​2025 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for tax policy, to say the least! 
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The Republican-led Congress and White House are aiming to use the budget reconciliation process to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. This process allows them to bypass typical filibuster rules and require only a simple majority of 51 votes in the Senate. So what does this mean to you and your colleagues and the way you should approach generating support for your endowment fund at the Community Foundation? 

The Community Foundation will help keep our nonprofit partners up-to-date on potential tax law changes in 2025 related to the scheduled expiration of provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, and what might happen if the TCJA provisions wind up expiring instead of being extended.
Here are three things that are important to know: 

Potential reduction in estate and gift tax exemption
The estate and gift tax exemption is slated to decrease significantly at midnight on December 31, 2025. Currently, the exemption is $13.99 million per person. After 2025, this could be reduced to approximately $7 million per individual and $14 million per couple. This change may impact charitable giving strategies, particularly for high net-worth donors who use estate planning as part of their philanthropic efforts.

Changes to charitable deduction limits
The TCJA temporarily increased the deduction limit for cash contributions to public charities from 50% to 60% of adjusted gross income (AGI). If this provision expires, the limit may revert to 50% of AGI. This reduction could affect the tax benefits for donors making large charitable contributions, potentially influencing their giving decisions.

Increase in standard deduction and impact on itemized deductions
The TCJA significantly increased the standard deduction, which led to a reduction in the number of taxpayers itemizing deductions. If these provisions expire, the standard deduction could revert to lower pre-TCJA levels. This change might increase the number of taxpayers who itemize, potentially making charitable deductions more attractive for a broader range of donors. However, it's important to note that the overall impact on charitable giving could be complex, as it may be influenced by other factors such as changes in tax rates and the reinstatement of certain itemized deductions.

These potential changes underscore the importance for charity fundraisers to stay informed about tax law developments and to work closely with donors and their financial advisors to navigate the evolving landscape of charitable giving strategies.

For context, if you like to get in the weeds, we recommend taking a look at a recent study that breaks down the flow of capital into the nonprofit sector.
 
This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Especially at the beginning of a new year, the team at the Community Foundation fields a lot of questions from fundraising professionals about strategies for increasing gifts to an organization’s endowment fund. Not surprisingly, a very common question is this:

“How can we get our board members more involved in endowment fundraising?”

And of course, that is an important question. Board members’ active participation in endowment fundraising can provide a big boost to achieving your organization’s long-term financial stability.
Here's a five-point formula for getting your board involved in growing your endowment in 2025 and beyond. 

Step 1: Set the stage
Help board members fully understand the importance of endowment fundraising. Let them know that a strong endowment provides financial stability, supports long-term planning, and helps weather economic uncertainties. Start the year with a dedicated segment in your first board meeting to discuss the status of your endowment and its significance to the organization's future. Remember, transparency is key. Be open about your endowment's current status, even if it has been affected by market fluctuations. Honesty builds trust and motivates board members to take action.

Step 2: Inspire action
Present a confident and enthusiastic approach to fundraising for the year ahead. Emphasize that your organization is proactively addressing financial challenges while others might be hesitant. Be sure your board members know that a strong endowment acts as a buffer during economic downturns, ensuring the continuity of your mission.

Step 3: Equip your board members
Your board members certainly do not need to know all the details of how a gift to your endowment can be structured. Indeed, board members don’t need to know any details; they simply need to be armed with just enough information to be able to listen closely for opportunities when a potential donor mentions anything related to charities or financial planning. Then, it is natural for the board member to make an introduction to your team. Jumping off points for an introduction, and suggested board member responses, include: 

• Required Minimum Distributions from an IRA (“There are ways you can send funds from your IRA directly to a charity. I’ll connect you with Sally Jones at ABC Charity. I’m on the board and the organization does amazing work.”)
• Appreciated stock (“You probably already know that appreciated stock makes a great gift to a charity. I’ll connect you with Sally Jones at ABC Charity. I’m on the board and the organization does amazing work.”)
• Upcoming events (“I am on the board of ABC Charity. There’s an event coming up that you’d really enjoy. I’ll connect you with Sally Jones so you can learn more.”)

Step 4: Make it as easy as possible
Keeping it simple is key! Complexity is a known barrier to a donor’s commitment to give. Meet individually with each board member to discuss potential involvement in endowment fundraising efforts. You may be pleasantly surprised to uncover unique skills, connections, or resources that could benefit your endowment strategies. Along these lines, take advantage of events where board members can engage with potential endowment donors in a comfortable setting. Assign specific, manageable tasks to each board member based on skills and preferences, including asking them to seek out specific donors. And, importantly, encourage board members to make their own contributions to the endowment, demonstrating their commitment to the cause. This makes it much easier for a board member to talk with potential donors because they can speak from personal experience. 

Step 5: Celebrate success
Keep the board informed about the progress of endowment fundraising efforts, celebrating successes and addressing challenges. Acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of board members who actively participate in fundraising activities. Remember, activity creates results! If board members are out in the world talking about your organization and the endowment, good things will happen! 

As always, the team at the Community Foundation is here to serve as a sounding board as you implement strategies to encourage board members to become active participants in endowment fundraising, ensuring the long-term financial health of your organization.

This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Philanthropy professionals have long recognized the importance of emotional engagement in fundraising, particularly during annual campaigns or initiatives focused on immediate donations. Indeed, recent research underscores the critical role of emotional intelligence in successful fundraising. 
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When it comes to charitable gift planning, however, such as helping a donor structure a legacy endowment gift, it’s tempting to approach the process as a primarily rational exercise. This is understandable given the complex tax and legal considerations involved in structuring various giving vehicles such as trusts, bequests, foundations, donor-advised funds, and beneficiary designations. Of course, it is crucial to address technical aspects to ensure donors' charitable intentions are fulfilled with tax benefits and financial goals in mind. 

At the same time, you’ll want to be sure that the emotional dimension of charitable gift planning isn’t overlooked. Legacy giving offers psychological benefits. Endowment gifts, in particular, can offer donors a sense of immortality and a way to perpetuate their values beyond their lifetime. No doubt you’ve watched this in action as you’ve helped donors structure legacy gifts to your endowment fund at the Community Foundation, and perhaps you've even played a role in facilitating a donor’s unique emotional and reflective process when considering such a gift.

Encourage your donors to consider the benefits of a legacy gift:

• Create a lasting impact that aligns with their personal values
• Leave a meaningful legacy that extends beyond their lifetime
• Culminate a long history of support for your organization in a significant way

To maximize success in legacy fundraising, nonprofit organizations should strive to engage both the hearts and minds of your donors. Consider sharing inspiring stories and testimonials that illustrate the long-term impact of legacy gifts. To further build an emotional connection, you might even offer the donor exclusive events or site visits to help donors visualize the future impact of their gifts. On the rational side of the equation, you’ll find that working with the Community Foundation team helps you provide clear information about the tax and legal aspects of various giving vehicles. Our team can also help you address concerns about administrative complexities and provide support throughout the giving process.

Please reach out anytime to the team at the Community Foundation to help you implement a balanced approach to tap into donors' emotional desires to make meaningful, lasting gifts while also ensuring that all technical aspects are properly addressed. We are here to help you develop more meaningful connections and ultimately achieve greater success in securing endowment and legacy gifts to keep your mission strong for generations to come. 

This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Over the years, more than a handful of attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors have shared with the Community Foundation team that their happiest clients seem to be those who’ve incorporated charitable giving into their estate and financial plans. Whether or not you believe this phenomenon is a “chicken or the egg” dilemma, it’s hard to dispute that philanthropy offers both emotional and rational upsides to your clients. Advisors who lean into these benefits stand a strong chance of being viewed by their clients as effective, impactful, and delivering well-rounded services to improve clients’ lives and give them peace of mind. 
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Despite these advantages, many advisors lack confidence in discussing philanthropy with clients. A survey found that only 5% of advisors felt "very confident" in this area, with 72% not including philanthropy in their initial fact-finding conversation with clients. This gap represents a significant opportunity for advisors to enhance their services and strengthen client relationships through philanthropic discussions.

Keeping clients loyal and engaged with your services is just one of many reasons to talk with clients about charitable giving. A recent Wall Street Journal article sheds light on the ways charitable giving can have positive effects on both mental and physical health. 

Notably, the article makes these points:

• Donating to charity can lead to improved mood, lower blood pressure, and potentially a longer life.
• The act of giving may trigger a release of serotonin and dopamine, hormones associated with happiness, while reducing cortisol levels.
• Brain scientists and economists have conducted studies supporting these health benefits of charitable acts.
• Research suggests that the positive feelings associated with giving may contribute to these health improvements.

The article implies that engaging in charitable activities could be a way to enhance overall well-being, suggesting that generosity might have tangible benefits beyond just helping others.
Of course, not every client will have exactly the same experience with charitable giving, and of course, charitable giving is above all primarily motivated by a client’s desire to help others rather than solely for personal benefit. Still, it’s critical for advisors to be aware of the unique role charitable giving can play in a client’s life.

The Community Foundation is here for you! Please reach out anytime you are working with a client who is charitably-inclined.

The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.

Your clients (and you!) may still be recovering from a hectic end to 2024, but don’t let that stop you from helping families get a jump on their charitable planning for 2025. 

As compelling as year-end giving may be, perhaps even more compelling are the reasons for planning and launching a charitable giving strategy early in the year–even in January. Benefits of a year-long giving strategy include:

• Helping nonprofit organizations meet their budgets all year long, which can save them from worrying as much about whether constituents’ ongoing needs can be addressed.
• Leveraging employer matching gifts programs early in the year when dollars are available and there is plenty of time to process the paperwork.
• Increasing predictability of cash flow and therefore being proactive, not reactive, in supporting the causes your clients love. Your clients might even consider setting up automatic contributions to their donor-advised or other types of funds at the Community Foundation to formalize this component as part of an ongoing plan.
• Taking advantage of plenty of time to learn more about the charities a client plans to support so that a client can be an even more informed and impactful donor, including fully utilizing the Community Foundation’s expertise and resources.
• Giving the client (and you) time to include children and grandchildren in the charitable giving conversation and tax-planning structures as a learning experience for the whole family.
• If your client is over 70 ½, being able to avoid the year-end scramble to process a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from an IRA directly to an eligible charity, such as an unrestricted or field-of-interest fund at the Community Foundation, by executing a QCD in the first quarter.
• Leaving enough time to explore options for more complex giving techniques, such as gifts of closely-held business interests or charitable remainder trusts, that might provide tax benefits as well as meet a client’s charitable goals, rather than waiting until the last minute when it may be hard for everyone to coordinate calendars.

As always, the Community Foundation is here to help. Please reach out to our team to learn more about how your clients can make the biggest difference with their charitable dollars, and how the Community Foundation team can help you ensure that your clients are able to fully carry out their charitable wishes for 2025. You and your clients will both be glad you planned ahead to help favorite organizations fulfill their missions throughout the entire year, as well as maximizing tax benefits and avoiding December’s crunch time.

The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.

We all know that the new year and a new administration brings lots of potential change. So what is going on that you need to know about to serve your charitable clients? 

At the top of the list of issues we’re watching is what might happen with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. As a quick refresher, the TCJA introduced several changes that significantly impacted charitable giving in the United States. These changes are set to expire at the end of 2025, and their potential extension factors into charitable planning techniques.

You’ll no doubt recall that the TCJA lowered individual income tax rates across the board, which in turn decreased the tax savings for each dollar donated, making charitable contributions slightly less attractive from a tax perspective. What’s more, TCJA provisions nearly doubled the standard deduction. (In 2025, the standard deduction is $15,000 for single filers and $30,000 for a married couple filing jointly.) This increase led to a dramatic reduction in the number of taxpayers who itemized their deductions. As a result, fewer taxpayers could claim charitable deductions, potentially discouraging giving among those who previously itemized. Indeed, research estimated that U.S. charitable giving fell by about $20 billion in 2018, the first year the TCJA was in effect. 

In addition, the TCJA roughly doubled the estate tax exemption, which has reached $13.99 million per person for 2025. The higher exemption has diluted purely tax-driven motivations for charitable giving among your wealthy clients. With fewer estates subject to tax, many advisors are working with a smaller pool of clients for whom charitable bequests are a useful technique for reducing taxable estates. 

Naturally, tax policy plays a role in your clients’ charitable giving behaviors, and certainly the giving behaviors following TCJA reflected tax policy’s influence. Nevertheless, studies have shown that most donors are motivated by factors other than saving taxes. Reasons for giving include a sense of duty to give back to society, a desire to tackle inequality, personal passion for specific charitable causes, religious beliefs, and dedication to supporting those less fortunate. Your clients who give to charity benefit emotionally from their gifts, and of course they like knowing that they are helping others and strengthening community ties. While tax benefits certainly are part of a client’s decision-making process, they’re likely a secondary consideration rather than the primary reason for giving. Indeed, even with tax benefits, your client will always end up with less money after making a charitable contribution, signaling that financial gain is not the main driver of philanthropy. Keep this in mind as tax developments unfold. 

Despite the many unknowns, what we do know is that something will happen in 2025 that influences charitable planning. Although TJCA provisions are set to expire at the end of 2025, it’s too soon to determine exactly how you should advise your clients about their charitable planning strategies. Note three potential outcomes of tax policy developments this year:

• If lawmakers extend the current TJCA provisions, existing patterns of charitable giving are likely to continue, with a potentially continued reduction in overall donations due to the higher standard deduction and estate tax incentives that motivate only ultra-affluent clients.
• If the TCJA’s provisions expire without replacement, and the tax code reverts back to pre-TJCA rules, it could lead to an increase in charitable giving as more taxpayers return to itemizing deductions and face higher marginal tax rates. Plus, a lower estate tax exemption would create a strong incentive for more of your clients to pursue lifetime and legacy gifts to charity to reduce taxable estates. 
• New tax legislation could introduce different incentives for charitable giving. For example, the proposed Charitable Act aims to create a universal charitable deduction, which could encourage giving across all income levels. For an uplifting read that includes compelling points about the role of the nonprofit sector and the history of charitable giving, check out this letter that was issued late last year to congressional leaders urging them to enact a charitable deduction for taxpayers who do not itemize. 

Of course, we’ll keep you posted! The team at the Community Foundation is here to help you structure charitable plans to empower clients to achieve their philanthropic goals, with or without a tax deduction. 

The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.

If you’ve not yet involved your children or grandchildren in your charitable giving, this may be the year to consider it! Children of all ages can benefit from learning even just a little bit about philanthropy and how charities improve the quality of life for everyone. Indeed, many parents and grandparents believe that some level of community involvement is crucial for young family members’ personal growth and future contributions to a more compassionate society. 

The team at the Community Foundation is always happy to help you explore best practices for helping shape the young people in your life into caring, responsible adults and inspire your extended family to get more involved.

Increasing a family’s role in charitable giving often leads to broader questions about estate planning, such as: 

• How to structure legacies to favorite charities so that heirs can stay involved in your priorities across generations
• How to ensure that children and grandchildren will be financially secure but still motivated to pursue independent personal and professional growth
• How to foster and support the self-directed charitable passions of children and grandchildren

The team at the Community Foundation is happy to work alongside your tax and estate planning advisors to address questions like this. We understand that you may be concerned that leaving millions of dollars, or even hundreds of thousands, to your children could backfire and hinder your kids’ ability and motivation to achieve financial independence. You might even be among the growing number of baby boomers who are considering pushing out distribution dates of inheritances and gifts.  

In addition to concerns about fostering entitlement and dependency, many parents and grandparents are concerned that their children will miss out on the satisfaction of knowing they built wealth on their own. These parents believe that the challenges and struggles along the way will ultimately enrich their children’s lives with intangible benefits that are far greater than the obvious benefits that come with gifts or an inheritance of significant financial resources.

If you find yourself feeling this way, please reach out to the Community Foundation. Every day, our team works with families who are in this exact situation. We’ll help you evaluate strategies such as:

• Establishing philanthropic components of an estate plan so that children receive only the amount that can pass to them free of estate tax, with the rest passing to a charity, such as a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation.
• Setting up a fund at the Community Foundation to allow you to support favorite causes and charities during your lifetime; if the fund is a donor-advised fund, you can provide that your children step in as successor advisors following your death.
• As successor advisors to the donor-advised fund, your children can work with the Community Foundation to recommend grants to favorite charities, support interest areas you’ve pre-selected, or both. 

Many people are attracted to this type of structure because not only could it avoid estate tax, but it also allows their children to stay involved with all of the family’s wealth, work together and keep sibling bonds strong, and get involved in the community. 

Please reach out to the Community Foundation team anytime. We look forward to exploring strategies to help you meet your financial and tax goals, as well as honor your wishes for your children to live happy and productive lives. 
 
The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation

Your family may be among those who are taking their charitable giving budgets more seriously this year, given uncertainty surrounding interest rates, potential new legislation, and possible stock market swings. 

At the same time, you also know that our community’s needs continue to rise. As 2025 gets into full swing, your favorite charities will be relying on additional resources and support from philanthropic sources. 

Against this backdrop, a budget has benefits!

Here are a few steps to consider as you build a 2025 budget for charitable donations that can help you continue to support your favorite causes and remain fiscally cautious.

• Review all your charitable donations from the last three years and compile totals for each organization. This can be an easy exercise if you use a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation because the data can typically be pulled directly from the Community Foundation’s donor portal or requested from the Community Foundation’s team.
• Carefully review the list of organizations you’ve supported over the last three years. Regardless of your donation levels, which charities are the most important to you? Are you serving on the board of directors of any of these organizations? Do you regularly volunteer at any of them? Is there a personal connection?
• Are there any organizations on your list that you supported primarily because the organization was raising money for a capital campaign, or because you were helping out a friend who is involved with that organization? If you anticipate household budget constraints in 2025, these may be organizations to possibly put on hold and then revisit supporting again in future years.
• Add up your total giving over the last three years and then divide it by three to get your average. Is that number doable this year? If not, reduce it to a level that fits within your financial situation to arrive at your tentative 2025 giving budget. Or, if you expect your income and assets to increase this year, consider taking your charitable giving budget up a notch. And always remember that there are tax advantages to giving highly-appreciated publicly-traded stock to your fund at the Community Foundation. 
• Consider whether to keep certain organizations at historic levels of giving, such as those you’re personally involved with. Or on the flip side, you may decide to temporarily reduce your level of giving to organizations for which you are providing other types of support, including volunteering or board service.
• Review your list to see if there are any organizations you’ve supported that you’d like to learn more about. The team at the Community Foundation is extremely knowledgeable about charities in our region and would be happy to provide information on how a particular organization spends its money and how it measures impact.
• Finally, do the best you can to set targets for the amount of support you’d like to provide to each organization—and perhaps even set targets for the timing of your gifts. You can change these targets at any time, of course. The point here is that the planning and budgeting process is a great way to create more intentionality around your giving. Intentional giving is not only more rewarding for you, but it is also likely to increase your level of engagement with the recipient charities and enhance your understanding of how dollars are being deployed to meet the mission. This, in turn, helps your favorite organizations get better at carrying out their programs and serving those who rely on their work. 

We look forward to working with you throughout the year! 

The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.

You’re ready to roll into a new year, and that includes staying involved with the charities you love, whether as a donor, volunteer, board member, or all of the above.

The team at the Community Foundation is here to support your charitable endeavors, no matter where your passions lie. Our region is full of charitable organizations that are doing amazing work to improve the quality of life for everyone. Indeed, across the country, there are hundreds of thousands of charities making a difference every single day.

Occasionally, you may be asked by a friend or colleague to donate to a charity you’re not too familiar with, or perhaps a charity that’s not been around very long asks you for financial support. Please reach out to our team with your questions. We are happy to help you gather the information you need to be confident in your gifts to any organization, large or small, new or well-established. 

The overwhelming majority of charities are above board, ethical, governed by top-notch board members, and run by highly-qualified professionals. Unfortunately, though, every once in a rare while, there are instances when a charity might not dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. Although very infrequent, it’s still worth considering leaning on the Community Foundation to help you with due diligence for a few reasons: 

• You’ll want to protect your reputation against damage if you were to wind up supporting a charity that later becomes tainted by a scandal.
• You’ll want to validate that the charity is not facing significant or unusual legal or financial risks. 
• You’ll want to avoid scams, which, unfortunately, are on the rise. 

A big perk of organizing your giving through a fund at the Community Foundation is that our team always has its finger on the pulse of what’s going on with charitable organizations in our community. We can research the status of longstanding organizations, check into a brand new organization, and everything in between. Our goal is to help ensure that your charitable contributions have the greatest possible impact. We look forward to hearing from you! 

The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.