The Longest Table, a free community dinner meant to foster conversations and friendship, welcomed 850 guests next to Sertoma Park in mid-September. Today, the results of those conversations continue to build momentum with funding awards for seven projects, totaling $10,000, set to launch in 2024.
 
The event featured an uninterrupted table spanning 1,250 feet along 11th Avenue South. Organized by the Community Foundation and the Greater Grand Forks Young Professionals, participants gathered for facilitated discussions focused on healthy habits to achieve better mental and physical health. Following the event, participants were invited to apply for funding of up to $2,000 with the goal of getting ideas off the table and into the community.

Keep these five tips in mind as you consider your year-end giving:

1. Charitable Bunching: "Bunching" means you are "front-loading" charitable donations into the current year, knowing that you plan to make these donations anyway in future years. By structuring a large year-end gift to your donor-advised fund at the community foundation, you could surpass the standard deduction threshold to further reduce your taxes in 2023.
2. QCDs from IRAs: If you are over the age of 70 1/2, you can direct up to $100,000 from your IRA, satisfying your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD), to certain charities, including a field of interest, designated, unrestricted, or scholarship fund at the community foundation. That means you avoid income tax on the fund distributed to charity.
3. Stocks vs. Cash: Gifts of long-term appreciated stock to your donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation is one of the most tax-savvy ways to support your favorite charitable causes because capital gains tax can be avoided.
4. Standard Deductions: The 2023 standard deduction for single taxpayers ($13,850) and married filing jointly ($27,700) is up nearly 7% over 2022. Keep your household's standard deduction amount in mind when you tally your deductible expenditures, including your gifts to charities.
5. Year-End Deadlines: Contributions must be made online, postmarked, or hand-delivered no later than December 31 to be legally completed during this tax year. All checks must be made out to the Community Foundation with the fund of choice on the memo line. Please note that the Community Foundation will not be open for hand-delivered gifts on December 30 to January 2.

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

As a nonprofit, two constants you likely face are (1) more demand for your services and (2) rising operating costs. Fundraising can help satisfy the “more demand” part of this equation, but that typically requires more budget, which means more marketing and … well, you get the point.

The community foundation team is your partner! We are here to help you grow your endowment at the community foundation in both traditional and creative ways. That means we’re here to help you accept and administer gifts of complex assets, such as closely-held stock and real estate, as well as help your board understand the importance of an endowment and best practices for investment and spending policies to ensure that your mission stays strong for generations. 

The shorter days of fall and winter aren’t the only sunsets creeping up on people these days. If you’ve met with your estate planning attorney and tax advisors recently, you’re probably aware that the gift and estate tax exemption–the total amount you can leave to family and other beneficiaries during life and at death before the hefty federal gift and estate tax kicks in–is about to drop, rather precipitously. 

Without legislation to prevent it, on January 1, 2026, the exemption will drop from $12,920,000 per person (that’s the 2023 exemption) to about half of that amount, depending on annual inflation increases. As the date gets closer, tax planning decisions get tougher. Make aggressive moves now to activate gifts to family members? Or hold out to see if legislation intervenes to prevent the sunset? 

Perhaps you established a donor-advised fund at the community foundation years ago, or you set up a donor-advised fund more recently. Or maybe you are considering establishing a donor-advised fund at the community foundation this year to help you keep your giving more organized and involve your children and grandchildren in your philanthropic priorities.

Whatever the case may be in your situation, it’s a great idea to consider a few best practices for ensuring that your donor-advised fund is making the biggest difference possible for the causes you care about. Life gets busy, the months fly by, and it's tempting to put your donor-advised fund on autopilot. But that would be a missed opportunity. ​