 Despite–or perhaps in light of–the recent whirlwind of commentary about new federal laws and the implications for the charitable deduction and charitable giving, it is really important keep in mind that for most individuals, the decision to give is driven by deeply personal factors–such as compassion, moral obligation, empathy, or a belief in a cause—rather than financial incentives.
Indeed, altruism and emotional resonance, not tax breaks, are at the heart of philanthropic motivation. While tax incentives can influence giving, they typically play a supporting role—not a leading one. Psychological and social drivers are deeply powerful motivators for giving that tax considerations cannot match. That’s why we have always loved this article from the Greater Good Science Center and what it stands for, including our favorite points: Generosity is truly human. Generous behavior isn’t merely a social construct—it’s embedded in our evolutionary makeup. Researchers have found that species ranging from bees and chimpanzees to bats exhibit “prosocial” behaviors, suggesting that generosity evolved to enhance survival. In humans, acts of generosity light up the brain's reward pathways—similar to pleasurable experiences like eating or intimacy—highlighting that generosity is inherently satisfying. Philanthropy benefits both the giver and the receiver. Engaging in generous acts delivers tangible psychological and even physical benefits. Volunteering and offering support—whether time, goods, or emotional aid—have been linked to increased well-being, higher self-esteem, and even delayed mortality, particularly among older adults. Furthermore, many studies reported greater happiness when spending resources on others compared to oneself. Charitable values can be nurtured. It’s especially good news that acts of philanthropy are influenced by a blend of personal and social factors. Certainly empathy, humility, and moral values play a role. What’s more, cultural norms, expectations of reciprocity, and strong social networks motivate generosity, too. Unsurprisingly, people are more inclined to come to the aid of specific individuals rather than abstract causes, and generosity tends to be “contagious”—spreading through social groups and communities. If you love supporting your favorite causes no matter what’s going on with the tax laws, you are in good company! At the Community Foundation, we are honored to work with hundreds of families and individuals whose giving is anchored in genuine concern for others. This in turn helps create sustainable long-term positive impact in the community we all love.  “Philanthropy” may sound like something reserved for wealthy, “mature” adults, but that’s not at all the case. At the Community Foundation, we work with individuals of every generation, from young adults to retirees and everyone in between.
Young adults in particular are getting involved in the community in ways that look a little different from prior generations. Research shows that Generation Z and Millennials tend to be more focused on issues than specific charities. Not surprisingly, a tech-forward approach to all aspects of philanthropy is common among members of these generations, including engaging with favorite causes on social media and making donations online. What’s more, a 2024 study indicates that for younger generations, volunteering and donating are strongly tied to civic participation. If you’re a parent or grandparent of young adults, or if you’re a young adult yourself, you’ll be glad to know that the Community Foundation can help. Here are three suggestions. Make it a family affair. The Community Foundation works with families to build charitable giving plans that involve all generations to achieve overall philanthropic priorities as well as coordinating with families’ advisors to achieve tax planning (subscription required) objectives. For example, a multi-generational philanthropy can include donor-advised funds, legacy plans that include IRA beneficiary designations to establish an endowment, and strategic use of Qualified Charitable Distributions for family members who are 70 ½ or older. Make a point to start early. Many young adults are establishing charitable giving practices early in their careers. For example, it’s not uncommon now for new hires to name a charity, such as a fund at the Community Foundation, as the contingent beneficiary of an employer-sponsored retirement plan. In addition, starting in 2026, taxpayers who don’t itemize deductions can still take a tax deduction for charitable gifts up to $1000 for single filers and $2000 for joint filers. This can be a great way for younger generations to support the causes they care about. Although the deduction only applies to cash gifts and does not include gifts to donor-advised funds, it’s nonetheless a notable perk. The Community Foundation is happy to serve as a sounding board for ways to leverage this opportunity to make a difference. Make new connections. The Community Foundation can help young people get connected with peer networks who share an interest in getting involved in the community. For example, our team is happy to serve as the back office for establishing what’s known as a “giving circle,” which is a type of fund that allows donors to pool resources with peers to make a bigger impact than they could achieve alone. Giving circles also provide an outstanding hands-on learning experience in philanthropy, especially because the Community Foundation provides education and resources about grantmaking, local needs, and nonprofit leadership. The Community Foundation is honored to serve as our region’s home for charitable giving across generations. We look forward to working with you and your family to support your favorite charities and achieve meaningful outcomes in our community.  In an economic and legislative environment full of unpredictability, we encourage you to tap the knowledgeable team at the Community Foundation–perhaps even more than you have in the past.
If you’ve already established a donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation, you’re familiar with many of the ways we make charitable giving easy, flexible, and effective so that you can achieve your goals for improving the quality of life in our community as well as fulfilling your own estate planning and financial objectives. Not quite sure when to reach out to the Community Foundation? If any of these situations applies to you, drop us an email or give us a call! You promised yourself in 2024 that you’ll never again get caught in a year-end crunch. The last few months of the year are always hectic with holiday activities. When you layer on the added stress of tax planning and completing the charitable giving plans you set back in January, you might tip the scales from hectic to chaos! The Community Foundation can help organize your year-end charitable giving early so that it achieves both your financial and your philanthropic goals. You’re concerned about recent drops in funding to local charities, but you’re not quite sure about what you can do to help. The Community Foundation is our region’s home for charitable giving. That means we’ve got a finger on the pulse of our community’s needs and the nonprofits that are addressing them. Our team can provide information about program cuts that have left people in our community vulnerable and share ideas and recommendations for how you can help fill the gaps. Your tax advisor has suggested that 2025 is an important year to increase your charitable donations, but you don’t want your gifts to favorite charities to suddenly spike and then drop again. For the small percentage of people who itemize deductions on their individual income tax returns, 2025 may indeed present opportunities. The Community Foundation is happy to work with you and your tax advisors to structure gifts to a donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation to ensure that you’re leveraging tax advantages while also maintaining consistent support year after year for the causes you care about. You’re thinking about selling commercial property or private business interests and you’ve heard that charitable gifts can be an effective component of the transaction if structured correctly. Many people do not realize until it’s too late that they can give real estate or closely-held stock to a fund at the Community Foundation well in advance of a future sale and achieve significant tax benefits while also setting aside charitable dollars to make a positive difference in the community either immediately or across generations. Before you and your advisors put any pen to paper on the disposition of real estate or private business interests, please reach out! You’re updating your estate plan and want to leave money to charity, but you’re not exactly sure what charity. Please reach out to the Community Foundation anytime you are updating your estate plan or related financial documents, such as beneficiary designations on IRAs, life insurance policies, or retirement accounts. Our team is happy to work with your advisors to deploy the Community Foundation’s flexible tools to round out your estate plan and make sure you’re exploring the tax benefits of using various types of assets to fund your charitable intentions. Whatever your charitable giving situation, we are here for you! Whether you’ve already started a fund at the Community Foundation or you’re considering getting involved, we look forward to our conversation!  Many people think of succession planning as something only relevant to businesses or nonprofits. However, it's equally important when considering the legacy you want to leave through philanthropy—including being intentional about what happens to your donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation after you're gone. The Community Foundation team can help structure provisions for your donor-advised fund to engage your family, tap the Community Foundation’s expertise, or a combination of both so that your donor-advised fund can become a multi-generational legacy that reflects your values.
Here are three considerations as you consider your “charitable succession plan”: Leave a legacy One of the most powerful ways to extend your impact is by leaving a portion of your estate to charity - such as by naming your donor-advised fund as a beneficiary of an IRA or other retirement account. This strategy delivers considerable tax advantages and enables your philanthropic dollars to be thoughtfully distributed in accordance with your values. Remember, IRAs left to the Community Foundation avoid not only the income tax that would hit your heirs, but also removes the assets from your taxable estate for estate tax purposes. Lean on the Community Foundation The Community Foundation is honored to serve as a trusted partner for many individuals and families. Our team can work with you and your advisors to enlist the Community Foundation’s expertise to make grants from your donor-advised fund according to your values and charitable intentions following your death. We can also work with you and your advisors to incorporate the ability for your children and grandchildren to serve as advisors to the donor-advised fund following your death, including taking advantage of the Community Foundation’s educational programs to help your children and grandchildren learn how to be effective philanthropists. Capture your intentions The Community Foundation team is happy to work with you to document and formalize your charitable wishes. We’ll help you articulate your priorities and outline how you envision your fund making a difference across generations, whether that means supporting specific organizations, issue areas, urgent community needs, or a combination of priorities. By helping you capture your intentions in writing and then following your wishes, the Community Foundation acts as a steward to safeguard your philanthropic goals and help ensure that the causes you care about continue to receive support for years to come. We look forward to talking about succession planning for your donor-advised fund. The Community Foundation is honored to help you secure your charitable legacy and involve your loved ones in meaningful giving. Thank you for the opportunity!  It’s time for back-to-school planning! If education is on your mind, you’re in good company. Charitable giving to education rose in 2024 to more than $58 billion! If education and related causes are important to you, the Community Foundation can help you explore a variety of meaningful ways to make an impact. Here are three ideas to inspire a deeper discussion:
Explore options for expanding student support In many cases, donors set up a scholarship or other type of fund to support a particular educational institution, and then set it on autopilot. There’s nothing wrong with this approach, but you might be missing an opportunity to make a deeper impact. The Community Foundation team is happy to facilitate a dialogue with you and the school to structure your funding–whether through a scholarship or other types of support–to fill gaps in student need. For example, if you’d like to support students pursuing a college degree beyond simply scholarship dollars, the Community Foundation can help identify needs for dollars to increase faculty salaries, purchase lab equipment, or pay an on-campus counselor to help students acclimate to college life. Investigate opportunities to improve the quality of education itself Many donors are concerned that high school graduates are ill-prepared for post-secondary education, whether that’s a traditional four-year college, community college, or trade school. The Community Foundation can help you address this gap with your charitable dollars. For example, you could establish a fund to support teachers, which in turn helps improve student success. Indeed, teachers are often considered the single most important in-school factor for student success. Charitable funding that enhances teacher training, mentorship, and ongoing professional development creates ripple effects across classrooms and generations of students. Find your education “niche” By establishing a field-of-interest fund at the Community Foundation, you can work with the Community Foundation team to identify specific parameters within education that you’d like to fund. For example, you may be interested in supporting local grassroots programs offering tutoring and mentorship. Or, you may decide to direct your charitable dollars to quality early childhood programs, which have been shown to yield high returns on investments in education. The Community Foundation can help you identify an area of focus. Going forward, our team leverages the Community Foundation’s deep knowledge and research to identify high-impact opportunities, helping to ensure your generosity makes the greatest difference within your area of interest. Please reach out to our team anytime! As students head back to school and education is top of mind, the Community Foundation is here to make sure your giving is impactful, focused, and in line with your philanthropic goals.  It’s more important than ever to stay informed about how changes in the tax law may affect your charitable giving. The recently-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) creates challenges as well as opportunities for structuring your philanthropy. We encourage you to reach out to your attorney, CPA, and financial advisor to evaluate how the changes in the law impact your own situation.
As always, the Community Foundation is happy to work side-by-side with you and your tax advisors to build a plan for 2025 and beyond that not only supports your plans to make a difference in the community, but also addresses the rule changes under the OBBBA. To help you along this journey, we’ve provided the checklist below of issues to discuss with your advisors. Evaluate whether “bunching” may be right for you. The OBBBA increases the 2025 standard deduction to $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married couples filing jointly. The higher standard deduction will likely impact tax-motivated charitable giving, even with the expected uptick in the number of itemizers thanks to the OBBBA’s state and local tax deduction allowances (subscriptions required to the Wall Street Journal). There are important exceptions and nuances to consider, which you’ll want to discuss with your advisors. For example, if you are 65 or older, you’re eligible to receive an additional $6,000 “bonus” deduction—but it begins to phase out if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) exceeds $75,000. Based on the increases to the standard deduction, you may want to talk with your tax advisors about “bunching” charitable gifts for 2025 using a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation. Through this technique, you can make several years’ worth of charitable contributions in a single year to exceed the standard deduction threshold, thereby maximizing tax benefits in that year. Over the following years, your donor-advised fund can distribute grants to charities over time according to your wishes. There are more reasons you might want to talk with your advisors about front-loading charitable contributions in 2025. In 2026, a new provision under the OBBBA takes effect that allows you to take a deduction for charitable gifts only to the extent that your giving exceeds 0.5% of your AGI. What’s more, if you’re in the highest tax bracket, 37%, you can still only deduct charitable contributions at the 35% rate. The upshot here is that you and your tax advisors may decide that 2025 is the year to bunch charitable contributions to maximize tax savings. Get familiar with the deduction for non-itemizers, coming next year. If you don’t itemize your deductions, you’ll be glad to know that starting in the 2026 tax year you can claim a deduction for cash gifts to qualifying public charities—up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for married couples filing jointly. Excluded from this new provision are gifts to donor‑advised funds and non‑cash gifts, which is unfortunate because those vehicles are popular, convenient, and tax-effective. Still, keep in mind the new deduction, and, if you’re encouraging your adult children to get involved in philanthropy, make sure they are aware of this deduction. It could be particularly helpful for young people because many young people do not yet itemize. If you are over 70 ½, review the benefits of Qualified Charitable Distributions. A Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) enables individuals aged 70 ½ or older to donate up to $108,000 per year (as of 2025) directly from an IRA to eligible charities, and in the process exclude the donated amount from taxable income altogether - rather than relying on an itemized deduction. QCDs may be especially advantageous after the OBBBA’s significant increase to the standard deduction because QCDs provide a direct tax benefit regardless of whether you itemize or take the standard deduction. Indeed, using a QCD to fulfill required minimum distributions (RMDs) can lower your adjusted gross income, potentially reducing taxes on Social Security income and Medicare surtaxes and helping you sidestep the new floors and caps on itemized charitable deductions imposed by the OBBBA starting in 2026. The Community Foundation is happy to collaborate with you and your tax advisor as you explore ways to achieve your philanthropic goals under the new laws. We look forward to hearing from you!  The Bjornstad and Herman Families: Sue & Mark Bjornstad (right), their daughter Sara Herman and son-in-law Mike Herman (left), and granddaughters Taylor and Lauren (center) Written by Sue Bjornstad
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill I’ve long understood the importance of sharing time, talent, and treasure. Over the years, I’ve seen how giving can profoundly impact both the giver and the receiver. My 35-year career in philanthropy and the nonprofit world showed me that many organizations simply couldn’t do their good work without generous donors who believe in their missions. Even before that, my parents and grandparents shaped my early views on giving. For them, philanthropy wasn’t about writing a check—it was about showing up, helping neighbors, and offering what skills or time they could spare. That spirit of generosity left a lasting impression. As I raised my daughter Sara, I strived to be a positive role model. Her path led to a career in nursing; a field grounded in compassion and service. But it wasn’t until I became a grandmother to Taylor and Lauren that I felt a new sense of purpose: to intentionally pass down the values of giving. We began by volunteering together, and that has gradually grown into conversations about monetary giving. This past year, my family established an endowment at the Community Foundation as a way for us—now three generations strong—to engage in intergenerational philanthropy. Each year, we gather to discuss and decide where our gifts will go. It’s become a meaningful tradition that brings us closer and helps instill a deeper understanding of giving in the next generation. To me, intergenerational giving means more than just passing down resources—it’s about handing down values, building traditions, and creating a culture of generosity. Through this fund, we hope to do all three:
Watching this come to life has been deeply fulfilling. I’m grateful to see how this journey is connecting our family in new ways while supporting the nonprofits we care about most. You don’t need great wealth to make a difference—just the willingness to start. We did, and it's already making an impact. If you would like to discuss your philanthropic goals or learn more about establishing your own fund at the Community Foundation, please email Emberly Lietz at [email protected] or call 701-746-0668.  The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025, after the House of Representatives approved the Senate’s changes to H.R. 1, which passed the House by a narrow margin in May.
The OBBBA, with nearly 900 pages of provisions, reshapes policy across major sectors of the U.S. economy. Included in the OBBBA are several provisions that impact philanthropy. Three major takeaways are of particular importance as the Community Foundation helps donors, fund holders, and nonprofits–as well as attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors–navigate charitable planning opportunities over the months and years ahead. (Notably, the OBBBA omits several provisions that appeared in previous versions of the legislation, such as a proposed increase to the net investment income tax on private foundations.) Insight #1: Standard Deduction Goes Higher What’s in the OBBBA? The new law makes permanent the standard deduction increases under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), increasing the standard deduction for 2025 to $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 to taxpayers who are married and filing jointly. The new law also expands the “bonus” deduction for taxpayers 65 and older through 2028. What’s more, under the new law, individuals who itemize may take charitable deductions only to the extent the charitable deductions exceed 0.5% of adjusted gross income. Furthermore, taxpayers in the top bracket can only claim a 35 percent tax deduction for charitable gifts instead of the full 37 percent that would otherwise apply to their income tax rate. Note also that the final bill permanently extended the 60% of adjusted gross income contribution limitation for cash gifts made to certain qualifying charities. What does this mean for charitable giving? With even fewer taxpayers eligible to itemize, and deductions capped for high-income earners, we’re likely to see a continuation of the chilling effect on charitable giving that occurred in the wake of the TCJA. What can you do? If you regularly support charities, it’s important to continue to do so whether or not you’re benefiting from a tax deduction. Our community needs you, now more than ever. If you’re a nonprofit, or if you’re an attorney, CPA, or financial advisor who works with charitable clients, remember that people do not give to charity solely to secure a tax deduction. Keep in mind that many other factors motivate charitable giving, and philanthropy is an important priority for many families. (This article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review has stood the test of time.) Insight #2: Deduction for Non-Itemizers What’s in the OBBA? The new law includes a provision, effective after 2025, allowing non-itemizers to take a charitable deduction of $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for taxpayers who are married and filing jointly. As has been the case in the past, gifts to donor-advised funds are not eligible. Unlike a previous (but smaller) similar provision, though, this law is not set to sunset. What does this mean for charitable giving? After the TCJA went into effect, households that itemize deductions dropped to under 10%. Parallel to this trend, the number of U.S. adults who give to charity in any given year has dropped over the last 20 years from nearly two-thirds to less than half, according to some studies. Against this backdrop, the OBBBA’s deduction for non-itemizers has the potential to re-motivate charitable giving among a significant number of households. What can you do? For everyone, now is the time to take a serious look at your charitable giving plans to support the causes you care about over the years ahead, especially if you are early in your career and not yet itemizing deductions. If you’ve already established a fund or you’re working with the Community Foundation in another way, please reach out to learn how we can help you make the most of the new tax laws, and even get your children and grandchildren involved. If you’re a nonprofit, now is the time to attract and engage brand new donors. And if you’re an attorney, CPA, or financial advisor, make sure you talk about charitable giving with your clients who don’t itemize; a $1000 or $2000 deduction could be just the motivation they need to begin a journey of philanthropy. Insight#3: No Sunsetting Estate Tax Exemption What’s in the OBBA? For affluent taxpayers updating financial and estate plans, and for the attorneys, CPAs, and wealth managers advising them, the last couple of years have been a roller coaster because of the looming possibility that the TCJA’s increase to the estate tax exemption would sunset at the end of 2025. Finally, there is clarity: Under the OBBBA, the sunset will not happen. The new law makes permanent the increase in the unified credit and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption threshold. The 2025 exemption is $13.99 million for single filers and $27.98 million married filing jointly. In 2026, these numbers increase to $15 million and $30 million respectively. What does this mean for charitable giving? Purely estate tax-based incentives to give to charity continue to apply only to the ultra-wealthy, likely resulting in a continuation of the taxpayer behavior triggered by the TCJA. In other words, most people will give to charity during their lifetimes and in their estates for reasons other than a tax deduction. What can you do? There is no guarantee that the estate tax exemption will stay high forever. As families work with their tax and estate planning advisors, many are viewing the next two years as an important window to plan ahead. The upshot of the new law is that high net-worth taxpayers now have more time to thoughtfully consider estate planning strategies, including charitable giving. For nonprofit organizations, this means continuing to focus on long-term planned giving strategies is wise.  If you’ve recently retired, you may still be figuring out the ideal balance of activities. If you’ve been retired for several years, you might still be trying to figure it out! Time and again, research shows us that finding purpose is an essential component of a happy and satisfying retirement. Consider the following:
Indeed, retirement offers a unique opportunity for individuals to rediscover their sense of purpose beyond the confines of a traditional career. The Community Foundation’s team and charitable tools can play a pivotal role in this journey. Here’s how: Check in on Tax Planning For starters, the Community Foundation team can work with you and your tax advisors to be sure your charitable giving is reflected in your estate and financial plan to achieve the impact you’re seeking. Among other issues, we’ll help you and your advisors explore whether itemizing your tax deductions in certain years might save you money. You can “bunch” charitable donations into your donor-advised fund in higher-income years to exceed the itemization threshold, then support your favorite causes steadily over time from that fund. If you’re 70 ½ or older, we’ll also help evaluate whether tax-free transfers directly from your IRA - up to $108,000 in 2025 - to a designated, unrestricted, or field-of-interest fund at the Community Foundation would be an effective planning technique for your situation. Involve the Next Generation Many retirees have more time to include family members in their personal charitable giving activities. The Community Foundation team can work alongside you and your estate planning advisors to name children or grandchildren as advisors or successor advisors to your donor-advised fund and invite them to participate in site visits and educational events. This is a great way to strengthen family bonds while building a legacy of generosity across generations. Our team can help you identify ways to include children and grandchildren in site visits to favorite charities and participate in education sessions about community needs and the nonprofits that are making a difference for people who live in our region. Build a Legacy Many people update their estate plans just after they retire. As you work with your tax and estate planning advisors, consider incorporating a gift in your estate plan that will allow your charitable legacy to live on for generations. For example, many people name a fund at the Community Foundation as the beneficiary of their IRAs because of the significant tax advantages when compared with leaving the IRAs to heirs. The Community Foundation is happy to work with you and your advisors to establish a special fund to receive assets from your estate, whether from an IRA or other type of estate gift. The fund can be structured as a permanent endowment to address the community’s greatest needs far into the future, or even support the Community Foundation’s operations to ensure that philanthropy and stewardship continue to thrive for generations to come. You can also name your donor-advised fund as an estate beneficiary, and your children and grandchildren can serve as advisors to the fund so that they, in turn, can carry on the spirit of charitable giving in the family’s name. We look forward to working with you throughout your retirement years to ensure that your community dreams are fulfilled through the power of charitable giving. Please reach out anytime.  A Journey of Empowerment
For over two decades, the Women’s Fund has evolved from a visionary idea shared by 20 local women into a transformative leadership hub serving Grand Forks and Walsh Counties in North Dakota and Polk County in Minnesota. Led by residents dedicated to uplifting and empowering women, the Fund's mission and programs continue to expand. Jill Proctor, Chair of the Women's Fund and President/CEO of the Downtown Development Association, offers insights into the Fund’s growth, achievements, and vision for the future. "I believe in the power of supporting and uplifting women in our community," she begins. "Serving as Chair allows me to help drive meaningful change, foster collaboration, and ensure we’re making a lasting impact." Evolution and Influence Since its inception in 2002, the Women's Fund has significantly expanded its influence. From an idea shared by its founders to now, the Fund has blossomed into a powerful community resource. This progress can be seen through tangible achievements, including the growth of their endowment, grants provided to local nonprofits, and the overwhelming success of the Women’s Fund Leadership Academy. "What started as a push to see more women in leadership has evolved into a sustained effort to create opportunities, foster mentorship, and support organizations that uplift women and girls," Jill explains. "The Women’s Fund has become a catalyst for meaningful progress." The Transformational Power of the Leadership Academy One of the Fund's cornerstone programs is its Leadership Academy, renowned for its effectiveness in developing confident, capable leaders. "The Academy helps women gain confidence, skills, and connections to step into leadership roles in our community," Jill says. Graduates of the Academy frequently achieve significant professional and personal milestones, including promotions, entrepreneurial ventures, and influential roles across sectors. The Academy combines personal growth with professional skills in its approach to leadership. “Participants gain valuable insights through the CliftonStrengths assessment, build confidence in their leadership style, and develop their personal brand.” They also get to learn about and explore financial readiness, which helps them make informed business decisions. “This comprehensive approach makes the Academy especially effective in cultivating strong, capable women leaders.” The Fund also acknowledges the importance of introducing leadership concepts early. For instance, it has awarded grants to BioGirls, an organization dedicated to enhancing self-esteem among young girls through empowerment and community service. “BioGirls focuses on helping young girls build confidence by engaging in both self-discovery and service to others—two values that resonate deeply with the Women’s Fund’s commitment to personal growth and community impact,” Jill explains. Community Engagement as a Core Value Genuine connection with the community is foundational to the success of the Women’s Fund. Jill believes this is crucial, stating, "Our efforts thrive when the community unites to support initiatives empowering women and girls. We strengthen this support through fundraising, the Women’s Fund Leadership Academy, sponsorship of unique women-focused events, and initiatives that provide vital resources.” Their diverse board also ensures authentic representation and engagement. “We strive to have a board from diverse backgrounds and industries to connect with different pockets of the community.” Whether through financial contributions, advocacy, or collaboration, collective power ultimately drives meaningful progress and amplifies the Fund’s impact. A Powerful Partnership Collaboration with the Community Foundation of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, and Region bolsters the Fund's capabilities. “Their staff have been instrumental in managing our fundraising efforts and overseeing our endowment, ensuring we remain financially stable,” Jill says. Collaborative events, including Summer Solstice and Giving Hearts Day, showcase this powerful partnership and the strength of community-focused organizations working together. Envisioning the Future The Fund’s ambitious goal of achieving a $1 million endowment speaks to its tenacity and passion for improving individual lives and the greater community. Growing the endowment would ensure sustainable, long-term operations. “With this increased support, we could expand programs like the Women’s Fund Leadership Academy, offer more grants to nonprofits, and create additional opportunities for women and girls to thrive,” Jill explains. Achieving this milestone would empower current and future generations for years to come. Addressing Challenges and Creating Solutions Despite the Fund's success, significant challenges remain, notably the lack of women in key community positions. Jill recognizes this issue’s effect on career advancement and visibility for women. “While progress has been made, there are still too few women in prominent roles across business, government, and the community. This gap can make it harder for women to access leadership opportunities, build confidence, and advance in their careers.” The Women’s Fund addresses these challenges proactively through leadership training programs and strategic grants, aiming to normalize leadership roles for women throughout various community sectors. Strength in Diversity Inclusivity remains a central tenet of the Women’s Fund's philosophy. "Creating spaces where individuals from diverse backgrounds feel valued, empowered, and welcomed strengthens our entire community," Jill explains, highlighting the importance of all experiences in shaping the Fund's strategies and programs. Everyone Has a Role Community participation is key to the Fund’s ongoing success. Jill invites people to donate, volunteer, or share information about the Women’s Fund on social media or by word of mouth. “If you have a special skill or talent, whether it’s mentoring, public speaking, or offering professional expertise, we’d love for you to share that with the Women’s Leadership Academy. And simply spreading the word—telling others about our mission and sharing our events—can amplify our impact. " Sustaining Momentum Under Jill Proctor’s passionate leadership, the Women’s Fund continues to significantly contribute to the growth and wellness of Grand Forks, building a legacy of empowerment and leadership. “ Serving as Chair is an honor,” Jill says. “The Women’s Fund has become a catalyst for meaningful progress, and I’m proud to be part of its ongoing evolution.” Learn more about the work of the Women's Fund at gofoundation.org/wf. Written by Grace Hertzler, a published writer, activist, and friend of the Community Foundation.  Whether you’ve supported a fund at the Community Foundation, established your own fund, or are considering whether to get involved, it’s important to know that the team at the Community Foundation keeps a watchful eye on tax law changes that could impact your plans for charitable giving.
You’ve probably seen a lot of news about the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" (H.R. 1), which passed the House of Representatives by a narrow 215-214 vote on May 22, 2025. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it’s expected to undergo significant changes before anything becomes final. The main point to keep in mind is that nothing is set in stone yet, and it’s impossible to know exactly how these tax law changes might affect you and your charitable giving until the process is complete. Our team is happy to help you think about how you might update your charitable giving plans whether or not certain provisions in the proposed legislation are enacted into law. For example, many people include provisions in their estate plans to continue supporting the causes they championed during their lifetimes. They like the idea of leaving a legacy to improve the quality of life in our community across generations. Next time you’re considering an update to your estate plan, please reach out. The Community Foundation team is happy to work with you and your advisors to structure a legacy gift that is meaningful to both you and the community you love. Related to legacy giving, it’s important to note that although the federal estate tax applies to a relatively small percentage of taxpayers, the impact can be significant (currently the top rate is 40%). If the total value of your assets (including real estate, investments, retirement accounts, business interests, life insurance you own, and personal property) exceeds $13.99 million as an individual, or $27.98 million as a married couple, the estate tax could be an issue for you. You’re likely aware that higher estate tax exemption enacted under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) is set to sunset at the end of this year, but under the proposed legislation, the increased exemption would become permanent. If you’re nevertheless still anticipating the possibility of a taxable estate, incorporating a gift to a fund at the Community Foundation in your estate plan can help reduce the tax’s impact. Of course, people don’t give to charity just for tax reasons. Whether or not you expect to wind up with a taxable estate, the Community Foundation can help you achieve your goals for making a difference in our community for years to come. Another provision in the proposed legislation that might have caught your attention relates to the standard deduction. The bill would maintain the higher standard deduction levels from the TCJA and even add a temporary increase through 2028. As a result, fewer taxpayers would itemize deductions, which means fewer people would be able to claim a charitable deduction (although most people don’t support charities solely to get a tax deduction). The bill also introduces a modest “above-the-line” charitable deduction for nonitemizers in the amount of $150 for individuals and $300 for joint filers. Finally, the bill would sharply raise excise taxes on the investment income of large private foundations, with rates going up from 1.39% to as much as 10% for the largest foundations. Foundations with less than $50 million in assets would not see any change. Remember that the Community Foundation offers alternatives to private foundations, including donor-advised funds, that allow you to support your favorite charities and address important local needs. So what’s next? The Senate is expected to start reviewing the bill in June, and the process could stretch into July or August as both the House and Senate work out their differences before sending the bill to President Trump for signature. We’ll keep you updated as this develops. If you have questions or want to talk about your charitable giving options, please reach out. Our team is here to help you support the causes you care about and address community needs in the most effective ways possible, no matter what happens to tax laws.  As individuals, families, and businesses get more involved in charitable giving, it’s not uncommon to become overwhelmed with all the options for supporting favorite charities. Plus, it can be hard to know what really makes a difference.
The Community Foundation is here to help make charitable giving easy, flexible, and effective. Our team loves hearing comments that often reflect pleasant surprises when people get started working with the Community Foundation to make a difference in our region’s quality of life. Here are a few examples: “We had no idea that the paperwork to set up a fund would be so straightforward. Had we known our family fund could be set up in less than an hour, we would have done it a long time ago.” “In this day and age of 1-800 numbers and online chatbots, it has been such a refreshing change to have a real life conversation with knowledgeable professionals. I know I can ask any question and get a fast and friendly response that goes above and beyond my expectations.” “We feel so good about being part of a large, diverse, local, family of giving. We love knowing that we are ‘in this together’ with other donors who are supporting their own favorite causes and it all rolls up to the collective good for our community.” These comments are heartwarming - and they are also based in reality. That’s because community foundations are designed to make charitable giving straightforward and impactful for donors by providing expert guidance, streamlined processes, and a high level of flexibility. One of the most significant ways we simplify the giving process is by handling all administrative and tax-related details. For example, when you make a single contribution of appreciated stock to a donor-advised fund to support all your annual giving, you receive a single tax receipt for the gift, regardless of how many grants are made from that fund to various nonprofits throughout the year. This eliminates the need for multiple receipts and simplifies tax reporting, making it easier for you to document deductions and keep your records organized. Additionally, the Community Foundation provides written acknowledgments for gifts and handles all necessary IRS documentation, further reducing the administrative burden on you and your family. Another key advantage is the Community Foundation’s ability to accept a wide range of assets as charitable gifts, including not only cash or marketable securities, but also complex assets such as real estate, closely-held business interests, mineral rights, retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and even agricultural assets. This flexibility helps ensure that you can support your favorite causes in the most tax-efficient way possible. Whether you are considering a new gift, planning a legacy, or simply seeking advice on maximizing the impact of your philanthropy, the Community Foundation provides ongoing support and local expertise. We simplify the legwork so you can focus on the joy and meaning of giving and the positive difference you are making in the lives of others. Please reach out to the Community Foundation team anytime! 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.  “Philanthropist” is a big word that often conjures up images of the ultra-wealthy making big donations to charities, especially when people like Bill Gates have been in the headlines lately. But the definition is much broader than that. Merriam-Webster defines “philanthropist” as “one who makes an active effort to promote human welfare.”
Anyone can be a philanthropist. That’s certainly the spirit behind the Community Foundation’s mission to improve quality of life in our region. People get started in philanthropy in many ways. Here are just a few:
From there, many people take the next step to get even more involved by providing financial support, including:
Along your journey, the Community Foundation team is here for you as a sounding board and a resource. Many people decide to establish a fund at the Community Foundation after several years of informal giving. A donor-advised fund in particular can be useful to organize giving to multiple charities and streamline tax reporting. For inspiration, consider the recently-released TIME100 Philanthropy 2025 which highlights a diverse array of individuals making a difference - from billionaires like MacKenzie Scott to community leaders, activists, and innovators who leverage their unique skills, platforms, and resources to drive change. This broad representation demonstrates that impactful giving is not limited to those with vast fortunes; anyone can contribute meaningfully, whether through money, time, expertise, or advocacy. Indeed, many on the list are recognized for aligning their philanthropic efforts with personal passions or areas where they can make a unique impact, such as Dolly Parton’s focus on literacy, José Andrés’ humanitarian food relief, and Billie Jean King’s advocacy for women in sports. What’s more, the rise of collective giving, strategic philanthropy, and new collaborative funding models make it easier for people to pool resources and maximize impact. Please reach out anytime, wherever you are along your philanthropic journey. The Community Foundation is here to help everyone make a difference at every level of wealth and background. 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.  As you advise clients on charitable giving, you’re likely aware of the growing popularity of the donor-advised fund as a flexible, tax-efficient tool for philanthropy. Many families appreciate how donor-advised funds can streamline giving, foster family engagement, and serve as a launchpad for deeper community impact.
Recently, we’ve engaged with many professional advisors - attorneys, accountants, and financial planners - who work with clients utilizing community foundations in a variety of ways, ranging from contributing to important initiatives, supporting the community’s foundation’s operating endowment, making qualified charitable distributions from IRAs, or participating in foundation-hosted events that address critical local priorities. Interestingly, we have discovered that some advisors were not aware that their clients had established donor-advised funds through national financial institutions. Although these clients are familiar with the Community Foundation, they simply did not know that the Community Foundation could help them in multiple ways, including establishing a donor-advised fund to support favorite charities. It’s easier–and more beneficial–than you might think for your client to move a donor-advised fund to the Community Foundation! Here’s what you need to know: Tax and administrative advantages are the same The Community Foundation offers donor-advised funds with the same tax and administrative advantages as national providers, including:
Added value at the Community Foundation Unlike many national donor-advised fund sponsors, the Community Foundation offers a suite of high-touch, locally-informed services that can enhance your clients’ philanthropic strategies, such as:
What next? The steps to transfer a donor-advised fund are surprisingly simple:
We look forward to working with you and your clients to make the most of their charitable giving, especially by establishing a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation to serve as the cornerstone of the client’s charitable giving plan. With a donor-advised fund as a baseline, your client can begin to tap into all of the many ways the Community Foundation serves as a home for charitable giving, from strategic grant making to legacy giving and everything in between. 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 your client base includes business owners, you probably weren’t surprised by this observation in a recent Wall Street Journal article about the “stealthy wealthy”: “Behind a paycheck, the largest source of income for the 1% highest earners in the U.S. isn’t being a partner at an investment bank or launching a one-in-a-million tech startup. It is owning a medium-size regional business.”
What’s more, the chances are very good that most of your business-owner clients are charitably-inclined. Indeed, more than 90% of small business owners have supported charities and community activities in the last year. This means that you and other tax and estate planning advisors ought to have at least a basic level of knowledge about the benefits and mechanics of giving closely-held business interests to charity. When properly executed, this technique can be extremely effective to achieve the client’s financial and philanthropic goals. Here are three very important components of this strategy: Stop before you use a private foundation. Some of your business owner clients probably have established a private foundation. But the private foundation is not the ideal recipient of private business interests. Donating closely-held stock to a fund at the Community Foundation is generally more tax effective than giving it to a private foundation due to several key differences in how the IRS treats these gifts. When your client donates closely-held stock to the Community Foundation, your client can typically deduct the full fair market value of the stock, up to 30% of adjusted gross income and also avoid paying capital gains tax on any appreciation. By contrast, if your client donates the same stock to a private foundation, the deduction is limited to cost basis up to only 20% of AGI, which is a significantly less favorable tax outcome. Mind the timing. Encourage a business owner client to start planning for a gift of closely-held stock before putting out feelers to potential acquirers and absolutely before any part of a deal is inked. This is crucial because a gift to charity will avoid substantial unrealized capital gains that have accrued in the business over the years only if the gift and the sale are genuinely separate events, avoiding the step transaction doctrine. Careful planning will help ensure that the client’s fund at the Community Foundation will receive 100 cents on the dollar for the portion of the stock it owns and the deduction won’t be thrown out. Respect the rules for valuation. Counsel your clients about securing a proper valuation for charitable deduction purposes at the time the business interest is contributed to the fund at the Community Foundation. Valuation has always been a critical factor in any type of tax or estate planning strategy. Recently, 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 value 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. As always, please reach out to the Community Foundation anytime the topic of charitable giving arises in client conversations. We are honored to be your first call on all matters of philanthropy. Most of the time, we can help. If not, we will absolutely point you in the right direction. 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.  Working in Grand Forks as a Certified Public Accountant for most of my career allowed me the opportunity to really get to know the community and the excellent people who live and work here. I arrived on the scene at Brady Martz in 1991 - six years prior to the flood of 1997. The devastation of that flood and the impact on the community of Grand Forks was phenomenal. The office of Brady Martz and Associates was one of the businesses impacted not only by the flood but the devastating fire that followed. The physical presence of the business was lost… it seemed to me as a young professional that everything was lost! In the hours after the fire, I wasn’t sure I would even have a job. However, I did not yet understand the power of community – both the Greater Grand Forks community and the community of Brady Martz professionals.
As I watched Greater Grand Forks and our office re-build from the flood and fire, I marveled at the enduring spirit of the people in this region. With help from around the nation, including benefactors like Joan Kroc, and guided by outstanding leadership during that time, I watched the Greater Grand Forks community re-emerge stronger and better than before! Brady Martz re-located to one of the buildings that was erected shortly after the devastation passed. The Community Foundation itself was started in the aftermath of the flood. It was determined by community leaders that…“we felt that in the case of this gift (flood-related gifts) or future gifts, there ought to be a way to transform the giving impulse into philanthropic endowment.” Through the re-build process I felt like I had a front and center seat to watch the process of “community” in action. One definition of community in Merriam-Webster is “an interacting population of various kinds of individuals…in a common location”. My lived experiences in the Greater Grand Forks community have deepened my convictions about the importance of a strong community. Serving as a Community Foundation board member has allowed me to “give back” to a community which has provided deep and meaningful opportunities throughout my professional career. After watching the benefits of community during and after the Flood of 1997, I have a deeper appreciation and understanding of what a Community Foundation can do for a community. I am honored to serve on the Foundation board and to help advance the positive impact for our Greater Grand Forks community.  If you are 70 ½ and older, by now you’ve likely heard about a charitable giving tool called a Qualified Charitable Distribution (“QCD”), allowing you to direct a distribution from your IRA to an eligible charity, such as a designated fund, unrestricted fund, or field-of-interest fund at the Community Foundation. With a 2025 limit of $108,000 per taxpayer, QCDs count toward required minimum distributions (RMDs) but are excluded from taxable income, which can help you avoid higher tax brackets and phaseouts of deductions.
The Community Foundation team is here to help you make the most of charitable giving tools, including QCDs. A frequently-asked question about QCDs is whether they can be used to add money to a donor-advised fund. The answer is no–for now. While most public charities qualify as QCD recipients, donor-advised funds, private foundations, and supporting organizations do not under current law. Recently-proposed legislation, however, aims to further expand QCD eligibility by allowing distributions to donor-advised funds. If enacted, this change would give you and other eligible donors even more flexibility in maximizing your philanthropy. Indeed, a donor-advised fund is often the “hub” of a family’s charitable giving because it makes it so easy to stay organized and track support to favorite charities over the years. It’s becoming common for a family to add to its charitable giving “portfolio” by establishing a designated or field-of-interest fund alongside the donor-advised fund, as well as giving to the Community Foundations initiatives through the donor-advised fund. In many cases, family members also update their estate plans to include bequests to their funds at the Community Foundation. A QCD is a wonderful tool, and we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it becomes even more wonderful. As always, the Community Foundation will keep you posted on this and other tax law changes that may impact your plans for supporting your favorite causes and the community we all love. 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.  Economic turbulence, inflation concerns, and a general sense of financial instability have made 2025 very challenging for a lot of people. As you consider how to support your favorite charities this year, take a moment to evaluate which assets may be best suited for your donations. In particular, the choice between giving cash or appreciated stock can have a meaningful impact on both your finances and the charities you support. The team at the Community Foundation is here to help answer your questions, including a few that are very common this year:
Should I give stock? If you are concerned about preserving cash right now, then donating appreciated, publicly-traded stock can be a highly-effective strategy. By transferring long-term, marketable securities directly to a donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation, you avoid capital gains tax and may be eligible for an income tax deduction based on the fair market value of the securities. The Community Foundation, in turn, can sell the securities without incurring tax, maximizing the dollars available to support your favorite charities. Even in a down market, many investors still hold stocks that have appreciated over time, making this a win-win for both you and the causes you care about. Should I give cash? If your investment portfolio has declined significantly across the board, you may prefer to contribute cash this year. Doing so allows your investments time to recover, potentially increasing their value for future charitable gifts. Contributing cash to your fund at the Community Foundation allows you to organize your giving in one place, making it easier to gather tax information when April 15 rolls around again. How can my donor-advised fund help in challenging times for our community? Donor-advised funds offer flexibility for your charitable giving, particularly in unpredictable market conditions. By contributing to a donor-advised fund, you receive an immediate tax deduction and can recommend grants over time, allowing you to support your favorite organizations even when your personal finances are in flux. Many people like having a reserve of charitable funds that enables them to maintain consistent support for the causes they love, regardless of market ups and downs. What else should I consider as I plan my charitable support this year? Giving strategically in uncertain times is important to help stabilize the charities in our community and allow them to continue to support people in need. The Community Foundation can help you formalize long-term commitments while also ensuring that immediate needs are addressed. Maintaining support for the organizations you care about ensures their continued impact, even when resources are tight. The team at the Community Foundation is here to help you make a difference in our community as economic pressures mount. Please reach out to discuss the best options to achieve your charitable goals, even in a year as unpredictable as this one. 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.  When you’re working on the charitable components of a client’s estate or financial plan, one of the first areas you’ll likely explore is the structure. Certainly you are familiar with both private foundations and donor-advised funds as useful charitable giving tools. Before you jump into one or the other for a particular client, though, it’s important to review the similarities and differences between the two so that you can best achieve your client’s goals.
To help you evaluate a client’s options, here are three common myths about the differences between private foundations and donor-advised funds. Myth #1: Donor-advised funds are all the same and only private foundations can be customized Private foundations will always differ from donor-advised funds in important ways, not only because of their status as separate legal entities and the deductibility rules for gifts to these entities, but also because of the opportunities to customize governance. But it is a mistake to assume that a donor-advised fund is a cookie-cutter vehicle. Indeed, “donor-advised fund” is simply a term used to describe the structure of a fund and its relationship with a sponsoring organization such as a community foundation. The donor-advised fund vehicle itself is extremely flexible. Here’s why:
Myth #2: Deciding whether to establish a donor-advised fund or a private foundation mostly depends on size The size of a donor-advised fund, like the size of a private foundation, is unlimited. The United States’ largest private foundations are valued well into the billions of dollars. Information about private foundations, ironically, is not so private. The Internal Revenue Service provides public access to private foundations’ Form 990 tax returns. That is not the case for individual donor-advised funds. Similarly, donor-advised funds are not subject to an upper limit. Although information on the asset size of individual donor-advised funds is not publicly available, anecdotal information indicates that some donor-advised funds' assets may total in the billions of dollars. Indeed, a donor-advised fund of any size can be an effective alternative to a private foundation, thanks to fewer expenses to establish and maintain, maximum tax benefits (higher deductibility limitations and fair market valuation for contributing hard-to-value assets), no excise taxes, and confidentiality (including the ability to grant anonymously to charities). The net-net here is that the decision of whether to establish a donor-advised fund or a private foundation–or both–is much less a function of size than it is other factors that are tied more closely to the objectives a client is trying to achieve. Myth #3: Donor-advised funds and private foundations are mutually exclusive Make sure you’re aware of the benefits of using both a donor-advised fund and a private foundation to accomplish clients’ charitable goals. For example:
Some private foundations are even considering transferring their assets to a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation to carry on the foundation’s mission. Terminating a private foundation and consolidating giving through a donor-advised fund is sometimes the best alternative for a client when the day-to-day management and administration of the private foundation has become more time-consuming than expected and is taking time and focus away from nonprofits, the community, and making grants. Along these lines, some families find that the tax rules related to investments, distributions, and “self-dealing” have become harder to navigate and are perhaps even preventing the family from maximizing tax benefits of charitable giving. Finally, the administrative load of managing a private foundation sometimes becomes overwhelming, especially if the family members who handled these functions initially have retired, passed away, or simply become busy with other projects. The bottom line here is that we encourage you to reach out to the team at the Community Foundation anytime you are evaluating how to structure a charitable giving plan to achieve both your client’s charitable goals and financial goals. Our team is here to help. In many cases, the Community Foundation’s tools and services are a great fit for your client’s needs. If not, we will point you in the right direction. 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 ever considered wrapping charitable giving into a child’s birthday party, you are not alone! Lots of parents are encouraging their kids to have guests bring gifts to charity instead of presents, whether it's collecting books for a children's hospital, pet toys for an animal shelter, or non-perishable food for a local food bank. Guests can feel part of something special by bringing items that align with the birthday child's interests, and the party can include activities like making cards for the elderly or packaging donations together.
Even bigger than that, though, is the opportunity to educate your kids, starting at an early age, about charities and how every dollar can make a difference. Here are a few pointers: Be intentional. Teaching children the value of charitable giving requires intentional strategies that blend financial education with empathy-building experiences. By including philanthropy as a regular part of your family routines and traditions, you can help your kids understand wealth as a tool for positive impact rather than just personal gain. Over time, you’ll see that this approach fosters both financial literacy and compassion for others. It starts with money–and more. It’s often helpful to start the conversation by talking about money management and community needs, side by side. For example, you can explain how $100 might feed a family for a week, or how $1,000 could fund educational supplies for an entire classroom. You could even help your kids create a "giving budget” so they can practice ways to make their intentions visual and concrete. If you have established a donor-advised fund or other type of fund at the Community Foundation, log in to your account and show your kids how it works. Offer choices. Most kids don’t like to be told what to do (!), so it’s important to empower children by showing them how to research and pick causes that are aligned with their interests. The Community Foundation’s website is a great place to start. This is where kids can see the big picture of how charitable giving connects to our region’s quality of life, as well as learn about the Community Foundation’s priority initiatives and the nonprofits doing important work on the ground every day. Get out and about. Children (and adults) learn by doing, so try to find opportunities for hands-on involvement. You and your kids could volunteer together at food banks, organize neighborhood donation drives, or create handmade items for those in need. The Community Foundation is always happy to offer resources that will help you and your family find volunteer opportunities that are a good fit for your areas of interest and the ages of your children. As always, the Community Foundation is happy to be your sounding board as you get your family involved in charitable giving. We are honored to work with all generations of community-minded people! The future of our region depends on it, and we are 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.  At some point during your adult life, you’ve likely realized that it would be wise to put in place a will, trust, and powers of attorney, as well as undertake at least a basic level of financial planning to stay on track with retirement and other wealth-related goals for yourself and for your family. Perhaps you’re also among the many people who have thoughtfully incorporated charitable giving strategies into a comprehensive financial and estate plan.
If you’ve not yet wrapped charitable giving provisions into your will, trust, and financial plans, it’s never too late (or too early) to do so. The Community Foundation is happy to work with you and your legal, tax, and wealth advisors to set up charitable giving structures and processes that align with your intentions to support favorite charities and causes, as well as reinforce the tax and estate planning objectives you’ve set in motion. Indeed, formalizing your charitable intentions can bring a deep sense of purpose. By incorporating charitable giving into your estate plan, your values and philanthropic commitments can continue beyond your lifetime. What’s more, lifetime charitable giving can be part of a strategic wealth management plan, allowing you to optimize your financial resources while supporting causes you care about. For example, charitable income tax deductions for your donations may reduce your taxable income and lower your annual tax bill. Plus, donating appreciated assets, such as publicly-traded stock held for more than one year, can help you avoid capital gains taxes. In addition, dollars flowing to charities following your death can help minimize the burden of estate taxes. The Community Foundation team would be honored to help you develop a philanthropy plan, starting with lifetime giving and incorporating estate gifts as your legacy intentions take shape. As you consider whether the time might be right for you to formalize your charitable giving, here are three tips to consider - all of which the Community Foundation can help you achieve: Give to what you know. Most people experience the greatest joy from giving to causes that are personally familiar. Personal experience makes it easier to understand how the charity is using your dollars. So, for example, if you’ve had experience with helping foster children, you are likely to understand how the organization is using your donation to support training for foster parents. Please ask the Community Foundation team for insights! It’s our job to keep up with the good work of charities that are meeting local needs. Give where you are. Even with the increasing number of community challenges across the country and the globe, sometimes the greatest needs are right here at home. The Community Foundation team can help you identify opportunities to support local charities by gathering information about the overall need and how a particular charity addresses that need. When you give to local organizations, you are in a strong position to have confidence in your gift. Give to the causes you love. Donations to charities that are aligned with your own passions make you feel the best and ultimately make the most difference because you’re likely to continue giving. The Community Foundation team is here to help bring your community dreams to life through the power of philanthropy. And that feels great! If you’ve already established a donor-advised fund or other type of fund with the Community Foundation, or if you are considering getting started with the Community Foundation this year, we are here for you! The Community Foundation is honored to serve as your home for charitable giving. Our team looks 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.  According to the 2023 Giving USA Report released in June 2024, charitable bequests, totaling nearly $43 billion, are up 4.8% over the previous year, keeping pace with inflation. This extraordinary generosity signals the possibility of tremendous impact in our community and in communities across the country.
We are grateful to so many of you who have chosen to leave an estate gift to the Community Foundation. Whether your will or trust includes a bequest to your fund at the Community Foundation, or whether you’ve named the Community Foundation as the beneficiary of your IRA, your gift will help improve the quality of life for people in our region for years to come. At the Community Foundation, we’re honored to work with donors who are not only interested in leaving a legacy, but also want to maximize giving during their lifetimes. Indeed, many donors are interested in establishing a donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation for a variety of reasons:
Please reach out to our team. The Community Foundation would be honored to work with you as you incorporate lifetime giving into your charitable giving plan that already includes a generous and much-appreciated estate gift to the Community Foundation. Thank you for being part of the Community Foundation! 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 favorite charities are grateful for your support over the years. Whether you make your gifts outright or support charities using a donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation, every gift makes a difference in the quality of life in our community.
You may even care about your favorite charities so much that you strive to send over a donation every month throughout the year. In some cases, this works well for the charity, especially if its budget is particularly lean month-to-month or if monthly recurring donations are a priority for the charity’s public relations goals or other strategic reasons. It’s worth knowing, however, that in some situations, consolidating your gifts into a single annual donation is actually better for everyone, including the charity. Here’s why: Although recurring donations offer predictable cash flow for organizations, the processing fees and administrative burdens can disproportionately affect charities when donations are fragmented. By giving one substantial annual contribution to each of your favorite charities—whether personally or through your donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation—you can maximize impact while reducing operational costs for the charities. Indeed, you might not realize the degree to which processing fees can erode small donations. Every transaction carries fixed costs, of course, regardless of size. A check, for example, can cost charities more than $3.50 to process by the time you add up bank fees, processor charges, and staff time. Even supposedly “streamlined” digital donations via credit cards and digital wallets incur fees that sometimes can add up to more than 4% of the donation amount. As an example, a single $100 annual gift via check might cost a charity $3.61, but four $25 quarterly donations via check could result in more than $14 in processing fees--consuming more than 14% of the donated amount! The direct costs associated with each check are just part of the expense. Nonprofits spend valuable resources reconciling accounts and managing donor records for each transaction. A single annual contribution can help reduce these often hidden costs, allowing charities to focus on mission-driven work rather than processing paperwork. This efficiency gain can be particularly crucial for small charities, which often operate with lean teams and tight budgets. If you’re interested in shifting from monthly to annual giving and you’ve not yet established a donor-advised fund, you might consider doing so. A single contribution to your donor-advised fund each year allows you to claim an immediate tax deduction, and then in turn process an annual grant to each of the charities you’d like to support. This approach can help eliminate processing costs. For example, if you typically give a total of $1,200 each year to your place of worship and you started providing that support in a single annual transaction, such as through your donor-advised fund, instead of writing twelve $100 checks, you could save your place of worship nearly $50 in processing costs. Plus, you’ll personally benefit from simplified record-keeping with one annual receipt for the gift to your donor-advised fund rather than tracking multiple transactions. Whether you’re supporting local social service agencies, arts organizations, alma maters, or places of worship, consolidated giving ensures that more dollars flow directly to services rather than getting eaten up by processes and fees. What a terrific example of financial stewardship to honor both your own generosity as well as your favorite charities’ operational realities. Please reach out to the Community Foundation today to learn more about how annual consolidated giving might fit into your philanthropy plan. 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.  Tax time is a great reason to review the basics! At the Community Foundation, our goal is to help make the tax aspects of your charitable giving as easy and effective as possible. If you’ve already established a donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation, or if you’re considering starting a fund in 2025, it may be helpful to scan a quick reference guide of FAQs for a few of the tax rules that apply to charitable giving.
Where charitable giving is concerned, why does it matter whether or not I itemize my deductions? Charitable contributions can only be deducted if you itemize your deductions. If you do your own taxes, you’ll report deductions on Schedule A of IRS Form 1040. Itemization is only available if your total deductions exceed the standard deduction. For example, for tax year 2024 (the tax return you’ll file in 2025), the standard deduction is $14,600 for single filers and $29,200 for joint filers. As you look at 2025 and beyond, check with the Community Foundation about how your donor-advised fund can help you cross the itemization threshold while still carrying out your multi-year annual giving plans to support your favorite charities. If I use my donor-advised fund to make all of my gifts to charity, do I need receipts for all of those gifts? No! A big advantage of organizing your giving through a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation is that you can make a single gift of cash–or even better, appreciated stock–to your donor-advised fund, and then support your favorite charities from that fund. This means the only tax receipt you need is the one that documents your gift to the Community Foundation for your donor-advised fund. What documentation is required for me to take a charitable deduction? Donations over $250 require written acknowledgment from the charity. The Community Foundation provides this for gifts you make to your donor-advised fund or other type of fund. Use IRS Form 8283 for non-cash contributions valued at $500 or more. Appraisals are required for donations valued over $5,000 (such as private stock and real estate). How much of my income can I deduct for charitable donations to the Community Foundation and other public charities? Cash donations to public charities (including your fund at the Community Foundation) are deductible up to 60% of adjusted gross income. Donations of non-cash assets, such as appreciated stock or real estate, are deductible up to 30% of AGI. Remember that donating appreciated assets held for more than one year to a fund at the Community Foundation can avoid capital gains tax; the Community Foundation does not pay tax when it sells the asset, leaving more money in the fund to support your favorite causes than you would have if you had sold the asset and donated the cash. What are the rules for IRA distributions to a charity? If you’re age 70 ½ or older, you can make Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), up to $108,000 in 2025, from IRAs to certain types of funds at the Community Foundation (such as designated funds or unrestricted funds, but not donor-advised funds). QCDs can satisfy your required minimum distributions. As always, the Community Foundation is here to help you achieve your charitable goals during tax season and throughout the year as you implement a philanthropy plan that meets both your financial goals as well as your goals for making a difference in the community. 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.  Most of your philanthropic clients likely support a wide variety of charities year after year. The causes they support represent a range of motivations, including personal experience, a role as a volunteer or board member, family tradition, or alignment with values and community priorities.
Many of the charitable organizations your clients support are local. That’s important to note because it means that your clients are especially well-positioned to lean into the Community Foundation’s unique position as the hub for charitable giving and local knowledge. Here are three reasons that matters:
Of course, if your client establishes a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation, the fund can support local causes as well as causes across the country. As the hub for your clients’ charitable giving, our tools and our team are dedicated to helping your clients achieve their charitable goals both near and far. Working with the local Community Foundation, no matter what a particular client’s charitable priorities may be, is itself a strong show of support for philanthropy right here in our community. 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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