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As you ponder your 2016 resolutions, please consider the difference you can make before 2015 slips away.

Your gift to Family & Children’s Place will provide healing therapy to a child who has been abused. It will give new parents the tools and training to get their baby off to the happiest, healthiest start possible. It will ensure a safe, supervised visitation between a child and parent and provide after-school help to a child to help him or her succeed not only academically but also socially.

Your gift will give you the satisfaction of knowing you made a difference for a child, to break the trauma of violence, abuse and neglect. You also get another benefit – from the IRS.

If you itemize your taxes, you can write off charitable contributions such as one you make to Family & Children’s Place. We are an IRS-approved nonprofit and will provide a receipt for your gift. You can get an even better deduction if you give appreciated stock rather than cash.

There you can write off the fair market value of the securities (even if you paid much less for them).

If you’ve got at least $5,000 to give away but aren’t sure just yet how you want to distribute it, consider using a donor advised fund. You get tax benefits in the year that you put money into a donor advised funds, but you can donate the funds at any time in the future. In the meantime, they’ll continue to grow tax-free.

It’s important to pass on your charitable spirit, so involve your kids as early as possible. Children whose parents talk to them about giving are 20 percent more likely to give to charity than children whose parents do not discuss giving with them. It’s a nice and easy way to help even young kids understand the concepts of caring and sharing.

The end of the year is a busy time for everyone, but abuse takes no holiday and children need a place to go where they know they are safe cared for and about and where they will get help so that they may again lead happy, healthy lives.

Please include Family & Children’s Place in your end of year giving plans.