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. 
​

The team at the Community Foundation is committed to sharing tips and insights that can help you get more satisfaction from your charitable giving and in turn make an even bigger difference in the causes you care about.
 
Here are three recommendations: 
 
Strive for energetic effectiveness. Whether a gift to charity is $25, $2500, or $25 million, it’s cause for celebration. Philanthropic support of all shapes and sizes can make a difference. What’s even better, though, is to apply discipline to those dollars so that the strategy matches the enthusiasm. Certainly media-based philanthropy efforts are effective to raise the overall awareness about charitable giving, but awareness is just the beginning. At the Community Foundation, our team is dedicated to helping you apply your charitable passions to make a meaningful impact, especially by helping you address root causes with your giving, above and beyond providing immediate relief to those in need.
 
Give from the heart. A recent Rolling Stone article illustrates how philanthropy can shape leaders by instilling values of empathy and responsibility. The author shares a heartwarming perspective based on participating in charitable activities as a child to rally around a sister with Down Syndrome. This makes such an important point: When your philanthropic efforts mean a lot to you, you’re more likely to stay engaged for the long term, resulting in significant cumulative community return on your personal investments. It’s really inspiring to see charitable individuals view their contributions as part of their personal and professional development.
 
Get your kids involved. The Community Foundation is always striving to offer ways for fund holders to involve their children and grandchildren in charitable giving. This is really important in light of the decline in charitable giving, especially among younger generations, which is becoming a significant concern. We encourage you to explore the factors behind this trend and reach out to the Community Foundation to discuss potential solutions and ways you can help. 
 
Thank you for your commitment to philanthropy! If you’re already a fund holder, we are grateful that you’ve made the choice to organize your giving by working with the Community Foundation. If you’re considering getting started, we’d love the opportunity to work together.
 
​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. ​

August is national Make-A-Will month and a great time to check in on key components of your estate plan. The reality, as we know, is that all property remaining at death has to go somewhere. And as heartbreaking as it may be for parents of grown children, it’s usually a mistake to assume that you should automatically leave the family home to children in your will or trust. Indeed, your children may not be nearly as attached to your things as you are, and the reality is that they may not want any of them–including the house. 
 
But don’t let this get you down. When one door closes, another door opens. It may be time to explore giving your personal residence to charity. The Community Foundation can help! 
 
Reach out anytime to discuss the possibilities with the Community Foundation team. As we begin the conversation, we’ll evaluate which type of gift format might be a good fit for your situation. For example: 
 

• You can certainly deed your house to the Community Foundation outright. This might be a solid option if you are planning to sell the house in the near future to downsize or move to a retirement community. This is an especially good option if you do not need to rely on the sale proceeds to fund either your next move or your ongoing living expenses. And, if the total value of all your assets is in a range where you could be subject to estate tax, transferring your house to the Community Foundation takes the home’s value out of your estate, tax free, because of the charitable deduction. The Community Foundation will likely list the property shortly after you make the gift. Then, the proceeds from the sale will flow into your donor-advised or other type of fund to help you fulfill your charitable goals.   

 

• If you’re hoping to get a little money from the sale of your residence, but you don’t need the full amount of its value, you can explore what’s known as a “bargain sale.” This transaction allows you to sell the property to the Community Foundation at a price below market value, allowing you to receive some income while still making a charitable contribution.

 

• Another option is to transfer your residence using a “charitable remainder trust.” You’d transfer title to the property to the trust, and the trust would provide you with income for the rest of your life (or a term of years). Any remaining value would flow to your fund at the Community Foundation to support the causes you care about. You’d also be eligible for an up front income tax deduction based on the present value of the amount projected to pass to your charitable fund in the future. 

 
If you’re interested in giving your residence to your fund at the Community Foundation, our team will work closely with you and your advisors to carefully evaluate the opportunities and walk through all of the steps in the process. For example, it’s important to look at factors such as valuation (which must be documented with a qualified appraisal), whether there’s a mortgage on the property that would make a gift more challenging, how long you’ve held the property and your cost basis, and ensuring that a sale is not already formally or informally in the works.
 
You’ve spent years making your house a home. We look forward to exploring the possibilities for extending the joy your personal residence brings to you and your family by transforming the property into a source for community benefit. 

​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 already established a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation, you can understand why it’s become such a popular tool to organize your family’s giving and serve as a springboard for so many other ways to make a difference in our region. 
 
Recently, we’ve talked with a lot of donors who work with the Community Foundation in a variety of ways, such as regularly contributing to a favorite organization’s endowment fund, supporting the Community Foundation’s operating endowment, making distributions from an IRA to a designated fund, or attending community foundation events to rally around important community priorities. Interestingly, we are discovering that some of these donors also have established a donor-advised fund at a national financial institution and in many cases did not realize that they could have set up their donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation. 
 
It’s time to set the record straight! 
 
For starters, the Community Foundation offers donor-advised fund holders the same tax and administrative benefits as a national financial institution, including:

• Online access to the donor-advised fund to view balances, contributions, and grants
• Simple process for requesting grants to favorite charities
• Streamlined tax reporting, often represented by just one letter to provide to an accountant at tax time, even when the donor-advised fund is used to support dozens of individual charities throughout the year
• All back-office administration, tax receipts, recordkeeping, and other requirements for the donor-advised fund’s 501(c)(3) status
• Favorable tax-deductibility of contributions to the fund

 
Unlike standard national financial institutions’ donor-advised funds, though, the Community Foundation offers high-level, customized services to its donor-advised fund holders, including:

• Concierge-level service by knowledgeable staff to structure estate gifts to charities and accept gifts of appreciated stock or complex assets such as real estate or closely-held stock
• In-house experts who have a finger on the pulse of community needs, the strengths of specific nonprofits, and how to structure grant making for the highest possible community benefit
• Opportunities to collaborate with other donors who care about similar issues and forums to tap into local and national subject matter experts
• Opportunities to go deep into specific issue areas, both through education and hands-on involvement
• Assistance with structuring and measuring the impact of grants 
• Family philanthropy and corporate giving services to foster a well-rounded, holistic approach to philanthropy 
• Administrative fees that are reinvested into the Community Foundation, itself a nonprofit, to help support operations, grow its mission, and help even more donors support the causes they care about
• Hands-on assistance from local experts who understand both local and distant needs, and welcome the opportunity to research and identify causes aligned with donors’ goals and priorities 
• Staff members who live in the community they serve and often personally know the leaders and staff of grantee organizations and regularly hear about their needs first-hand

 
If you’ve established a donor-advised fund at a national financial institution, we’d love to chat about moving it over to the Community Foundation. At the Community Foundation, your hard-earned assets receive the attention they deserve as you and your family strive to make a difference in the causes you care about the most. 

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. 

​Charitable giving traditions are a big part of many peoples’ lives. The ways philanthropic values translate into action and behavior, however, vary widely from person to person. And that’s a good thing! When you align your charitable giving activities with your own personality and the ways you like to do good, you’ll enjoy it a lot more and as a result, you’ll be more likely to get even more involved with your favorite causes. 
 
Indeed, your choice of the causes you support may be based on personal experiences or even how you view your character. You may also find that philanthropy fosters personal growth and self-discovery. Some people find that getting involved in the community creates opportunities for networking and building relationships based on shared values and goals.

That’s why it’s important to acknowledge that not everyone likes to “do good” in exactly the same way. To figure out what mix of charitable activities might best suit your personality, consider reflecting on whether you tend toward an ”investor,” “connector” or “activator” profile.

Here’s what it might look like to be an “investor” type of philanthropist:

• You like to get involved in community activities where you can act independently, rather than scheduling dedicated time.
• You may feel that you often have more money than time.
• You’re happy to write a check or purchase a product that supports a cause.

If you tend toward the “connector” type, this may describe your preferences:

• You like community activities where you can collaborate with friends and family.
• You enjoy the opportunity to meet people who care about a variety of causes, not necessarily a specific charity. 
• You like attending charities’ fundraising events, and you might even regularly promote your favorite causes on social media.

If you’re an “activator” type, here’s what that could look like:

• Your philanthropic passion lies with one or two specific causes.
• You like the idea of playing a small part in “changing the world” and impacting a single issue that could potentially benefit society on a broad scale. 
• You might enjoy serving on charities’ boards of directors.

Whatever your personality type, the Community Foundation can help! Whether it’s setting up a donor-advised fund to organize your giving, working with you and your advisors to establish a legacy bequest, or getting your family and friends involved in site visits to favorite charities, we’re here for 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. 

​Every week, the team at the Community Foundation works with a wide range of charitably-minded individuals and families who are either already working with the Community Foundation or are considering establishing a donor-advised or other type of fund to organize their giving. We also talk with attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors as they work alongside charitably-minded clients. Indeed, many advisors are telling us that they’re taking advantage of summer’s slower pace to get a jump on 2024 tax planning and estate plan updates.

As you work with your advisors over the next few months, be sure to let them know that the Community Foundation can serve as the hub of your family’s philanthropy by administering a wide range of charitable giving vehicles, including:

• Donor-advised funds, which are frequently a better fit for your family than a private foundation
• Field-of-interest funds and designated funds, which enable you to support specific causes and organizations and, if you are 70 ½ or older, can receive a tax-savvy “Qualified Charitable Distribution” from your IRA
• Bequests and other legacy gifts to help ensure that the causes you’ve supported during your lifetime can continue to benefit from your generosity for years to come
• Unrestricted gifts to support the Community Foundation’s work to grow philanthropy and improve the quality of life in our region across generations, especially as community needs evolve

 
Along these lines, some of you have requested that we provide a reading list to pass along to your advisors to help them stay up-to-date on legal and tax issues impacting charitable giving. Here are a few suggestions you could forward to your advisors (or simply forward this email):
 

• For advisors working with clients who support higher education, it’s important to stay on top of the tax treatment of NIL collectives. The team at the Community Foundation is happy to talk with your advisors about what’s going on here and how they can follow best practices. 

 

• It’s becoming more and more popular for philanthropists to explore giving cryptocurrency to charitable causes. Encourage your advisors to reach out to the team at the Community Foundation as they encounter this issue with clients. 

 

• A focus on donor intent is especially important as cautionary tales emerge in case law. The Community Foundation is committed to helping advisors help their clients achieve charitable goals. Our knowledgeable staff and independent board of directors are dedicated to carrying out donors’ philanthropic wishes. 

 
As always, please let us know if you’d like our team to be part of a conversation with your advisors. We welcome the opportunity to serve as the go-to charitable giving resource as you build a comprehensive financial and estate plan that includes philanthropy.

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. 

It’s an election year, which means you may have more questions than answers as you work with your advisors to build out your financial and estate plans. In particular, the looming sunset of key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 has created a tremendous amount of ambiguity. 

For many taxpayers, the potential sunset of the TCJA’s higher estate tax exemption is top of mind. Unless Congress intervenes, the exemption is set to fall after December 31, 2025 from roughly $27 million per couple to approximately $14 million per couple (depending on inflation adjustments).

No one has a crystal ball, and it is impossible at this point to know whether or when you should implement planning strategies to address potential changes in the law. Nevertheless, if you are among those who would be affected by the estate tax exemption’s precipitous drop, it’s important to know that charitable strategies can fit nicely into a gifting plan that would help offset the sunset’s impact.
 
If you’re a business owner, for example, you could explore launching a gifting program now to transfer shares of the business not only to your heirs to take advantage of the higher exemption, but also to a donor-advised or other fund at the Community Foundation. With these gifts, you could reduce the value of your taxable estate while also executing a business transition and philanthropy plan that aligns with your overall intentions regardless of the tax laws. 
 
Along those lines, some families may decide to lean into annual exclusion gifts ($18,000 per gifting spouse per recipient in 2024) to family members and other individuals to reduce taxable estates without eating into the lifetime gift and estate tax exemptions. 
 
If you’re considering ramping up your annual exclusion gifts, you might consider adopting a parallel strategy for charitable gifts. Gifts to charities are deductible for gift and estate tax purposes (as well as for income tax purposes) and therefore will also reduce the value of your taxable estate without using your exemption. Some philanthropists report that they like the idea of making annual exclusion gifts to family members, and, while they’re at it, making stock gifts of an equal amount into a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation. 
 
Given the uncertainty about what might happen with the estate tax exemption, some people are updating their estate plans to increase a bequest to a donor-advised or other fund at the Community Foundation. This would help blunt the impact of estate taxes, and the bequest can be adjusted during lifetime as planning goals and estate tax laws evolve. 

The Community Foundation is here for you! Our team is happy to help you navigate the opportunities and pitfalls presented by potential changes in the tax law. It is our pleasure to work with you and your family to maximize your charitable goals.

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. 

At first glance, you may think of charitable giving as mostly an individual act. Certainly, most of the time, the actual money or asset that constitutes the charitable donation comes from a single person, couple, or entity. Beyond that, though, it likely makes sense to think of charitable giving as a collaborative endeavor. 

Here are three examples:

• Serving on the board of directors of a charitable organization is a rewarding activity for many people. And, many people complement their board service with financial support. Dialogue among board members, leveraging board members’ talents, and collective board oversight are important components of a well-run nonprofit organization. Charities are counting on board members’ objective voices in the boardroom, board members’ constructive questions, and the board’s dedication to ensuring that public trust in the charity is maintained. 
• For many people, involving other family members in charitable giving is one of the most rewarding ways to instill philanthropic values and transfer these values across generations. Whether you’re teaching young children about the importance of helping people in need, or joining with siblings to develop a grant-making strategy for a family donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation, you’re experiencing the joy of working together to make a difference in the lives of others. 
• Working with the Community Foundation is itself a collaborative activity. When you organize your giving through a donor-advised or other type of fund, you are working with multiple professionals on our team to help you plan your annual gifts, evaluate impact, structure tax-savvy contributions of appreciated stock, and so much more. Plus, the Community Foundation team often works alongside your attorney, accountant, and financial advisor to ensure that both your financial and community goals are top of mind.

Thank you for the opportunity to work together to make our region a better place for everyone, now and in the future. If you’re not yet working with the Community Foundation, we look forward to exploring the options! It would be an honor and pleasure to work alongside you and your family on your charitable giving journey. 
 
​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. ​​

Summertime can mean vacations, travel, a slower (or at least different) pace, and time to reflect. This year, our team is thinking quite a bit about the significant role of philanthropy across the world and how that widespread enthusiasm drives so much energy for charitable giving right here at home. 
 
If you’re spending time this summer reflecting, you might enjoy digging into a few of the sources we found thought-provoking,

• We really like this post from “across the pond” that analyzes why people give and synthesizes a variety of research studies and articles. Altruism, ego, social dynamics, and FOMO (fear of missing out) are just a few of the reasons people are motivated to give to charity. For a broad look at the role of philanthropy across the globe, you can check out Indiana University’s research.
• Every June, Giving USA releases its annual statistics on the state of charitable giving. We are looking forward to the 2024 report and digging into the numbers from 2023. Last year’s report showed that while individual giving was down, major gifts were ticking up. We’re curious to see what’s changed!
• Some say context is everything, and that may be why we always enjoy going back to the Smithsonian’s Giving in America exhibit and online resources. Even in its semi-archived and “under construction” format, the site is captivating; every time we revisit the site, something different catches our eye. (This time, we were struck by the side-by-side images from 2014’s Ice Bucket Challenge and the collection box from the early 1800s. And by the way, how can nine years have gone by since the Ice Bucket Challenge?) 

 
As always, the Community Foundation is here for you! We are honored to work with you and your family as you support the causes in our region that are most important to you. You are making a difference! 
 
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. ​

​Welcome to summer! We've put together six tips to keep in mind as you plan your charitable giving for the coming months, years, and even decades. As always, the team at the Community Foundation is happy to be a resource!
 
Donate appreciated stock to your fund at the Community Foundation.

Yes, yes, we absolutely understand how easy it is to write a check when you want to boost your donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation. If you can remember to pause before you pull out your pen, though, it really does pay off to consider whether appreciated stock would be a better way to add to your charitable giving account. When you give shares of long-term appreciated stock, you can be eligible for a charitable tax deduction at the fair market value of the shares. Then, when the Community Foundation sells the shares and adds the proceeds to your fund, the fund–a 501(c)(3) charity–is not hit with capital gains tax. By contrast, if you were to sell those shares and give to your fund from the proceeds, you’d have a lot less cash to work with. Please reach out to the Community Foundation anytime to learn more about how easy it is to take advantage of this tax-savvy giving technique.  
 
Plan ahead for your business exit.
 
If you own all or part of a private business, keep in mind that charitable giving can factor into your eventual exit strategy. You could be sitting on substantial unrealized capital gains if the business has grown a lot over time. Upon a sale, capital gains tax will be triggered, reducing the proceeds you get to keep. No capital gains tax will apply, however, to the sale of the portion of the business owned by your donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation. Plus, you can be eligible for a charitable income tax deduction in the year of the transfer based on the fair market value of the shares–not the cost basis, as would be the case if you’d transferred the shares to a private foundation. Keep in mind that a strategy like this only works with careful planning, so be sure to contact the Community Foundation team well in advance of setting a plan in motion. We are happy to work with you and your advisors to help achieve your charitable and financial goals. 

Start paying attention now to the estate tax exemption sunset. 
 
The estate tax exemption–the total amount a taxpayer can leave to family and other individuals during their life and at death before the hefty federal gift and estate tax kicks in–is scheduled to drop, rather precipitously, after December 25, 2025. For 2024, the estate tax exemption is $13.61 million per individual, or $27.22 million per married couple, an increase over 2023 thanks to adjustments for inflation. Later this year, the IRS will issue inflation adjustments for 2025. For 2026, without legislation to prevent it, the exemption is scheduled to fall back to 2017 levels, adjusted for inflation, which would roughly total $7 million per person. That is quite a drop! This means a lot more people–maybe including you–could be subject to estate tax in the not-too-distant future. The team at the Community Foundation is happy to work with you and your advisors to explore how charitable giving techniques can help you avoid estate tax and leave a legacy for the community, especially if you start planning now.

If you can take advantage of the QCD, do it.
 
A Qualified Charitable Distribution (“QCD”) is a very smart way to support charitable causes. If you are over the age of 70 ½, you can direct up to $105,000 from your IRA to certain charities, including a field-of-interest, designated, unrestricted, or scholarship fund at the Community Foundation. If you’re subject to the rules for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), QCDs count toward those RMDs. Through a QCD, you avoid income tax on the funds distributed to charity. Our team can work with you and your advisors to go over the rules for QCDs and evaluate whether the QCD is a good fit for you.
 
Review your IRA beneficiary designations. 

As you review your assets and how they are titled, perhaps in connection with an annual financial and estate plan review, pay close attention to tax-deferred retirement plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs. Typically, you’ll name your spouse as the primary beneficiary of these accounts to provide income following your death or to comply with legal requirements. But as you and your advisors evaluate whom to name as a secondary beneficiary of these tax-deferred accounts, don’t automatically default to naming your children or your revocable trust. You and your advisors may determine that naming a charity, such as your fund at the Community Foundation, is by far the most tax-efficient and streamlined way to make gifts to your favorite causes upon your death and establish a philanthropic legacy. A bequest like this avoids not only estate tax, but also income tax on the retirement plan distributions. That’s why non-retirement fund assets may be better-suited to pass to children and grandchildren. 
 
Embrace a holistic approach to philanthropy.
 
When you work with the Community Foundation, charitable giving is easy, flexible, and rewarding. As the hub of your charitable giving, the Community Foundation offers a wide range of fund types, services, and ways for you and your family to get involved with the community you love. Many of our fund holders use a donor-advised fund to organize annual giving to charities. We can also help you establish a designated or field-of-interest fund to complement the function of your donor-advised fund. A designated fund allows you to support a specific charity over the long term, while a field-of-interest fund focuses your support on a particular area of community need by leveraging the Community Foundation’s expertise. We’d also be honored to work with you and your advisors to structure a bequest to the Community Foundation in your estate plan to support important causes, as well as the Community Foundation’s work, beyond your lifetime. We are here to help you make the most of your philanthropic intentions, and it is an honor to work together. 

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. 

It’s graduation season, and that means education may be on your mind! The Community Foundation can help you make a difference in the lives of young people by funding education. Certainly establishing a scholarship fund at the Community Foundation is one way to accomplish this goal. But that’s not the only way. Here are three ideas to consider as you explore ways to make an impact through education. 

Establish a Designated Fund for Educational Institutions
A designated fund provides support for specific organizations of your choice. So, for example, if you want to ensure that a particular college or university receives funding each year, you can set up a designated fund to accomplish this. For instance, if your family has supported the same local college for generations, you may want that support to continue. At the same time, you want to be sure that your funds are used effectively. This includes protecting your monetary support from the college's creditors if the college finds itself in financial trouble. A designated fund at the Community Foundation could be the solution.  

Establish a Field-of-Interest Fund to Support Specific Aspects of Education
Through a field-of-interest fund at the Community Foundation, you can establish parameters for grant making according to your wishes. If education is your priority, perhaps over the years you’ve supported a variety of local organizations that provide students with courses, tutoring, mentorship, and social services, ranging from grassroots charities to well-established trade schools and higher education institutions. Establishing a field-of-interest fund activates the Community Foundation’s expertise and research by delegating grant making decisions to the Community Foundation team. This helps donors like you ensure that their dollars will have the greatest impact.

Seek the Advice of the Community Foundation for Your Donor-Advised Fund Grantmaking
If you have established a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation, you’ve likely used it over the years to support your alma mater and perhaps other educational institutions. The Community Foundation team would welcome the opportunity to help you think broadly about education, beyond simply four-year institutions. Community colleges, trade schools, vocational programs, and out-of-the-box learning experiences may be a better fit for some students. The Community Foundation can also help you identify charities that support teachers, classrooms, and school districts, all of which need resources to deliver the best possible education to students.

We look forward to helping you support education as a major area of charitable interest! And if there’s a graduation in your family this year, congratulations! 
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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. ​

​A donor-advised fund is one of many types of funds you can establish at the Community Foundation. Field-of-interest funds, designated funds, unrestricted funds, and scholarship funds are also popular and can make a big difference in the community while also fulfilling your goals for tax and charitable planning.

If you’ve established a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation, you know it’s useful because it allows you to make a tax-deductible transfer of cash or marketable securities that is immediately eligible for a charitable deduction. Then, you can recommend donations from the fund to your favorite charities to meet community needs as they emerge. 

Your gifts to your donor-advised fund are tax deductible transfers to the Community Foundation, which is a charitable organization recognized under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). The Community Foundation follows the Internal Revenue Service’s requirements that disbursements from your donor-advised fund meet certain important qualifications to preserve that charitable tax status–for everyone’s benefit. It’s a good idea to periodically review a few types of disbursements that don’t meet the IRS’s rules and therefore are not permissible donations from your donor-advised fund. For example:

• A donor-advised fund cannot be used explicitly to satisfy a personal pledge to a charitable organization, such as to a capital campaign. The team at the Community Foundation is happy to work with you to develop ways you can achieve your intentions to support your favorite organization’s fundraising goals. Please reach out if you are in this situation.
• Because donor-advised funds at the Community Foundation fall under a different (and more favorable) set of IRS rules than private foundations, a donor-advised fund is restricted from supporting a private family foundation. Please reach out to the Community Foundation team to learn more about this requirement. We’d love to explore how your donor-advised fund and your private family foundation can work together to achieve your charitable goals. Some fund holders even decide to close their private foundation and consolidate their giving with the Community Foundation to achieve greater impact, save on expenses, and achieve better tax results.
• A donor-advised fund can’t be used to buy tickets to fundraising events, such as galas and golf tournaments, where the cost of the ticket is not fully tax deductible. The reason for this is that the IRS views the taxpayer as receiving benefits from the event (food, drinks, swag), and this “private benefit” muddies the waters of tax deductibility. Even if a portion of the ticket is deductible according to the charity, it’s still not a permissible distribution from a donor-advised fund. Please reach out to the team at the Community Foundation if you’re asked to sponsor a charity’s fundraiser. We are happy to discuss solutions to achieve both your charitable goals and goals for getting involved with the event. 

We look forward to hearing from you! As always, the Community Foundation team is honored to be your first call when you encounter a question about your donor-advised fund or any other charitable giving opportunity. 

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. 

​The team at the Community Foundation is honored to be your “go-to” resource for all components of your philanthropy. We enjoy talking regularly with individuals, families, and businesses about their goals for charitable giving, tax strategies, ways to support favorite nonprofits, getting children and grandchildren involved in the community, leaving a legacy, and so much more. If you’ve already established a donor-advised fund, field-of-interest fund, designated fund or unrestricted fund at the Community Foundation, you know we’re always here to answer your questions. 

What you might not know, though, is that the Community Foundation is also happy to help you keep your attorney, accountant, and financial advisor in the loop. We’d be happy to join you and your advisors at a meeting to discuss your charitable plans. We’re also happy to offer suggestions about which documents and information you’ll want to provide to your advisors.

For example, it’s important to provide your attorney with information about your fund – or funds – at the Community Foundation and also provide copies of fund agreements and other documentation. This will help your attorney determine whether and how your fund could be incorporated into your estate plan. Your attorney also needs to be aware of beneficiary designations on retirement plans and IRAs; these vehicles are critical components of an overall estate plan and also are an excellent way to leave a tax-savvy bequest to your fund at the Community Foundation or other charity. 

Next, your accountant will appreciate knowing about your fund at the Community Foundation, especially as you work together to evaluate the most effective assets to give to charitable causes each year. Your accountant, for instance, may suggest that you give a certain dollar value of appreciated stock to your donor-advised fund in a particular calendar year to maximize itemized deductions and give you the ability to support your favorite charitable causes for several consecutive years at the high levels you intend. 

Finally, it’s important that your financial advisor understand your charitable intentions and be aware of the vehicles you’ve already established. Your financial advisor can keep an eye out for stock positions that are highly-appreciated, making them ideal gifts to fund your charitable intentions. Your financial advisor will be a key member of the planning team if you were to establish a charitable remainder trust, for example, with the Community Foundation. Not only is it important to determine which assets to use to fund the trust (highly-appreciated real estate, for example), but your financial advisor also will want to weigh in on the projected lifetime income stream from the trust to develop retirement projections that are as accurate as possible.

One of the many benefits of being a fund holder at the Community Foundation is your access to a team of professionals who are dedicated to carrying out your charitable wishes. Think of our team as a group of specialists who deeply understand both the tax and mission-based aspects of charitable giving vehicles–and who are enthusiastic about working alongside your legal, tax, and investment advisors to create a philanthropy plan that meets all of your goals. 

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’re a business owner, odds are you already give back to your community. Like many charitably-minded people, your business likely sponsors events, makes in-kind donations, and donates cash to favorite organizations.
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Many local business owners work with the Community Foundation to give back to the community where they built their businesses and developed lasting relationships with employees and customers. The Community Foundation offers a variety of tools to help you build and grow your corporate philanthropy program, including:
 
Corporate foundation. Establishing a corporate donor-advised fund helps you organize your company’s giving in a convenient, 501(c)(3)-qualified structure.
 
Executive donor-advised fund. Offering this elevated employee benefit to your executive team can help activate your senior management’s community involvement.
 
Matching gifts. The Community Foundation can help guide your team in creating and administering a program that matches employees’ volunteer time and dollars.
 
Grant making administration and strategy. You and your colleagues likely receive dozens of requests each month from community organizations requesting sponsorships and monetary donations. The team at the Community Foundation can help you create and implement a strategy for responding to and evaluating those requests to align with your company’s goals for supporting and prioritizing causes.
 
Employee giving and disaster relief campaigns. The Community Foundation’s tools to receive and process donations can help you and your employees respond quickly and meaningfully to disasters and other urgent community needs. 
 
The Community Foundation is glad to help you deepen your business’s impact and connection to your community, customers, and employees by creating a philanthropy plan that supports causes that align with the wide range of your objectives. 
 
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.