Collaborating for Change

Art and art education are vital components of any community. They bring people together, fostering healthy bonds and reducing isolation. Engaging in art helps to reduce stress, create empathy, and promote critical thinking. Moreover, art is simply fun and can be a powerful tool for healing and unifying communities.

Collaboration is key to the success of Art Matters, as they rely heavily on partnerships with schools and other nonprofits. Many underserved children face challenges in accessing donated items, so Art Matters works with organizations that regularly interact with these children to bridge that gap. One of their key partners is the Community Violence Intervention Center (CVIC), a long-established local nonprofit. “When CVIC identifies children who are in need, the packs they distribute can be a key resource to keep kids engaged and help put them more at ease during difficult situations,” says Sapa.

Feedback from CVIC has been incredibly positive, emphasizing how the packs help children cope during times of instability and uncertainty. They provide a valuable outlet for mindfulness and engagement during CVIC’s meetings with families, which can be stressful for children.

Art Matters has also collaborated with Calvary Lutheran Church, where they provided art supplies to every student at Lewis and Clark School in  honor of Pastor Kirk Messick. This project  was a touching tribute and a huge success, with 195 packs distributed.

Great Effort for Greater Outcomes

Maintaining the operation and distribution of art packs, especially during challenging times, has not been without its hurdles. The entire Art Matters team is made up of volunteers, and Sapa herself works a full-time job alongside it.

“This often requires working at night and on weekends,” she explains, and during the summer, her living room turns into something of a warehouse for supplies. Sapa is grateful for the support of her spouse and motivated by the positive experiences these art packs bring to children.
At Art Matters, that motivation never falters. “We may be an organization of unpaid volunteers, but we have deep roots in our community and a strong determination. We are committed to seeking donations, broadcasting our mission, keeping up relationships, and forming new ones, no matter how long it takes,” Sapa explains.

​The news about large gifts keeps coming! And “big bet” philanthropy in general has been in the news recently, reportedly because donors’ approach to giving at scale is changing thanks to a greater focus on relying on the experts in organizations to deploy resources for maximum impact and trusting them to do so. It’s also encouraging that donors are trending toward giving gifts in dollar amounts that are appropriate to tackle the scale of the challenge to be addressed rather than basing donations solely on the organization's current capacity and budget. 

The team at the Community Foundation can help you maximize your ability to receive large gifts to your reserve fund or endowment fund. We do this by offering structure and services for you to house your fund with us. This, in turn, allows our team to help you with crucial fundamentals for planned giving tools to attract and accept large gifts, including:

• Support to accept complex gifts of alternative assets, such as real estate, closely-held stock, and even large blocks of publicly-traded stock
• Support to establish and administer charitable planning vehicles to benefit your organization, such as charitable remainder trusts and designated funds
• Support to help a donor establish a bequest to your organization in a will, trust, or–and especially tax-savvy for the donor–via beneficiary designation on an IRA or other qualified retirement plan

Indeed, planned giving, especially via bequests, continues to be an important source of funds for nonprofit organizations across the country. Some researchers have estimated that the historical average size of a charitable bequest falls somewhere between $37,000 and $78,360. That’s hundreds of times larger than the average one-time donation a living donor typically makes, which historically has been identified as hovering a bit over $100. 

Please reach out to the team at the Community Foundation to learn how we can help you grow your organization’s endowment or reserve fund. If your organization has not yet established its fund with the Community Foundation, let’s talk! Now is the time to make sure your planned giving and endowment infrastructure is firmly in place so you can lean into the “big bet” philanthropy trend. 
 
This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

A donor-advised fund is one of many types of funds that an individual, family, or business can establish with the Community Foundation. You’re likely more aware of donor-advised funds than other types of funds because they are frequently covered in financial media and also because your organization might have received grants from donor-advised funds. 
 
The team at the Community Foundation is happy to talk anytime to help demystify these popular vehicles. At the very least, however, you’ll want to check out the recently-released DAF Fundraising Report that sheds new light on the overall role of donor-advised funds in philanthropy and the significant value donor-advised funds provide to charities. 
 
For example, the report revealed that when a donor starts giving from a donor-advised fund, their annual giving increases by 96%! Donor-advised funds are also helping keep philanthropy strong. According to the report, the number of donors using donor-advised funds has grown by 79% in an environment where the number of other types of donors has declined by 6%. 
 
It’s absolutely worth your time to learn the basics of how a donor-advised fund works. You and your team also should consider developing strategies to identify and cultivate relationships with your donors who are using their donor-advised funds to support your organization. Dollars in donor-advised funds are already set aside for charitable giving, and it’s very convenient for donors to use their funds to support favorite organizations–like yours.
 
It’s also important to know that the team at the Community Foundation encourages donors to give directly to their favorite charities when that’s the best strategy to achieve a donor’s estate planning, tax, and charitable goals. Many times, though, both the donor and the charity benefit from the donor using a donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation. Examples include cases where the donor wants to give a complex asset, such as real estate or closely-held stock, or needs to plan out several years of giving to address fluctuating income levels and tax liability. 
 
We are always happy to review how the Community Foundation works with donors through donor-advised funds and other vehicles to support your organization and others in the community. We look forward to hearing from you! 
 
This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

​The team at the Community Foundation frequently hears from nonprofit professionals about how difficult it is to communicate to donors the value and importance of unrestricted gifts. This is especially the case when you and your colleagues are striving to attract dollars to boost your operating reserve or endowment fund.

Here are five cut-and-paste talking points you can use in your donor communications to help break through the myths that often surround unrestricted giving. 

Myth: A charity can use unrestricted dollars for anything it wants. 

Reality: When a donor makes an unrestricted gift to a charity, it means that the charity has the flexibility to use the funds where they are needed most within the charity’s overall mission. A charity has a legal and ethical responsibility to use all donations–whether unrestricted or restricted–to carry out its charitable purpose. 

Myth: Unrestricted gifts have to be big to make a difference.

Reality: Any size unrestricted donation, whether to a charity’s current programs and operations or to its endowment fund, is meaningful. To fund their missions, charities rely on all levels of donations from a wide variety of donors. Even very small donations help charities build relationships with new donors and expand the circle of awareness. 

Myth: Donations that are restricted to supporting actual programs make the biggest difference.

Reality: A charity is like any other organization, whether for-profit or nonprofit, in that there are critically important expenses required to do its work. Rent, utilities, technology, and insurance aren’t technically “program” expenses, but without these expenses, a charity cannot function. Unrestricted gifts often help support these essential line items in a charity’s budget. 

Myth: It’s hard to see the impact of unrestricted gifts.

Reality: Unrestricted gifts are vital for a charity’s overall sustainability and allow it to carry on year after year. Indeed, a donor who gives an unrestricted gift can look at the entirety of the organization’s impact and know that the gift helped make it all possible. 

Myth: An unrestricted gift is not a “strategic” philanthropic investment.

Reality: Unrestricted gifts are arguably the most strategic type of giving because they demonstrate trust in the charity’s leadership to make the best decisions in carrying out the charity’s mission. An unrestricted gift also sends a signal to other donors that the organization’s leadership and staff are strong, which in turn attracts more support. 

Please reach out to the Community Foundation for more ideas about how you can communicate the value of unrestricted and endowment giving to your donors. We are here to help! 
 
This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

The Community Foundation team keeps a finger on the pulse of current events and legal developments that could impact the way you work with your charitable clients. Below are three notable items that you’ll likely want to keep in mind this fall.
 
Election year implications
Naturally, as a financial, legal, or tax advisor, you’re very interested in how the results of the November elections could impact tax laws. What you might not know, though, is how significantly an election cycle can impact nonprofits’ fundraising efforts. Keep this dynamic in mind as you meet with clients who serve on nonprofit boards. These clients will appreciate the fact that you’re aware of the challenges. They’ll also be glad to know that you’re happy to loop in the Community Foundation team as a resource to structure and accept complex gifts as charities double down on fundraising efforts this year. 
 
Snapshot of giving trends
If it feels like more clients are asking about giving techniques such as crowdfunding, using appreciated stock to support charities, and setting up donor-advised funds, you are not imagining it. These trends are real! It’s smart to stay up-to-date at a high level so that you’re generally aware of what’s going on with philanthropy. Beyond that, the only information you need is the Community Foundation’s phone number. Our team is here for you! We are honored to be your first call anytime a client mentions that they’d like to launch or update a charitable giving plan. In most cases, the Community Foundation can provide tools and services that will help your client achieve their goals. In any event, we’ll help you figure out a solution, whether or not the Community Foundation ultimately plays a role.
 
For your calendar 
If you’re in search of tools to help motivate clients to move forward with financial and estate planning, be sure to note that National Estate Planning Awareness Week is coming up. October 21 - 27, 2024 is this year’s designated timeframe to help the public understand the basics of estate planning and the reasons it’s so important. The original House of Representatives resolution includes key points that may spark messaging ideas for your client outreach. And of course, on all things related to charitable planning, please reach out to the Community Foundation. We’re happy to share best practices for encouraging clients to get serious about planning all aspects of their estates, including the legacies they’d like to leave to their favorite causes and the community they love. 
 
The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  

Giving stock is an important strategy for any private business owner to explore. Not only can these gifts help implement a business succession plan that calls for transferring the business to the next generation if that is your client’s goal, but gifts of stock can also help your business owner client achieve charitable goals and avoid estate tax. 

In light of recent legal developments and pending tax law changes, more and more financial and estate planning advisors are encouraging their clients to consider implementing gifts of closely-held stock to a fund at the Community Foundation or other public charity. Notably, two developments could have a big impact on your work with these clients: 

• The estate tax exemption sunset set to occur at the end of next year continues to loom large. Without intervening legislation, a lot more of your clients will need to wrestle with the reality that their estates likely will be subject to a hefty tax, causing many clients to rethink both the timing and methods to transfer business interests. Making gifts of closely-held business interests to a fund at the Community Foundation is likely to become more attractive to a broader cross-section of your client base.
• Valuation has always been a critical factor in any type of tax or estate planning. This is certainly still the case with substantiating the value of closely-held business interests that your clients transfer to a charity, such as a fund at the Community Foundation. And now, the additional wrinkle presented by the Supreme Court’s decision in Connelly v. United States makes things even more interesting. The Connelly decision impacts the way business interests are valued for estate tax purposes. In Connelly, the Supreme Court held that life insurance proceeds indeed ought to be included in the valuation of a company without offsetting the redemption obligation. This could translate to higher taxable estates for your business owner clients, creating further incentive to leave a portion of closely-held stock to charity. The decision is also a reminder that careful planning can potentially avoid pitfalls.

Please reach out to the Community Foundation to learn more about how our team can help as you work with your business-owner clients to navigate legal and tax developments that could significantly impact future plans for their privately-held companies. ​
 
The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  

“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” –William James
 
Procrastination is a drain in ways that go far deeper than the incomplete task itself. We know this intellectually, but it can be so hard to break the procrastination habit. It seems that the more daunting the task, the harder it is to tackle. This surely is a major reason some of your clients routinely put off important planning discussions. And of course, many of those discussions are tax-sensitive, which means year-end can get very hectic and stressful for clients who wait until the last minute.
 
As the year begins to wind down, consider tapping into your clients’ philanthropic interests as a catalyst to motivate them to start addressing year-end planning items right now rather than waiting until November or December. You may discover that the uplifting topic of philanthropy makes it easier to at least start a conversation. Then, the conversation can evolve to include not only charitable giving topics, but also other tax planning topics that need attention. 
 
Here’s how this could work with a client:
 

• Review the charitable components of the client’s estate and financial plans, including provisions in wills and trusts, beneficiary designations, donor-advised funds, prior years’ tax deductions, and historical gifts to favorite charities.

• Reach out to the client to suggest that you meet–or at least jump on a call–to check in on 2024 charitable giving plans and other items.
• Open the conversation by briefly recapping the charitable planning components already in place and the client’s history of giving. Then ask the client about their plans for 2024.
• As you talk with the client about charitable intentions, bring up various charitable giving tools and opportunities that match those intentions. In each case, use the charitable discussion as a springboard for general tax planning items that need to be addressed before year-end. 

• For example, if a client who is over 70 ½ mentions wanting to support a particular need or organization in the community, you can suggest that you loop in the Community Foundation team to potentially establish a field-of-interest or designated fund, which can then receive distributions from the client’s IRA up to $105,000 annually per spouse. This, in turn, opens the door to discuss Required Minimum Distributions and other elements of retirement planning in general. 

• If the client mentions that they are already dreading gathering tax receipts for 2024 charitable donations, suggest that the client consider setting up a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation to serve as a convenient and rewarding “hub” for charitable giving. Going forward, the client can conduct the bulk of their giving using the donor-advised fund and avoid the mad scramble for receipts. If the client already has a donor-advised fund, make sure they know how to use it most effectively, and reach out to the Community Foundation team for help. What’s more, discussing charitable donation receipts presents a nice opening to remind a client about other paperwork that may need to be gathered or completed to meet overall estate and financial planning goals. 

• When your client talks about charities they plan to support before year-end, remind your client not to automatically reach for the checkbook. Most of the time, highly-appreciated marketable securities (or other highly-appreciated, long-term assets) are ideal gifts to a client’s fund at the Community Foundation or other public charity because the client is eligible for a tax deduction at the assets’ fair market value, and the proceeds from the sale of the assets will flow into the client’s fund at the Community Foundation free from capital gains tax. That means more funds are available to support the client’s favorite causes. Conveniently, the conversation about highly-appreciated stock can segue naturally into a conversation about overall stock positions.   

• Philanthropy topics can naturally lead into even more topics that are sensitive to year-end timing, such as annual exclusion gifts, estimated tax planning, and updating wills and trusts before the extended family gathers for the holiday or travels together overseas.

 
The Community Foundation team is here to help you serve your charitable clients every step of the way, every month of the year. We understand that late-December transactions are often unavoidable. The net-net is that we’re happy to work with you according to your clients’ schedules, whether that means getting a jump on a new year and processing stock gifts in February, helping you plan in September for year-end, or preparing fund agreements in December. It’s our pleasure to assist! 
 
The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  

The Community Foundation is honored to serve at the center of your philanthropy. Whether you’ve established a donor-advised or other type of fund, arranged for a bequest to a fund or to the Community Foundation itself, or both, our team strives to help you organize your giving to make it easy and convenient. If you’ve not yet established a fund or arranged for a bequest but are considering it, we look forward to continuing the conversation! 
 
Charitable giving is important not only locally and nationally, but also internationally. Indeed, the World Giving Index 2024 Global Trends in Generosity reports that 4.3 billion people worldwide helped someone they didn’t know, volunteered time, or donated money to a good cause in the preceding month. 
 
It’s no surprise that research indicates that giving to others actually puts donors in a good mood. This is especially the case, studies show, in three ways:

• The act of giving feels good in the moment
• People like having choices about their giving
• People like to see the results of their giving

 
We know this intuitively based on our own experiences. For instance, many of us enjoy picking out a birthday gift for a friend or family member and watching them open it. 
 
The same good feelings translate to charitable giving. People enjoy working with the Community Foundation. Certainly one reason is because the Community Foundation activates the research’s 3 key factors:

• Feels good in the moment. The Community Foundation makes it easy to give cash, stock, or other assets to a type of fund that is the best fit for you, whether that’s a donor-advised fund, designated fund, field-of-interest fund, or unrestricted endowment fund. When you initiate the stock transfer, for example, it’s fun because the Community Foundation makes it easy. You know immediately that you’ve taken meaningful action.

 

• Offers choices. The Community Foundation’s tools are flexible to meet your charitable giving goals. We can help you set up an annual giving strategy, establish a bequest to your fund in your estate plan, and everything in between. Most of all, we want to help you support the causes that are most important to you, whether those are particular charities or broader areas of community need. 

 

• Shows results. The Community Foundation has its finger on the pulse of our region’s priorities and how charitable giving can improve quality of life for everyone. Every day, we work with you and other families, individuals, and businesses to help you not only make a difference, but also actually see the difference you are making. From research and hands-on site visits, to networking with other donors and meeting with community leaders, our team will provide a wide range of opportunities for you to see first hand the results of your philanthropy. 

 
We look forward to helping you incorporate charitable giving into your life in ways that help the community and make you happy! 
 
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.

One of many items on the legislative “watch list,” especially in light of the upcoming elections, is the standard deduction. Without intervening legislation, in 2026 the standard deduction for individual taxpayers younger than age 65 is scheduled to drop from $14,600 to $8,300. 
 
While this may spell higher taxes for some taxpayers, the news could be positive for charitable giving. You’ll recall that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 increased the standard deduction significantly. As a result, only 9% of taxpayers itemized deductions in 2020 compared with 31% in 2017. Although certainly not the only factor motivating charitable giving, tax incentives do play a role in donors’ decision-making about whether, when, and how much to give. Indeed, statistics recently released by the National Bureau of Economic Research indicated that the increased standard deduction resulted in $20 billion fewer charitable donations in 2018 alone.
 
The Community Foundation is happy to work with you and your tax advisors to map out a charitable giving plan for the next few years to navigate anticipated changes in the law. For example, this year you could consider using a technique called “bunching” to make two years’ worth of gifts up front to your donor-advised fund to take advantage of the standard deduction while it is still high. 
 
If you determine that bunching is right for you, naturally, cash is easy to give in a year of higher-than-expected income. So, for example, if you earn a large bonus this year, get a big increase in compensation, take a job buyout, or experience a significant liquidity event, your surplus income could make bunching ideal. 

Most of the time, though, even when you deploy a bunching strategy, donating highly-appreciated marketable securities is a better choice than giving cash because it is extremely tax efficient. Stock given to a public charity, such as your donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation, typically is deductible at the asset’s fair market value. The Community Foundation, in turn, pays no capital gains tax on its sale of the asset, thereby generating more dollars to support your philanthropic interests than if you had sold the stock and given the proceeds to your fund. 

You can think outside of the box, too, and explore other assets that make great gifts to your fund. As is the case with gifts of other long-term appreciated assets, a gift of real estate or closely-held stock avoids capital gains taxes and results in more money for your favorite causes than if you had sold the asset, taken the tax hit, and donated the proceeds. 

The bottom line?  Now is a perfect time to look ahead at your charitable giving plans so that you don’t leave dollars behind. Your own financial situation, as well as the charities you support, will benefit from your careful planning. The Community Foundation is here to help! 
 
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. 
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