 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.  There’s little doubt that you’ve seen extensive news coverage of the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" (H.R. 1) that passed the House of Representatives by a 215-214 vote on May 22, 2025, and now moves to the Senate, where significant changes are expected before final passage. And that is the primary takeaway here: Significant changes are expected. This makes it impossible to predict right now how your clients might be impacted by tax law changes.
Still, it’s important to be aware of key components of the bill that could impact estate and financial planning. Three key provisions rise to the top as advisors consider how their charitable clients might be affected: No sunset of estate tax exemption The bill makes permanent the expiring 2017 tax cuts under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). This means that the much-anticipated sunset of the increased estate tax exemption might not happen at the end of this year after all. If the estate tax exemption remains high, a smaller segment of your clients will be motivated to use charitable giving as a way to avoid estate tax. Still, though, because people rarely give to charity solely for tax avoidance purposes, your clients remain very interested in discussing charitable giving and incorporating philanthropy into their estate and financial plans. Standard deduction stays high Proposals in the bill would make permanent the higher standard deduction levels from the TCJA, and even add an additional temporary increase through 2028. The upshot here is that few taxpayers itemize their deductions, reducing the number of people eligible to claim a charitable deduction. The still-high standard deduction likely could signal continuation of the decline in charitable giving following the 2017 tax cuts. On the flip side, the bill introduces a modest "above-the-line" charitable deduction for nonitemizers—$150 for individuals and $300 for joint filers. Increased taxes on private foundations The bill sharply increases excise taxes on the investment income of large private foundations, raising rates from the current 1.39% to as much as 10% for the largest entities, although private foundations with less than $50 million in assets would see no change. What this means for your charitable clients is that private foundations may become less attractive. Many nonprofit leaders are concerned that this could impact charitable giving; it might also mean that donor-advised funds could become even more attractive. Certainly the Community Foundation remains committed to helping your clients establish donor-advised funds and other vehicles to actively support their favorite charities as well as ensure that critical local needs are addressed. So what’s next? The Senate is expected to begin its markup in June, with the process likely extending into July or August as both chambers reconcile differences before sending the bill to President Trump for signature. As always, the Community Foundation will keep you posted! Please reach out anytime. Our team is happy to discuss options for your clients’ charitable giving to ensure that they’re supporting their favorite causes and important local needs in the most effective ways possible under any set of tax laws. 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 2025 continues to deliver twists and turns, it’s important to keep talking about philanthropy. Charitable giving is a vital strategy for your clients, even in times of economic uncertainty. Here are three trends to watch as you guide your clients through an unpredictable era and encourage them to look beyond the horizon.
Your clients still want to give While overall giving may dip during economic downturns, most of your philanthropic clients will continue to support their favorite charities. Indeed, giving often rebounds quickly alongside economic recovery. Donor-advised funds, in particular, have shown resilience and even growth during economic shocks, providing a stable source of support for nonprofits and a flexible tool for your clients. This support is crucial because economic upheaval often increases community need, which in turn creates more demand for nonprofits’ services. Often, as was the case during the pandemic, donors rise to the occasion. By working with the Community Foundation, your clients can stay close to the tangible, local impact of their giving. Legislation is still percolating At the moment, key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) are set to expire at the end of 2025, potentially impacting the charitable strategies you recommend to clients. Notably, though, on February 13, 2025, lawmakers in both the House and Senate introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2025, aiming to permanently eliminate the federal estate tax and the federal generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax. Needless to say, if this act becomes law, the landscape of tax planning will change dramatically. On a happy note, under recently-proposed legislation, clients over the age of 70 ½ would be able to make Qualified Charitable Distributions to donor-advised funds at the Community Foundation. Under current law, eligible fund recipients of QCDs are limited to designated, field-of-interest, unrestricted, and similar funds. Focus on the future Some of your clients may be wondering just how much they can truly accomplish through philanthropy, especially right now. The answer is a lot. Sometimes called “big bet philanthropy,” strategies to leverage charitable dollars to tackle systemic social issues are becoming more popular. “Long-haul” initiatives require sustained commitment, collaboration, and capacity-building among both donors and the nonprofit organizations they support. Thanks to its mission to connect donors to community needs, the Community Foundation is in a unique position to work with your clients who want to pursue this form of charitable giving. Please reach out to the team at the Community Foundation anytime. Even during economic upheaval, charitable giving remains a powerful tool for tax planning and durable community impact. Thank you for your continued work to help your clients maximize their positive influence on 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.  The number of private foundations in the United States is nearing 150,000 with combined assets topping $1 trillion, so it’s no wonder that a lot of people immediately think about establishing a private foundation when they begin to explore structuring their charitable giving activities. You’re likely working with several clients who’ve established private foundations somewhere along the way.
Recently, though, the growth of donor-advised funds to nearly 2 million in number - with grants from these vehicles reaching $50 billion in some years - signals that many people are starting to use both a donor-advised fund and a private foundation. Some of your clients may even be considering transferring a private foundation’s assets to a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation to carry out the family’s mission. This particular trend is on the rise, so take a moment to skim this checklist to help guide conversations. “Reality check” the hassle. Day-to-day management and administration of a private foundation can become time-consuming, especially as the responsibilities fall to second- and third-generation family members. Even the first generation may realize at some point that administrative work is taking too much focus away from nonprofits, the community, and making grants. Review the tax rules. The IRS’s rules related to investments, distributions, and “self-dealing” are complex. Over time, family members may become frustrated navigating the potholes of tax compliance. For instance, if a client plans to transfer all or part of a family business, now or in the future, it is critically important to communicate the benefits of using a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation versus transferring the business interests to a private foundation (which can be disastrous from a tax standpoint). Lean on the Community Foundation. Our team is happy to walk alongside you and your client through the steps to terminate a private foundation and move the assets to a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation. The first step is for the board of the private foundation to approve the termination and capture that approval in meeting minutes or a consent of directors. Set up a donor-advised fund. Your client can establish a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation and choose the name (e.g., Smith Family Foundation Fund). Similarly, selection and succession of fund advisors (who will handle grantmaking) can mirror the private foundation’s board structure. As a result, the donor-advised fund will look and operate a lot like the private foundation. Make a grant. The private foundation will distribute (“grant”) most of its net assets to the newly-established donor-advised fund. The private foundation will need to be sure it pays all of its liabilities and expenses before accounts are closed, so your clients will want to leave a reserve in the private foundation to cover final bills before completing the termination. Finalize the termination. As long as the private foundation corporate entity is in good standing according to state laws, termination for tax purposes will be automatic and smooth because assets were transferred to the Community Foundation, a longstanding organization. The private foundation will then simply file an informational tax return with the Internal Revenue Service for its final year (even if it is a short tax year). The final step is for the private foundation to take any steps required for termination under the laws of any and all states in which it was registered, especially if the private foundation was organized in corporate form. Whether your client is ready to transfer a private foundation this year or is simply evaluating options, please give us a call. We’re happy 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.  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.  As attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors, you know very well that trust is at the foundation of your relationships with clients. Your clients are seeking a similar level of trust with the people and organizations that are helping carry out their philanthropic wishes.
Fortunately, trust in charities has shown an increase after a recent dip. According to the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer and the Independent Sector's "Trust in Nonprofits and Philanthropy" report, trust in nonprofits rebounded by 5 points to 57% in 2024, following a four-year decline. This increase positions nonprofits as the most trusted sector compared to government, business, and media. Still, nonprofits face challenges and concerns about maintaining this trust, including general skepticism about institutions, as well as increasing expectations that charities demonstrate transparency and accountability. As you work with your charitable clients, keep in mind that the Community Foundation can help bolster clients’ trust in their favorite charities. Here’s how: Trustworthy information about particular charities The Community Foundation is a valuable source for objective, timely information about specific charities and the impact of particular programs. By working with the Community Foundation, your clients can leverage a transparent and trustworthy avenue for learning about how best to make a difference for their favorite causes. Wide-ranging expertise about community needs At its core, the Community Foundation is committed to achieving impact. This means that our team keeps a finger on the pulse of local needs, whether related to social services, health care, education, the environment, the arts, community development, or any other community priority. With a deep understanding about community needs, the Community Foundation team can be an excellent sounding board for your clients who want to learn which charities are addressing each need and how those charities are measuring results. Broad set of tools for structuring charitable gifts The Community Foundation can help establish a tax-efficient structure to achieve each client’s goals for community impact. Available vehicles include not only donor-advised funds, but also other types of funds such as designated funds to support specific charities and field-of-interest funds to address particular causes, as well as multi-generational funds to involve clients’ children and grandchildren. The Community Foundation offers your clients a flexible and effective way to manage charitable giving by simplifying their giving processes and maximizing potential tax benefits. As always, we want to be your first call! Please reach out to the Community Foundation team anytime the topic of charitable giving comes up during a client conversation. 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.  Keeping up with an ever-evolving landscape of tax legislation can be a full-time job! Many attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors regularly ask the Community Foundation to provide a refresher course on the potential tax changes on the horizon in 2025, especially those that might impact charitable planning techniques.
Here’s a quick rundown of three things you need to know:
The bottom line here is that we’ve got you! The team at the Community Foundation stays on top of legal developments at the intersection of tax policy and charitable giving. We keep our fingers on the pulse of potential implications for you, your clients, and the charities they support, and we are here to help you navigate the changes. 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.  Chances are, you’ve already begun to notice that a major transfer of wealth is happening as your Baby Boomer clients establish financial and estate plans to pass their wealth to their Gen X and Millennial children.
The dollars involved are eye-popping. Most attorneys, financial advisors, and CPAs have seen the Cerulli study’s estimate that $124 trillion in wealth in the U.S. will transfer through 2048. The research estimates that most of this wealth - $105 trillion - will pass directly to children, grandchildren, and other heirs. And, notably, the study estimates that $18 trillion will flow to philanthropy. As the transfer of wealth gains momentum, advisors have a major opportunity to position themselves as trusted experts who can help clients not only structure efficient lifetime and estate gifts to heirs, but also help ensure that clients’ charitable wishes are achieved. It’s crucial for advisors to know that the Community Foundation is here to help incorporate philanthropy into clients’ financial and estate plans. Here’s why this is so important:
Our team is here to augment your expertise in charitable giving strategies. Not only will you be better able to meet clients’ needs, but you’ll also strengthen relationships and improve client retention. Please reach out to learn more about how the Community Foundation can help your clients make a lasting impact with their wealth while achieving their financial 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.  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.  As attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors, you are well aware that you have clients’ attention when tax season rolls around. This makes it a great time to cover tax planning strategies for the current year and beyond. To help incorporate charitable giving topics into your tax season client conversations, we’ve put together tips to address three scenarios where the Community Foundation can assist your efforts.
Evaluate QCDs sooner rather than later. If: Your client missed the 2024 deadline for a Qualified Charitable Distribution. Then: Make sure the client took an RMD for 2024 (if required to do so). Start planning now for 2025 QCDs, paying very close attention to the required process. QCDs are an excellent tool for your clients who’ve reached the age of 70 ½ to give to a designated, field-of-interest, or unrestricted fund (donor-advised funds are not eligible), but if the client waits until the last minute at year-end, there might not be time for the transaction to be completed by December 31 as required. Plus, QCDs executed early in the year can help avoid negative effects of the "first-dollars-out rule” so that the QCD can count towards your client’s 2025 RMD. Watch for charitable giving opportunities in business succession planning. If: Your client is beginning to consider exit strategies for a closely-held business. Then: Reach out to the Community Foundation right away. Gifts of closely-held stock to a charitable fund can be a very useful component of a business succession plan. That’s because a client can gift shares of the business, which in turn means that no capital gains tax will apply to the gifted portion when the business eventually sells. The proceeds of the gifted shares flow into the fund to be used for your client’s charitable priorities. Keep in mind that timing is crucial; if a deal is in the works at the time the shares are transferred to the charitable fund, the charitable deduction is in jeopardy. Consider gifts of appreciated stock early in the year. If: Your client’s stock portfolio made big gains last year. Then: Evaluate whether it might be wise to make gifts of appreciated stock to a fund at the Community Foundation early in the year, rather than waiting until the end of the year. If certain stock positions are high right now, it’s worth considering whether a gift in the very near future could be a good move to maximize charitable dollars. As a reminder, gifts of stock to a public charity are eligible for a charitable deduction in the amount of the stock’s fair market value at the time of transfer. And, when the stock is sold so that its proceeds can be deployed to further your client’s charitable goals, no capital gains tax will apply. Our goal is to be your go-to sounding board for any client situation where charitable giving is an option. Please reach out anytime you and a client are discussing philanthropy. In most cases, the Community Foundation can help. Even if our tools are not a fit, 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.  Over the years, more than a handful of attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors have shared with the Community Foundation team that their happiest clients seem to be those who’ve incorporated charitable giving into their estate and financial plans. Whether or not you believe this phenomenon is a “chicken or the egg” dilemma, it’s hard to dispute that philanthropy offers both emotional and rational upsides to your clients. Advisors who lean into these benefits stand a strong chance of being viewed by their clients as effective, impactful, and delivering well-rounded services to improve clients’ lives and give them peace of mind.
Despite these advantages, many advisors lack confidence in discussing philanthropy with clients. A survey found that only 5% of advisors felt "very confident" in this area, with 72% not including philanthropy in their initial fact-finding conversation with clients. This gap represents a significant opportunity for advisors to enhance their services and strengthen client relationships through philanthropic discussions. Keeping clients loyal and engaged with your services is just one of many reasons to talk with clients about charitable giving. A recent Wall Street Journal article sheds light on the ways charitable giving can have positive effects on both mental and physical health. Notably, the article makes these points:
The article implies that engaging in charitable activities could be a way to enhance overall well-being, suggesting that generosity might have tangible benefits beyond just helping others. Of course, not every client will have exactly the same experience with charitable giving, and of course, charitable giving is above all primarily motivated by a client’s desire to help others rather than solely for personal benefit. Still, it’s critical for advisors to be aware of the unique role charitable giving can play in a client’s life. The Community Foundation is here for you! Please reach out anytime you are working with a client who is charitably-inclined. The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.  Your clients (and you!) may still be recovering from a hectic end to 2024, but don’t let that stop you from helping families get a jump on their charitable planning for 2025.
As compelling as year-end giving may be, perhaps even more compelling are the reasons for planning and launching a charitable giving strategy early in the year–even in January. Benefits of a year-long giving strategy include:
As always, the Community Foundation is here to help. Please reach out to our team to learn more about how your clients can make the biggest difference with their charitable dollars, and how the Community Foundation team can help you ensure that your clients are able to fully carry out their charitable wishes for 2025. You and your clients will both be glad you planned ahead to help favorite organizations fulfill their missions throughout the entire year, as well as maximizing tax benefits and avoiding December’s crunch time. The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.  We all know that the new year and a new administration brings lots of potential change. So what is going on that you need to know about to serve your charitable clients?
At the top of the list of issues we’re watching is what might happen with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. As a quick refresher, the TCJA introduced several changes that significantly impacted charitable giving in the United States. These changes are set to expire at the end of 2025, and their potential extension factors into charitable planning techniques. You’ll no doubt recall that the TCJA lowered individual income tax rates across the board, which in turn decreased the tax savings for each dollar donated, making charitable contributions slightly less attractive from a tax perspective. What’s more, TCJA provisions nearly doubled the standard deduction. (In 2025, the standard deduction is $15,000 for single filers and $30,000 for a married couple filing jointly.) This increase led to a dramatic reduction in the number of taxpayers who itemized their deductions. As a result, fewer taxpayers could claim charitable deductions, potentially discouraging giving among those who previously itemized. Indeed, research estimated that U.S. charitable giving fell by about $20 billion in 2018, the first year the TCJA was in effect. In addition, the TCJA roughly doubled the estate tax exemption, which has reached $13.99 million per person for 2025. The higher exemption has diluted purely tax-driven motivations for charitable giving among your wealthy clients. With fewer estates subject to tax, many advisors are working with a smaller pool of clients for whom charitable bequests are a useful technique for reducing taxable estates. Naturally, tax policy plays a role in your clients’ charitable giving behaviors, and certainly the giving behaviors following TCJA reflected tax policy’s influence. Nevertheless, studies have shown that most donors are motivated by factors other than saving taxes. Reasons for giving include a sense of duty to give back to society, a desire to tackle inequality, personal passion for specific charitable causes, religious beliefs, and dedication to supporting those less fortunate. Your clients who give to charity benefit emotionally from their gifts, and of course they like knowing that they are helping others and strengthening community ties. While tax benefits certainly are part of a client’s decision-making process, they’re likely a secondary consideration rather than the primary reason for giving. Indeed, even with tax benefits, your client will always end up with less money after making a charitable contribution, signaling that financial gain is not the main driver of philanthropy. Keep this in mind as tax developments unfold. Despite the many unknowns, what we do know is that something will happen in 2025 that influences charitable planning. Although TJCA provisions are set to expire at the end of 2025, it’s too soon to determine exactly how you should advise your clients about their charitable planning strategies. Note three potential outcomes of tax policy developments this year:
Of course, we’ll keep you posted! The team at the Community Foundation is here to help you structure charitable plans to empower clients to achieve their philanthropic goals, with or without a tax deduction. The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.  At the community foundation, we’ve recently been asked by attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors for “cheat sheet” resources to make it easy to determine which type of charitable planning tool is best for a particular client. We love that idea! We’re always happy to be a sounding board for any client situation where charitable giving is an option. Please reach out anytime you and a client are discussing philanthropy. To get your wheels turning, here are three scenarios that have popped up frequently over the last few weeks.
Streamline and tax-optimize charitable giving If: Your client supports many different charities every year… Then: A donor-advised fund at the community foundation can be an excellent tool to help a client organize their giving to favorite charities, such as local organizations, places of worship, and an out-of-state alma mater. Clients appreciate how easy it is to support multiple charities while the community foundation’s systems keep track of everything. Plus, clients can give stock and other appreciated assets to their donor-advised funds, often avoiding capital gains tax and simplifying tax receipts to provide their accountants when tax time rolls around. Support a specific charity while minimizing risk If: Your client has supported a particular charity for many years, intends for that support to continue, and also wants to be sure that the funds are used effectively … Then: Through a designated fund at the community foundation, a client can make tax-deductible gifts–during life and through estate gifts–that are set aside to be used exclusively for a particular organization. The community foundation makes distributions from the fund according to the client’s wishes. An advantage of a designated fund is that the assets are out of creditors’ reach if the charity were to run into financial trouble. Plus, a client who is 70 ½ or older can make Qualified Charitable Distributions up to $105,000 per year (increasing to $108,000 in 2025) from IRAs to a designated fund. Leave a charitable bequest and reap significant tax benefits If: Your client intends to provide for charities in an estate plan and owns an IRA or other qualified retirement plan … Then: By naming a fund at the community foundation as the beneficiary of a qualified retirement plan, your client achieves extremely tax-efficient results. Not only is estate tax avoided on the retirement plan assets flowing to the charitable fund, but income tax is also avoided. Indeed, the income tax hit on retirement proceeds left to heirs can be steep. The bottom line here is this: If you encounter any situation with a client where charitable giving could be involved … Then please reach out! Most of the time, the community foundation can offer a solution that meets both the client’s tax and estate planning goals and the client’s objectives for supporting their favorite charities. At the very least, we can point you in the right direction. The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  As you and other attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors put the finishing touches on implementing clients’ year-end charitable giving plans, you may have a moment when it hits you: “Wait, how exactly does a Qualified Charitable Distribution work?”
That’s a great question, and you are not alone if you’re asking. Even though QCDs are well-covered in financial media, they’re complex enough that it’s hard to remember the nuances when you’re hit with a situation where a client might benefit. The team at the Community Foundation is here for you! Please reach out with any of your charitable giving questions, including the most common questions about QCDs: “Is an IRA the only eligible source for Qualified Charitable Distributions?” Short answer: Almost. Long answer: An individual can make a Qualified Charitable Distribution directly to an eligible charity from a traditional IRA or an inherited IRA. If the individual’s employer is no longer contributing to a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) plan or a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRA, the individual may use those accounts as well. In theory, a Roth IRA could be used to make a QCD, but it is rarely advantageous to do that because Roth IRA distributions are already tax-free. “What is the difference between a QCD and an RMD?” Short answer: Quite a bit! But a QCD can count toward an RMD. Long answer: Everyone must start taking Required Minimum Distributions (“RMDs”) from their qualified retirement plans, including IRAs, when they reach the age of 73. RMDs are taxable income. The Qualified Charitable Distribution, by contrast, is a distribution directly from certain types of retirement plans (such as IRAs) to certain types of charities. A QCD can count toward the taxpayer’s RMD for that year. And because the QCD goes directly to charity, the taxpayer is not taxed on that distribution. “Can a taxpayer make a Qualified Charitable Distribution even if the taxpayer is not yet required to take Required Minimum Distributions?” Short answer: Yes–within a very narrow age window. Long answer: RMDs and QCDs are both distributions that impact retirement-age taxpayers, and it would seem logical that the age thresholds would be the same. Under the SECURE Act, though, the required date for starting RMDs shifted from 70 ½ to 72 and is now up to 73 (which is better for taxpayers who want to delay taxable income). A corresponding shift was not made to the eligible age for executing QCDs; that age is still 70 ½ (which benefits taxpayers who wish to access IRA funds to make charitable gifts even before they are required to take RMDs). “Can my client direct a QCD to a fund at the Community Foundation?” Short answer: Yes, if it’s a qualifying fund. Long answer: While donor-advised funds are not eligible recipients of Qualified Charitable Distributions, other types of funds at the Community Foundation can receive QCDs. These funds include unrestricted funds, field-of-interest funds, designated funds, and endowment funds established by nonprofit organizations. “How much can my client give through a QCD?” Short answer: $105,000 per year in 2024, increasing to $108,000 in 2025. Long answer: A Qualified Charitable Distribution permits a client (and a spouse from a spouse’s own IRA or IRAs) to transfer up to $105,000 in 2024 (and $108,000 in 2025) from an IRA (or multiple IRAs) to a qualified charity. So, a married couple may be eligible to direct up to a total of $210,000 in 2024 to charity from IRAs and avoid significant income tax liability. The Community Foundation is here to help you and your clients tap the potential of QCDs. Please reach out! We’d love to talk about a QCD strategy for your clients’ immediate gifting needs and beyond. The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  As attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors, you’re very aware of potentially significant upcoming changes to the tax laws that could impact your high net-worth clients. Whether or not a post-election Congress takes action to prevent the estate tax exemption sunset at the end of 2025 will potentially affect the way you design your clients’ wealth transfer strategies.
During this phase of uncertainty, it may be useful to reflect on historical estate tax changes to see how similar situations have been resolved in the past, while at the same time taking a practical approach and advising clients that, while commentators may speculate, it is still impossible to accurately predict what might happen. Estate taxes certainly will continue to be on the minds of leaders in the charitable sector for many months to come. As you and other tax planning professionals watch and wait, it is important to keep charitable planning high on your list of strategies that could help blunt the impact of a lower estate tax exemption if the sunset were to occur. That’s because gifts to charities are deductible from a client’s taxable estate. Even during this era of uncertainty, be sure to keep in mind an important planning technique for your charitably-inclined clients that delivers multiple tax benefits and offers some degree of flexibility: Naming a charity, such as a fund at the Community Foundation, as the beneficiary of an IRA or other qualified retirement plan. Here’s why this is such a powerful technique, especially now: Income tax savings. When your client designates a fund at the Community Foundation as the beneficiary of an IRA, the fund receives the assets without having to pay income taxes. This is because charities are tax-exempt entities, allowing them to receive funds from qualified retirement accounts tax-free after your client’s death. This is not the case with qualified retirement plans flowing to heirs; the income tax hit can be significant. Estate tax deduction: Naming a charity as a beneficiary of a retirement plan results in an estate tax charitable deduction, which reduces any applicable federal estate taxes. This means that the full value of the IRA can flow into your client’s fund at the Community Foundation free from the estate tax burden. Flexibility. Clients can revise IRA beneficiary designations anytime during their lifetimes. So, as the end of 2025 draws closer, a client can update an IRA beneficiary designation to name a fund at the Community Foundation, which would protect against a drop in the estate tax exemption. If the sunset does not occur, the client could of course revise the beneficiary designation to leave a greater portion of retirement plan assets to heirs. Remember, though, that the income tax hit will still apply to proceeds flowing to heirs. That’s why many of your charitable clients will choose to leave IRAs to their funds at the Community Foundation even if the estate tax exemption does not sunset. And, of course, many clients truly want to leave a legacy and would love to incorporate charitable giving into their estate plans regardless of what happens with the tax laws. As tax and estate planning advisor, it is your responsibility–and opportunity–to help clients achieve their philanthropic wishes. Please reach out to the team at the Community Foundation to dive deeper into the ways you can help your clients fulfill their charitable goals, especially during this time when future tax laws are up in the air. We are here to help! The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  Charitable giving is always an important strategy to discuss with your clients. Many high net worth individuals are philanthropic, of course, and charitable gifts reduce taxable income and avoid estate taxes. Charitable giving strategies are particularly relevant as you and your clients address the possibility of increases in income and capital gains taxes for high earners as well as increased estate taxes due to the looming exemption sunset.
What’s also notable is research indicating that the number of “ultra high net worth" families (over $30 million) has increased dramatically over the last two decades. Globally, 157,000 individuals represented $14.2 trillion in 2004 and by 2024, 426,000 individuals represented $49.2 trillion of wealth. Fast forward to 2027, and this group is expected to grow to over 500,000. America alone is home to 756 billionaires and many of the world’s millionaires–nearly 22 million people. So why does this matter to you? It matters because wealthy families will rely increasingly on their attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors to help them navigate savvy tax planning strategies, including charitable giving. And many of these families are very generous, so don’t underestimate your clients’ desire to get involved in charitable giving. Indeed, you may already be working with families who use private foundations to fulfill their charitable giving goals. In many instances, these private foundations were established by previous generations before donor-advised funds became widely available. As donor-advised funds become more popular, for lots of good reasons, please reach out to the team at the Community Foundation to explore a parallel strategy where your clients can carry out their charitable intentions using both a donor-advised fund and a private foundation. In some cases, your clients may want to consider closing a private foundation and transferring the assets to a donor-advised fund because of the many administrative and tax benefits, as well as the value of being able to lean on the knowledgeable team at the Community Foundation. Our team can help walk through the steps for shutting down the private foundation, which include securing board approval, making sure final expenses will be covered, transferring the assets to a donor-advised fund, filing the appropriate dissolution documents with the state, and submitting the private foundation’s final tax return reporting its dissolution and transfer of assets. Whether your client pursues philanthropic goals through a private foundation, donor-advised fund, or combination of both, we are here to help! Please reach out to our team to discuss the ways your clients can support causes that align with their values and passions, create a lasting legacy that extends beyond their lifetime, involve multiple generations in philanthropic efforts, and foster an overall sense of family unity and shared purpose. The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  Many eyes are on the election aftermath seeking clues about what might happen to the tax laws. Of particular interest is the much-analyzed sunset of the higher estate tax exemption, scheduled for the end of 2025 absent intervening legislation. “Absent intervening legislation” is the key, of course. The November 2024 elections will not immediately change estate tax laws, and it’s a long road from here to there.
For starters, the new Congress will not be sworn in until January 2025, and only after the session begins will Congress initiate the budget reconciliation process which is ultimately required to make tax law changes. The budget reconciliation process typically starts with the President submitting a budget to Congress. Then, both chambers of Congress pass budget resolutions with reconciliation instructions. Then, committees draft legislation to meet the budget targets, and the budget committees consolidate the bills into a single omnibus bill. Then, each chamber votes on its respective omnibus bill. What all of this means is that the status of the estate tax exemption is still very much up in the air. And this means that financial, tax, and estate planning is going to be difficult for many more months. With the estate tax exemption set to drop from $13.61 million per person in 2024 to approximately $7 million per individual on January 1, 2026, a lot is at stake. Should a high-net worth taxpayer start making aggressive gifts now to family members and a donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation, anticipating that the sunset will indeed occur? Or take a “wait and see” approach? Planning is further complicated by the dangers of waiting until the last minute. Not only is it tough to pull off a complex estate plan or business succession plan quickly, but it’s also dicey because the IRS likely will be on the lookout for situations to invoke the step transaction and reciprocal trust doctrines. So what can you do? First and foremost, if you are working with charitably-inclined families who would be impacted by the estate tax exemption sunset, please reach out to the Community Foundation right away to start looking at options. And if you aren’t sure whether a client is charitably inclined, you absolutely must ask them. It’s always important to talk about charitable giving, and especially right now when the stakes are so high. We look forward to many conversations with you and your clients as estate tax developments unfold! The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  You’re busy as 2024 draws to a close! The team at the Community Foundation is committed to researching, curating, and keeping you up-to-date on the latest trends and developments that could impact your clients’ charitable giving strategies. If you only have 60 seconds, we recommend scanning these two quick updates.
Charitable giving can help bridge generations’ definitions of “wealthy” The recently-released Bank of America Private Bank Study of Wealthy Americans is a must-read (or at least a must-skim) report because it offers insights into shifting views on wealth, and it also highlights a disconnect in inheritance expectations. Notably, younger individuals tend to rally around a definition of “wealthy” in terms of having the means to live a life of purpose and make a difference. Older generations are more likely to define “wealth” in financial terms. Important for charitable planning is the finding that older generations may not be planning to leave the inheritance that their children and grandchildren expect. Working with the Community Foundation to help clients establish a multi-generational charitable giving plan makes it easier to get expectations out in the open and keep the entire family meaningfully involved in the family’s wealth over the long term. Must-know tips for clients’ year-end giving We know you’ve got a lot on your plate as the end of the year approaches. Even if charitable giving does not appear on the surface to be a burning issue in client meetings, it’s still crucial that you keep in mind a few essential charitable giving techniques because your clients do care. Please scan these three important techniques, and please reach out to the Community Foundation on any matter related to charitable giving.
Reach out to the Community Foundation team today! November is the time to set things in motion so you don’t get caught up in the year-end rush. We are here for you. The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  Attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors certainly are not strangers to tough questions. Indeed, the mix of money, family, and mortality is a potent combination that almost always creates an emotionally-charged planning environment, whether the matter at hand is tax planning, updating wills and trusts, or structuring retirement portfolios.
Why, then, are so many advisors reluctant to bring up charitable giving during client meetings when the topic itself is so uplifting? In some cases, you may feel like you don’t know enough about the technical tax planning aspects of charitable giving to be able to offer sound advice. In other cases, you may be concerned about taking the planning process off course into areas where the client doesn’t want you involved. Or maybe you don’t feel you have a good enough grasp of the client’s big picture to truly recognize opportunities for charitable planning that are a win-win for the client’s favorite causes and the client’s tax and financial plan. Guess what? There is no need to worry! The Community Foundation has you covered. Consider the following: Clients are expecting you to bring up charitable giving; studies reveal a disconnect between what clients and advisors assume and perceive. So if you think to yourself, “Oh, I asked about that,” think again because the client may disagree. Did you approach the question with sincere interest, or were you just checking a box? What’s important here is that the Community Foundation team is your technical back up! You absolutely do not need to know the ins and outs of the charitable deduction rules, the details of Qualified Charitable Distributions, or how a donor-advised fund or charitable remainder trust operates. If you’ve built an expertise around charitable giving in your practice, that’s terrific, but it is not necessary. Our team is just an email or a phone call away. Please reach out the moment a client expresses interest in charitable planning. We’re happy to support you and be part of the team to meet the client’s objectives. And this does not need to be hard. While plenty of resources offer excellent suggestions for how to bring up charitable giving in conversations, many advisors tell us that they have to keep it even more simple. We understand that you don’t have time to ask a briefcase full of questions. That does not mean, however, that you can’t have a meaningful conversation. Even just two minutes is plenty if you show genuine interest in the client’s intentions and connect the client to the Community Foundation. For example, the charitable planning part of a client meeting could be as simple as this: “Okay! Now that we’ve taken a look at your retirement projections, beneficiary designations, and portfolio allocation, let’s check in on charitable giving. Bring me up to speed on your involvement with community organizations.” Then, let them talk. If they’re not involved in any community organizations, they’ll tell you. And if they are, they’ll tell you that, too. If the client is indeed involved in community organizations, let them know that you are happy to connect them to the team at the Community Foundation, or, better yet, tell the client that you’d be happy to invite a professional from the Community Foundation to your next meeting. Your priority as their advisor is to bring professionals to the table to help achieve their charitable giving goals. Of course, this sample dialogue is over-simplified for illustration purposes. But truly, it does not need to be much more complicated than that. Next time you meet with a client, give this simple approach a try. You might be surprised at how easy it is, and how much the client appreciates your interest in areas of their lives that go beyond dollars-and-cents transactions and legal documents. It is the Community Foundation’s honor to work with you and your charitable clients. The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  Many of your philanthropy-minded clients certainly enjoy attending fundraising events for their favorite charities. Especially as community events start ramping up this fall, you’ll want to be aware of a little wrinkle in the IRS rules that may surprise your clients so much that they ask you about it.
Here’s how this might go. Client: “We wanted to buy a table at the fall gala through our donor-advised fund, but the team at the Community Foundation said that’s not possible and they suggested alternate ways of meeting our goals. What’s up with that?” You: “Ummmm ….” And no one could blame you for that response! The rules behind this are obscure and confusing, even by IRS standards. Here’s what’s going on: The IRS frowns on donor-advised funds paying for any part of an event ticket to a charitable fundraiser–even if a portion of the ticket is tax-deductible. Big picture, the IRS is likely striving for administrative simplicity to enforce the longstanding tax principle that a taxpayer cannot deduct value given to a charity that is effectively transferred back to the taxpayer. At a typical event, of course, your client receives food, drinks, entertainment, and even t-shirts and other fun swag. The IRS knows this! The IRS’s commentary on this topic is not new; IRS Notice 2017-73 addresses a concept known as “bifurcated gifts,” meaning a portion of a gift is tax deductible and the other is not. The background here is that the IRS has taken the position that Internal Revenue Code Section 4967 prohibits donor-advised grants from conferring “more than incidental” benefits to donor-advised fund holders. In its 2017 Notice, the IRS expresses its opinion that donor-advised fund grants that enable attendance or participation in a charity-sponsored event (such as buying tickets or a table) do indeed provide more than just an incidental benefit, even if the taxpayer pays out-of-pocket for the non-deductible portion of the ticket. Ever since the notice was released, it’s been on the radar of tax professionals, and many predict that the IRS will eventually formalize its opinion by issuing new regulations. It’s wise to keep an eye on this because the penalties certainly are not negligible and include excise taxes imposed on the donor advisor and potential penalties for donor-advised fund programs that knowingly authorize such payments. There is good news, though! The team at the Community Foundation is on it! We understand the rules inside and out, and we are here to help your clients stay compliant and achieve their charitable goals. In situations like this, we help your clients structure gifts from their donor-advised funds to support general event sponsorships if the client declines all benefits, or even recommend that the client pay the ticket portion from their personal funds and use donor-advised funds to give separate and additional amounts for general support unrelated to the event specifically. We can also talk with your client about how to participate in rallies for outright donations during a fundraising event and ensure that the client is not receiving any benefit in return. Please reach out anytime! We’re happy to help! The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  The Community Foundation team keeps a finger on the pulse of current events and legal developments that could impact the way you work with your charitable clients. Below are three notable items that you’ll likely want to keep in mind this fall.
Election year implications Naturally, as a financial, legal, or tax advisor, you’re very interested in how the results of the November elections could impact tax laws. What you might not know, though, is how significantly an election cycle can impact nonprofits’ fundraising efforts. Keep this dynamic in mind as you meet with clients who serve on nonprofit boards. These clients will appreciate the fact that you’re aware of the challenges. They’ll also be glad to know that you’re happy to loop in the Community Foundation team as a resource to structure and accept complex gifts as charities double down on fundraising efforts this year. Snapshot of giving trends If it feels like more clients are asking about giving techniques such as crowdfunding, using appreciated stock to support charities, and setting up donor-advised funds, you are not imagining it. These trends are real! It’s smart to stay up-to-date at a high level so that you’re generally aware of what’s going on with philanthropy. Beyond that, the only information you need is the Community Foundation’s phone number. Our team is here for you! We are honored to be your first call anytime a client mentions that they’d like to launch or update a charitable giving plan. In most cases, the Community Foundation can provide tools and services that will help your client achieve their goals. In any event, we’ll help you figure out a solution, whether or not the Community Foundation ultimately plays a role. For your calendar If you’re in search of tools to help motivate clients to move forward with financial and estate planning, be sure to note that National Estate Planning Awareness Week is coming up. October 21 - 27, 2024 is this year’s designated timeframe to help the public understand the basics of estate planning and the reasons it’s so important. The original House of Representatives resolution includes key points that may spark messaging ideas for your client outreach. And of course, on all things related to charitable planning, please reach out to the Community Foundation. We’re happy to share best practices for encouraging clients to get serious about planning all aspects of their estates, including the legacies they’d like to leave to their favorite causes and the community they love. The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  Giving stock is an important strategy for any private business owner to explore. Not only can these gifts help implement a business succession plan that calls for transferring the business to the next generation if that is your client’s goal, but gifts of stock can also help your business owner client achieve charitable goals and avoid estate tax.
In light of recent legal developments and pending tax law changes, more and more financial and estate planning advisors are encouraging their clients to consider implementing gifts of closely-held stock to a fund at the Community Foundation or other public charity. Notably, two developments could have a big impact on your work with these clients:
Please reach out to the Community Foundation to learn more about how our team can help as you work with your business-owner clients to navigate legal and tax developments that could significantly impact future plans for their privately-held companies. The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” –William James
Procrastination is a drain in ways that go far deeper than the incomplete task itself. We know this intellectually, but it can be so hard to break the procrastination habit. It seems that the more daunting the task, the harder it is to tackle. This surely is a major reason some of your clients routinely put off important planning discussions. And of course, many of those discussions are tax-sensitive, which means year-end can get very hectic and stressful for clients who wait until the last minute. As the year begins to wind down, consider tapping into your clients’ philanthropic interests as a catalyst to motivate them to start addressing year-end planning items right now rather than waiting until November or December. You may discover that the uplifting topic of philanthropy makes it easier to at least start a conversation. Then, the conversation can evolve to include not only charitable giving topics, but also other tax planning topics that need attention. Here’s how this could work with a client:
The Community Foundation team is here to help you serve your charitable clients every step of the way, every month of the year. We understand that late-December transactions are often unavoidable. The net-net is that we’re happy to work with you according to your clients’ schedules, whether that means getting a jump on a new year and processing stock gifts in February, helping you plan in September for year-end, or preparing fund agreements in December. It’s our pleasure to assist! The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. |
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