school year, and this year, you can apply online more easily through our new Parent Portal! Scholarships awarded during ACSTO’s Spring Award Cycle beginning in May can apply to either the ‘15-‘16 or ‘16-‘17 school year, but only if you have applied for that specific school year.

If you’re not sure which school year your applications are for, or whether or not they are current, you can find out by logging in to your Parent Portal account. If you are registering for the first time, once you add your students, their application history will display within one or two business days.

The application deadline for our Spring Award Cycle is March 31st.

Talk to Friends and Family

This is the best time of year to talk to others about making a donation to ACSTO that recommends your student for a scholarship. Arizona taxpayers have until April 18th (or before they file their taxes, whichever comes first) this year to make a donation and claim a tax credit for their 2015 taxes.

Every year, more and more taxpayers are waiting until February, March, and April (right before they file their taxes) to make their ACSTO donations. This is why our Spring Award is one of our biggest awards of the year! Talking about ACSTO to others over the next two months is a great way to get scholarship recommendations for your students.

Not sure how to talk to your friends and family about ACSTO? Contact your school today to see when their next ACSTO Parent Workshop is, or check out ACSTO 101, our free guide that tells you how talk to friends and family.

Following these two steps today will give you a head start for next year’s tuition. Have questions? Call our office today at 480.820.0403, or email us at social@acsto.org. Our customer service staff want to do everything they can to help make Christian Education a reality for your family!

The Parent Portal lets parents conveniently…

1. Submit new scholarship applications
2. Check on the status of existing applications
3. See an award history for each child
4. Print out an award list or award confirmation
5. Saves information from year to year

If you’re a parent, Register your Parent Profile today! Even if you’ve applied in the past, a one-time Registration is required in order to connect the Portal to your child’s history.

REGISTER HERE

Whether you apply by mail, email, fax, or online, the portal will allow you to see the status of your application(s).

We’re excited to be able to offer a new way to make applying for scholarships even easier for our parents!

Having trouble using the Parent Portal?

As always, our Customer Service staff are always available to help! If something isn’t working right, please let us know by emailing social@acsto.org or calling us at 480.820.0403.

Here is a brief checklist to troubleshoot any problems:

Registering Your Profile

New Login: This is brand new, so everyone must Register a new profile first, even if you have donated or applied with ACSTO in the past (The Parent Portal is a separate login from the Donor Portal).

Confirmation Email: When you enter your information and click Register, donotreply@acsto.org will send you a confirmation email. Click the link to activate your Profile.

Add Your Children: Immediately add your children to your profile by clicking on your name in the upper right menu and clicking on Students. You may add all your children if you like, even if you are not applying for them yet.

Once you have added your children to your Profile, their scholarship history (if any) could take up to 1-2 business days to appear.

Errors or Glitches

Refresh Browser: If you are unable to see or use certain features or if an error message pops up, Press F5 on your keyboard to refresh your browser.

Confirmation Email: If you never received your email confirmation, you may resend it by clicking here. Make sure to check your spam folder and add donotreply@acsto.org to your safe sender’s list.

Password: If you forgot your password, you may reset it by clicking here. Passwords are case sensitive! Alpha, numeric, and symbol characters are all allowed.

Contact Us: If you need to report a persistent error or glitch, please call us at 480.820.0403 or email us at social@acsto.org. 

Why keep asking? Because they can still give and claim it on 2015 state taxes! As people start to prepare their taxes, they can determine what their liability is (AZ Form 140, line 48 - subtotal of tax).  If they have the liability, they can make a donation to ACSTO (prior to filing their taxes) and claim it on their 2015 state tax forms as a credit!

Between the two Private School Tax Credits, a married couple can claim a maximum of $2,134 as a dollar for dollar tax credit, and a single taxpayer (or filing separately) can claim a maximum of $1,067.

Give Before You File!

However in order to claim it as a credit for 2015, a donation must be made prior to sending in your tax forms. No one can claim a credit, then make the donation after the fact. This would be considered tax fraud and if you were ever audited, the credit would not be accepted. As a taxpayer you would be required to pay it back, along with possible fees and interest payments.

“Taxpayers may claim a credit only if
they donated prior to filing their taxes.
There are no exceptions.”

When signing a tax form, each taxpayer is affirming that everything recorded is accurate. A signature agrees that “under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have read this return and any documents with it, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, they are true, correct, and complete”.

Donations to ACSTO count as a dollar for dollar credit against an individual’s state tax liability—in essence, it replaces what you already have to pay. Pay it to the state or donate it toward Christian Education. So what are you waiting for?  You have the opportunity to help a child receive a Christ-Centered education!

Some Donors Give Before December 31

Some donors may have donated prior to December 31, 2015, in order to claim their donation  as a tax credit on their State tax return for 2015 and as a possible deduction on their 2015 Federal tax return as a charitable gift. Typically these taxpayers are well aware of what their tax liability is based on their previous year’s income.

Many Donors Wait Until After December 31

On the other hand, some taxpayers may choose to give closer to tax time when they fill out their forms. It is possible that they are unsure of their tax liability or they do not want to be out of pocket the donation amount too long, especially if they are expecting a refund. The key is to make sure the donation is given prior to the tax filing date. It is imperative that that tax credit donation date precedes the filing date per the Arizona Department of Revenue.

April 15 Deadline for this year is actually April 18th

Every year, April 16th is a holiday in Washington DC (Emancipation Day). Emancipation Day is considered a legal holiday by the US Secretary of Treasury. This year, since the 16th falls on a Saturday, it will be observed on April 15th instead. Because of this, both the Arizona and Federal Tax due dates are moved onto the next business day, Monday, April 18th. If a donor is planning on filing an extension, they can still donate to ACSTO and claim a tax credit for the 2015 tax year as long as their donation is made prior to April 18, 2016. There are no extensions available for this tax credit past April 18.

Be Creative when you Donate

If you have a family or friend who would like to make a donation but do not necessarily have the cash to do so, they can get a bit creative.

1. They can charge the donation on a credit card, and if they are expecting a refund, they can pay off the amount once the refund is received, which is typically within a 30 day window.
2. They can file their Federal Taxes first. If they receive a refund they can utilize a portion of their refund to make their tax credit donation, and then file their State tax forms. Again, the tax credit donation must be received prior to their state taxes being filed or April 18, 2016.
3. Lastly, if a donor receives a refund on their Federal or State taxes, they may want to consider making their 2016 tax credit donation since they have the extra cash to do so. This way it is one less thing they have to worry about at the end of the year!   

At ACSTO we work hard to ensure that schools, parents, and donors understand tax credits and the rules and regulations of the program. We do not encourage or promote any practices or policies that conflict with the private school tax credit laws or the Arizona Department of Revenue. We want to protect the integrity of the program while safeguarding our parents and donors at the same time. In the long run, this will ensure that scholarships are always available to help families afford the education of their choice for their children—Christian Education.  

If you have questions about how to donate, when to donate, or if you should donate, please do not hesitate to contact our office. When it comes to specific tax advice, we encourage you to consult with your tax/financial advisor.

Thanks for making Christian Education a reality for Arizona families!

Through Christian Education, lives are being changed. We celebrate the $16,756,628 in scholarships we were able to award to 7,187 students attending one of 127 different private Christian schools in 2015!

We continue to strive to make Christian Education a reality for Arizona’s families. Our office staff and marketing team are invested in providing exemplary service, as well as informing parents, schools, and taxpayers about the benefits of the private school tax credit program.

2015 was a great year—we have many things to celebrate, including...

HELP/ACSTO Merge

We were very blessed to join forces with HELP Scholarship Foundation in July. ACSTO has always served the WELS schools, however our partnership allowed for us to provide more services and resources to the WELS schools and churches.

Mailing Project

Every year ACSTO offers a free mailing to our partner schools, churches, and parachurch organizations. The intent of our mailing is to encourage previous donors to continue to give and to reach new donors by informing them of tax credit opportunities available to them. In 2015 we mailed 136,717 pieces in 73 distinct mailings. These mailings include our annual previous donor mailing “Planting the Seeds” and a mailing to all of the previous HELP donors.

Advertisement & Social Media

We continued our efforts in “spreading” the good news about tax credits. We had an ACSTO ad displayed for 4 weeks in 9 different Harkins Theatres throughout the state in February and March. Facebook continues to be an effective way for us to communicate with all our partners. Our Blog posts are reaching more people through Facebook, our website, and our email subscribers.

Donor Portal

In 2015, we received nearly 60% of our donations through our Donor Portal! Our new online processing system has been an effective tool for our donors to manage their giving through every step of the process.

School Workshops

We hosted seven school workshops this summer! 134 school administrators and office personnel from 58 different schools gathered to learn more about how to market their school, reach more families, and how to share their uniqueness. We discussed the best practices for schools to use to increase tax credit donations, and School Choice Arizona (ACSTO’s Sister Organization) shared information about how Corporate Tax Credits work.

Marketing Reviews

Through our School Workshops, 40 of our partner schools signed up for a free, two hour Marketing Review. Our Marketing Team sat down with members from these schools to share ideas with each other, evaluate marketing strategies, and provide suggestions for reaching more families and helping parents receive more Tax Credit Scholarships.

Parent/Donor Workshops

Our Coordinators led over 50 Parent Workshops at schools throughout Arizona. These workshops teach parents how to better take advantage of Arizona’s tax credits. Parents learn about the different tax credit scholarships available, a basic overview of what a tax credit is, as well as ideas and tools for soliciting recommendations.

Staff Workshops

Our Coordinators conducted over 15 Staff Workshops at individual schools to explain the Tax Credit Scholarships to the school’s staff, discuss donating through payroll withholdings, and ways they can help promote tax credit donations for their school.

Employees

Our staff welcomed back two former employees—Amber Johnson to our office staff and Tommy Smith to our marketing team. We also added a new office staff member, Tori Thelen. Our marketing team grew also by two coordinators; Debi LaVergne as our East Valley School Coordinator and Jeff Weinstein as our WELS Church Coordinator.

2015 may be over, but the impact of our efforts will benefit the lives of children and their families for years to come!

To our schools, our parents, and our donors—thank you for your part in this incredible journey and for making 2015 a fabulous year! Above all, we thank God for His blessings and give Him the praise He deserves.

In order to be considered, you'll need to make sure that you have current applications for your students on file with us by January 31st.

This deadline is a month earlier than last year, so be sure to share this information with other parents at your school! Applications received after January 31st will be considered in our Spring Awards, May 2016.

Remember, we can't award a scholarship without a current application for your child. Not sure if you have current applications for your children? Email us at social@acsto.org, or call our office at 480.820.0403 today!

However, if you're having trouble making your donation online after our office closes tonight or tomorrow, here are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot the problem:

1. Refresh / Reload the Page

If you run into a problem making your donation, the first thing you should try is to refresh the webpage. To do this, you can either hit the F5 key on Windows, or use "Command+R" on a Mac. This will make sure that your web browser is showing you the most up to date version of our website.

2. Update / Try a Different Web Browser

Sometimes older Web Browsers can have trouble loading the Donor Portal. Try updating your browser to the most current version, or try using a different web browser, like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

3. Donate as a Guest

If you're still having trouble logging into our Donor Portal, try Donating as a Guest. On our Donor Portal homepage, beneath the "Log in" button is a link titled "Donate as a Guest." You can use this to make a donation without logging in to your account. We'll be able to go in later and connect your Guest Donation to your Portal Account.

4. Email Us

If you're still having trouble after trying the previous steps, as a last resort, you can email us your donation! Fill out the Donation Card on one of our ACSTO Donation Brochures (You can print one here), scan or take a picture of it, and email it to us at social@acsto.org or fax it to us at 480.820.2027. As long we receive it before 11:59pm (Arizona Time) on the 31st, it will count for 2015.

Your donation makes Christian Education a reality for Arizona's students—thank you for making a difference!

“Impossibility” is a word that our family refused to accept. My wife and are raising our four grandchildren. This situation is very common in our community, and with this blessing comes many challenges. One of which is having the financial ability to raise a second set of children! Because of situations like this, Payson Christian School provides information about many scholarship opportunities to help families afford Christian education. 

Both of us work full-time jobs just to provide for our families basic needs.  When we heard about Payson Christian School in town, we thought how great it would be to have our grandkids attend a school that taught God’s word daily and honored Christ in all they do, but Christian school is much too expensive for our tight budget, we thought. As we prayed, God was calling us to enroll one of our grandchildren in the school. “But Lord, how will we afford it?” we prayed. The only answer we received was to simply trust in the Lord to provide. Through a variety of circumstances, it was clear that God was calling us to obey Him, and take this leap of faith. 

After enrolling our first grandchild in the school, we fell in love with all the school had to offer. We started seeing changes in our grandchild from being taught the Gospel daily, and from being exposed to a loving, nurturing environment. As we rejoiced in prayer with the Lord, God was again calling us to step out on faith and have all four grandchildren enrolled in this biblical education system. “Are you kidding, Lord? How can we do this?” Again, the clear answer was to trust God.  We began to pray fervently for Him to provide financially. 

After expressing our need to the school, we were provided with a list of school tuition organizations (STO’s) which provide scholarships to students at private schools. Some were based on financial need and some not. So, we began the financial application process. Things looked bleak as we initially receive no responses from several of these organizations.  But then God answered our prayers! We began to receive responses that we may qualify for financial assistance. Most of these responses came from Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization (ACSTO). Truly, with God all things are possible! Through ACSTO and the favor of the Lord, we personally delivered about 200 state tax credit donation brochures to family, friends, co-workers and the body of Christ.  Everyone was all very supportive in our vision of having all four grandchildren enrolled in Payson Christian School, and wanted to participate in the tax credit program. They wanted to donate their money to support Christian School Tuition instead of paying it in State income taxes. To date, we have all four grandchildren enrolled with all of their tuition covered for the 2015 - 2016 school year. In addition, a portion of their next year’s tuition is covered with multi-year scholarships. 

All it took was a little faith, hope and obedience on our part and God did the rest! ACSTO has been a tremendous blessing to our entire family and our grandchildren.  We are grateful they are receiving a firm Christian foundation while being educated. May God receive all the glory!   

Sincerely,

Maico and Mary

Deadlines

December 31st is the deadline to make a donation and claim it as a Charitable Deduction on your 2015 Federal Taxes, in addition to the AZ State Tax Credit.

However, Arizona law allows you to make a donation anytime before you file your taxes, up to April 15th, 2016, and claim it as an AZ Tax Credit for your 2015 taxes.

Donations mailed and postmarked by December 31st are processed as being made on that day.

ACSTO's Year End Customer Service Hours

Until the end of the year, our Customer Service staff will be taking a reduced lunch break in order to better serve our donors. Our modified phone hours will now be 9:00am–12:00pm and 12:30pm–4:00pm.

In addition, on December 31st, Customer Service by phone will be available until 5:00pm.

As always, if you have a question outside of our office hours, send us an email at social@acsto.org, and we'll get back to you within one business day.

Our office will be closed on Christmas Eve.

How to Donate

You can make a year end donation online, by mail, or over the phone.
Read more about how to make a donation here.

Once again, if you have any questions, please call our office at 480.820.0403 or email us at social@acsto.org. Our Customer Service staff is always available to help!

Thank you for making Christian Education a reality to Arizona families!

My sister first approached me 10 years ago about making a donation to ACSTO on behalf of my niece’s tuition. She told me I could donate $500, specify that I’d prefer it to be applied to my niece’s tuition, and then I would get all $500 back because it would reduce the income tax I owed on my state returns, dollar-for-dollar (of course, the amounts have increased now).

It is safe to say I had reservations about making a donation.

Since I was a product of public education and had taught in public schools, my biggest concern was whether a credit, which usually results in a reimbursement from the state, would impact the education of those attending public schools. I felt as if I would take money away from them.

Besides, my sister was the one who chose private school instead of the usual public education. So I will admit that I was a bit annoyed that my sister was even asking me for money. Since her and her husband had chosen to send their children to private school, then they must have money, right? Why should I foot the bill? In the end, I was guilted into donating for my niece’s sake for the first couple of years. At first, the fact that I ended up with a refund for the entire $500 was the only incentive.

But much has changed since I first began donating to ACSTO. My knowledge of the program, and more importantly, my relationship with Jesus Christ has grown.

The first hurdle causing my hesitation was whether my donation affected the state’s budget for public schools. Since my roots come from public education, I wanted to be sure that I was not hurting that system.

Everything considered, the state of Arizona spends approximately $9,000 per student each year in the public school system. Reimbursements to ACSTO and similar organizations don’t come anywhere close to that per student. The last time I checked, it averaged about $2,000 per student annually, so donors are actually saving the state money.

With these figures, it suddenly sounded
like a pretty good deal for the state!

As my faith has flourished, the second hurdle of doubt is no longer an issue for me. I have a better understanding of why my sister and her husband have chosen to send their children to Christian schools.

They made the choice to send their children to a private Christian School not because they had money to burn, but because it was so important to them. They technically cannot afford it, and without the ACSTO scholarships, I am not sure how they would manage financially. Yet they do it because private Christian schools offer faith training that no public school could ever provide. Through the ACSTO scholarship program, donations that come in for their children are a tremendous help!

It gives them the ability to follow priorities
that are extremely important to the entire family.

My niece and nephew will finish their high school educations within the next few years, but I won’t stop donating to ACSTO. I look forward to blessing other parents with my generosity so that they can have the opportunity to send their children to a school where they will develop and grow in the Word of the Lord. I have no problem telling others about ACSTO and know that I have recruited a few givers along the way.

Will you join me this year to help other families just like my sister’s? I don’t want anyone else to hesitate the way I used to, because this is a big deal.