 The Community Foundation team is happy to keep an eye out for what’s trending in the field of charitable planning, especially developments that impact your work with your charitable clients and how those clients tap into tools and resources at the Community Foundation.
Check out the nine articles that have caught our attention recently. Generous tech Tech millionaires are turning to donor-advised funds to save on taxes while giving to charity –CNBC A wave of newly wealthy tech employees is using donor-advised funds to contribute appreciated company stock, potentially avoiding capital gains taxes, securing charitable deductions, and giving themselves time to decide which nonprofits to support. The trend is a good reminder for advisors that IPOs and other liquidity events can create significant charitable opportunities—and that the best results often come when charitable planning begins before the transaction. This is why it is crucial to reach out to the Community Foundation team when clients start talking about an exit, even if the exit is years away. Philanthropy beyond DAFs Philanthropic Planning Is Wealth Management's Next Competitive Frontier, Beyond DAFs –InvestmentNews Donor-advised funds are important tools, but they are not the whole philanthropic toolbox. This article explores why high-net-worth clients increasingly expect wealth advisors to help them consider a broader range of charitable structures and how that expertise can help advisors strengthen relationships not only with clients, but also with the next generation. Remember, the Community Foundation offers a wide range of fund types and charitable planning structures to help your clients establish a lifetime and legacy giving plan tailored to their financial and charitable goals. Donor-advised fund insights Five Core Truths About Donor-Advised Funds –WealthManagement.com This article takes on some common misconceptions about donor-advised funds, highlighting their usefulness for coordinating charitable giving and facilitating complex gifts, their significant grantmaking to charities, and their increasingly important role in charitable and succession planning. For advisors, the takeaway is that donor-advised funds have become an increasingly important part of the philanthropic landscape—and understanding how they actually work can help clients make better charitable planning decisions. And of course, the Community Foundation offers donor-advised funds as part of its broad menu of charitable giving vehicles. Even more donor-advised fund insights Donor-Advised Fund Strategies For 2026 –Financial Advisor Magazine This article looks at donor-advised funds through a 2026 planning lens, including how advisors can use donor-advised funds as part of broader tax and charitable strategies rather than simply as repositories for year-end gifts. The bigger opportunity is to help clients coordinate the timing, assets, and ultimate purpose of their charitable giving with the rest of their financial plans. The Community Foundation team plays an important role at the table to help you help your clients navigate the charitable and tax components of charitable giving. Big givers Chickens, Pigs Could Be Big Winners From AI’s $300 Billion Philanthropy Wave –Forbes The AI boom is creating a new class of young, newly wealthy donors—and potentially an enormous new pool of charitable capital. This fascinating article explores how some of these donors are gravitating toward measurable, evidence-driven causes such as farm-animal welfare, illustrating both how sudden wealth can reshape philanthropy and why advisors working with newly wealthy clients have an opportunity to help turn rapidly created fortunes into intentional charitable plans. The Community Foundation’s deep knowledge of local needs and nonprofits is an invaluable resource to you and your clients whether they are younger, older, newly wealthy, or well-established. More big giving Most Billionaires Practice ‘Slow Philanthropy.’ MacKenzie Scott Is a Major Exception –Fortune Why do people with enormous charitable capacity sometimes give relatively little of their wealth away each year? This article explores “slow philanthropy” and contrasts it with MacKenzie Scott’s faster, trust-based approach to giving. It raises an interesting issue for advisors: Sometimes effective charitable planning is not only about choosing the right structure or maximizing tax benefits, but also about helping clients feel comfortable actually putting charitable resources to work. The Community Foundation is happy to serve as your sounding board to develop a charitable plan that is designed to achieve the community impact a particular client envisions. Celebrating a life of giving Dolly Parton’s Other Legacy: A Fortune Given Away, Dollar by Dollar –New York Times Dolly Parton’s philanthropy was unusually practical and personal, directing her wealth toward needs she understood firsthand—from childhood literacy and disaster relief in Tennessee to wildlife conservation and COVID-19 vaccine research. Her approach emphasized simple, direct action, and trust in recipients—all of which are inspirational and aspirational to our Community Foundation team and the advisors and donors we work with! IRS has its eyes on assets IRS Eyes Charitable Donation Abuse in New Audits, Tax Pros Say –Bloomberg Law The IRS is taking a closer look at charitable contributions of hard-to-value assets, including privately held business interests and art, with tax professionals reporting particular scrutiny of valuation, qualified appraisals, and substantiation requirements. For advisors, this is an important reminder that complex charitable gifts require careful planning and documentation—and that bringing the Community Foundation into the conversation early can help address the charitable side of the transaction before the client takes action. Exits and opportunities How Advanced Charitable Exit Planning Drives AUM Growth –Financial Advisor Magazine Business exits can be important charitable planning moments, particularly when advisors raise the subject before a transaction is already underway. This article explores how strategies involving charitable trusts, donor-advised funds, and gifts of business interests can help address a business owner's tax and philanthropic objectives while also helping advisors deepen relationships and potentially retain more assets under management after the sale. As always, reach out to the Community Foundation as early as possible! The checkbook (cringe) lives on! Retirees Over 70½ Can Send $111,000 a Year From an IRA to Charity Tax-Free. The Average One Donates From Checking Instead. –24/7 Wall St. Many charitably inclined retirees are still giving from their checking accounts even though a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) may offer a more tax-efficient route for eligible IRA owners. The article is a useful reminder that advisors can add value simply by asking how a client is making charitable gifts: Sometimes changing the asset or account used to make the same gift can produce a very different tax result. As always, the Community Foundation can help your clients explore eligible ways to make QCD gifts, including, where appropriate, gifts to designated, field-of-interest, and unrestricted funds. Remember that QCDs cannot be made to donor-advised funds. What’s the takeaway here? As you skim these articles, or even just the headlines, a pattern emerges pretty quickly! Charitable planning opportunities are showing up everywhere—from newly minted tech wealth and business exits to retirement accounts, complex assets, and the rapidly evolving world of donor-advised funds. Just as important, the articles reinforce that good charitable planning is about more than finding a tax break or selecting a giving vehicle; it is about helping clients make thoughtful decisions about what to give, when to give it, and what they hope their generosity will accomplish. The Community Foundation team is here as a sounding board whenever those conversations arise. Please reach out anytime!  Every day, the Community Foundation works with attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors to help clients support the charities and causes they care about. Often, those conversations involve gifts of appreciated noncash assets—and this is great because of the potential tax benefits. Appreciated stock may be the first noncash asset that comes to mind, but a client’s portfolio can include many other types of investments that deserve a closer look when charitable giving is part of the plan.
Government securities are a good example. Although clients may think of these investments as a single asset category, “government securities” actually encompasses a surprisingly broad range of holdings, including Treasury bills (T-bills), Treasury notes, Treasury bonds, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), Series EE and Series I savings bonds, and securities issued by federal agencies and government-sponsored enterprises. Why does that matter for charitable planning? It matters because not all government securities are created equal where charitable giving is concerned. Here are a few points to keep in mind: —Government securities can differ significantly in how they generate income, whether they are marketable or transferable, how they are valued, and how their interest or appreciation is taxed. As a result, a charitable strategy that works for one type of government security may not work for another. And even when a government security can be transferred directly to charity, the tax results may be quite different from those associated with the more familiar gift of appreciated stock. —This dynamic is especially striking when comparing marketable Treasury securities, which may be transferable to charity, with savings bonds, which present very different transfer and income tax issues and may be more interesting in estate planning than as lifetime charitable gifts. —Marketable Treasury securities may be used for charitable giving, but advisors will want to look carefully at the particular security before recommending a strategy. Transfer and charitable acceptance considerations come into play, as do valuation and tax considerations. The security’s holding period, basis, fair market value, and the character of its return can all be relevant because Treasury securities may generate interest or original issue discount rather than the long-term capital appreciation that makes gifts of highly appreciated stock such a familiar charitable planning technique. —Savings bonds present an even more distinctive situation. Unlike appreciated stock, savings bonds generally are not well suited to a straightforward lifetime charitable gift because transferring the bonds may trigger recognition of previously deferred interest.. Series EE and Series I savings bonds accumulate interest that is subject to federal income tax, and many owners defer reporting that interest until the bonds are redeemed or mature. If a client simply cashes in savings bonds during life and then contributes the proceeds to charity, the client generally recognizes the accumulated interest. In other words, the strategy does not offer the same tax advantage that may be available when a client contributes appreciated publicly traded stock directly to charity. —This does not mean savings bonds should be ignored in charitable planning. Quite the opposite: They may be especially interesting in the overall context of a client’s estate plan. This is because accumulated interest on savings bonds can constitute income in respect of a decedent, or IRD. That means leaving savings bonds to individual beneficiaries can carry an income tax consequence in addition to transferring the underlying asset. That IRD characteristic can make savings bonds worth considering in charitable estate planning because a qualified charitable organization generally is not subject to federal income tax on income it receives in furtherance of its exempt purposes. For a client who has held savings bonds for many years, this creates a good reason to identify those assets during the estate planning process and consider whether they may be better suited for charitable purposes than other assets the client intends to leave to family members. The larger lesson is one advisors encounter frequently in charitable planning: The asset matters! Two investments that look similar on a client’s balance sheet can produce very different tax and charitable planning results. For all of these reasons and more, the Community Foundation team welcomes a call early in the process. If your client owns Treasury securities, savings bonds, or other noncash assets and has charitable intentions, please reach out before the client takes action. We are happy to work alongside you to explore whether the asset can be accepted, how a potential gift might be structured, and how the Community Foundation can help your client achieve charitable goals while you and the client’s other advisors address the legal, tax, and financial considerations. Thank you for the opportunity to help you serve your clients!  When “back to school” enters your vocabulary, you know the rest of the year will go by in a flash! That’s why it’s important to check in on your charitable goals for 2026 before fall gets into full swing. Otherwise, you may find yourself scrambling to synchronize tax planning, financial planning, and gifts to favorite nonprofits.
In particular, a technique called “bunching” is important to consider as you get a jump on your year-end charitable giving plans. Even just a few years ago, not many people had heard of “bunching.” That’s because the standard deduction (which itself has an interesting history) under the Internal Revenue Code’s income tax rules was much lower than it is now. Many donors easily met the criteria to itemize deductions—including their charitable contributions—on their income tax returns. That changed after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 significantly increased the standard deduction starting in 2018. Further changes to the charitable deduction rules under 2025’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act increased the complexity of charitable deduction thresholds because the new law, effective for 2026, imposes a 0.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI) floor for itemized charitable deductions and, for taxpayers in the highest tax bracket, a 35% cap on the tax benefit of those deductions. All of this means that thoughtful charitable planning is more important than ever. What you need to know is that "bunching" charitable gifts may be useful to you, and it’s something you ought to discuss with your tax and financial advisors as soon as you can. The essence of bunching is that, rather than making similar-sized charitable donations every year, you would combine two or more years of charitable gifts up front into a single tax year. The reason this is useful is because by concentrating gifts into one year, you may be able to accumulate enough deductions to make itemizing more beneficial than claiming the standard deduction and achieve a greater tax benefit than you would by making smaller annual gifts and taking the standard deduction. A donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation makes bunching especially attractive. For example, you can contribute several years' worth of charitable gifts to your donor-advised fund this year, generally be eligible to claim an income tax deduction for the current year, subject to applicable limitations, and then recommend grants to your favorite nonprofits over several future years. This allows your favorite organizations to continue receiving steady support while simultaneously maximizing your own tax benefits. Remember, too, that your donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation accepts appreciated securities, which may provide additional tax advantages in the right circumstances. That’s because you may be able to avoid capital gains tax on the highly appreciated stock you contribute to your donor-advised fund. The takeaway here is that now is the time to begin conversations with your tax and financial advisors about bunching and about your charitable plans in general. Please loop in the Community Foundation team! We are honored to serve as a sounding board as you carry out your charitable wishes. The community foundation is your home for charitable giving, and we always welcome a conversation!  The Community Foundation team appreciates that so many attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors recommend to clients age 70 ½ and older that they take advantage of Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from traditional IRAs. Your client can direct a QCD to a designated fund, field-of-interest fund, scholarship fund, or unrestricted fund at the community foundation, or even directly to support the community foundation’s overall mission and work.
Because QCDs are so useful, we’ve got our eyes on pending legislation that might expand the ways your clients can use them. Specifically, Congress continues to consider two bipartisan charitable giving bills: the Charity Parity Act, which would permit QCDs directly from employer-sponsored retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, in addition to traditional IRAs, and the IRA Charitable Rollover Facilitation and Enhancement Act, which would extend QCD eligibility to donor-advised funds. Neither proposal has advanced beyond committee, but both are still active and of course could be very useful to expand charitable giving options if enacted. We will keep you posted!  For many attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors, the last weeks of summer mark the beginning of year-end planning season. As clients return from vacations and turn their attention to tax and financial planning, it's an ideal time to revisit charitable giving strategies that could be important to help clients achieve their 2026 planning objectives.A popular strategy that deserves special attention in year-end planning is "bunching" charitable contributions. The bunching concept became widely discussed when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 substantially increased the standard deduction for calculating income tax. According to important historical data, this change caused many taxpayers who previously itemized deductions to begin claiming the standard deduction instead because their annual charitable gifts and other deductible expenses were no longer sufficient to exceed the standard deduction threshold.
Since the beginning of 2026, charitable planning has become even more nuanced. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act added a new limitation under Internal Revenue Code Section 170 requiring that itemized charitable deductions must generally exceed 0.5% of adjusted gross income before a deduction is available. In addition, Section 68 now effectively limits the tax benefit of itemized deductions for taxpayers in the highest marginal income tax bracket to 35%. These two new provisions are sometimes called the “floor” and the “cap.” Although in many cases charitable giving remains highly tax-efficient, these changes make proactive planning increasingly important. So, what is “bunching”? And why is it so useful under current tax law? Here’s how it works: —Rather than making charitable gifts in roughly equal amounts each year, a client may benefit from consolidating two or more years of planned charitable contributions up front into a single tax year. —By concentrating, or “bunching,” donations into one year, the client may be better positioned to itemize deductions in that year while claiming the standard deduction in subsequent years, potentially producing greater cumulative tax savings over time. For many of your clients, a donor-advised fund at the community foundation serves as an effective vehicle for implementing a bunching strategy. That’s because a client can make a single, larger contribution to the donor-advised fund, generally claim the charitable deduction in the year of the contribution under Internal Revenue Code Section 170(a), and then recommend grants to favorite charities now and in future years. In short, the timing of the income tax deduction is separated from the timing of charitable distributions, allowing the client’s favorite nonprofits to continue receiving consistent annual support. As year-end approaches, many clients will naturally ask whether they should “bunch,” or accelerate, charitable gifts before December 31. Advisors who raise the bunching conversation now—and coordinate early with the Community Foundation team—can help clients evaluate whether this strategy aligns with both their philanthropic objectives and their broader financial plans and then implement the strategy without rushing through it. Bunching is not the only technique to be aware of well before year-end! Here are two additional important reminders for your client conversations: —Remember that charitable planning opportunities are typically even more attractive when appreciated securities are involved. Under Internal Revenue Code Section 170(e)(1)(A), a client who contributes long-term appreciated publicly traded securities to a public charity, including a donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation, generally may deduct the property's fair market value (subject to the applicable adjusted gross income limitations) while avoiding recognition of the built-in capital gain that otherwise would result from a sale. This is usually a much better tax outcome than giving cash. —Note that Qualified Charitable Distributions allow IRA owners age 70 ½ or older to give directly to charity tax-free—up to the 2026 annual limit of $111,000—even before required minimum distributions begin, potentially lowering adjusted gross income and reducing taxes on Social Security benefits and Medicare premiums. For a subset of your clients, this is important in light of the charitable deduction limitations under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Community Foundation is honored to work alongside you and other advisors all year long to help structure charitable gifts in a way that advances your clients' philanthropic goals while making the planning process as seamless as possible. Reach out anytime to get a jump on year-end planning!  As an attorney, CPA, or financial advisor, you’re well aware that your clients are typically better off from a tax perspective if they donate to charity by giving appreciated stock held for more than one year instead of writing a check. That’s because the client’s charitable deduction is calculated based on the stock’s fair market value, and the charity (unlike your client) can sell the stock without triggering capital gains tax. Indeed, many of your clients regularly give appreciated stock to their donor-advised funds at the Community Foundation.
So what happens when one of these clients starts asking questions about what’s on their tax return? For instance: "Wait a minute. I distinctly remember that my stock was worth $81.95 per share when the market closed on the day I transferred 100 shares to the Community Foundation to add to my donor-advised fund. But my tax return is showing a deduction amount less than $8,195. Is that a mistake?" It's a great question, and of course you know the answer! When a client contributes publicly traded securities to a fund at the Community Foundation—or directly to another public charity—the amount of the charitable deduction is indeed based on the fair market value of the asset at the time of the gift under Internal Revenue Code Section 170 and Treasury Regulation § 1.170A-1(c). For publicly traded securities, however, "fair market value" is not ordinarily the closing price. Instead, the IRS valuation rule generally uses the average between the highest and lowest quoted selling prices on the date of the contribution. This methodology appears in Treasury Regulation § 20.2031-2(b)(1), outlining the IRS’s longstanding valuation rules. Here's a simple example. Suppose a client transfers shares to a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation on August 20. On that date:
Many clients understandably assume their deduction will be based on the $81.95 closing price. Under the applicable valuation rules, however, the value generally used is the average of the high and low prices: ($82.40 + $79.60) ÷ 2 = $81.00 per share The difference may be relatively small in many cases, but for larger gifts—or during periods of market volatility—it can become meaningful. And again, yes, you know this! But many clients do not. That’s why it’s a good idea to remind a client about this rule when they’re making gifts of appreciated stock. It is also important to remember that determining the valuation date itself may involve additional analysis. The relevant date is generally the date the gift is considered complete for federal tax purposes, which may differ depending on how the securities are transferred and when control passes to the charitable organization. Because of these nuances, it's wise to coordinate closely with the community foundation whenever timing is critical, such as at year end. Fortunately, the Community Foundation works with gifts of appreciated securities every day and can help facilitate smooth transfers. Especially as the fall planning season approaches, clients often focus on maximizing charitable deductions while avoiding capital gains tax on appreciated investments. Being prepared to explain why the deduction is based on the average of the day's high and low—not simply the closing price—can be a helpful component of client conversations. Please reach out to the Community Foundation team anytime, and especially when a client is getting ready to transfer stock. We will keep an eye out for it and make sure the processing goes smoothly. Thank you for the opportunity to work with you to serve your clients!  At the Community Foundation, we are honored to serve as your home for charitable giving. Whether you support a wide range of charitable organizations in our community and across the country, focus your giving on a few favorite local causes, collaborate with the Community Foundation to invest in our region’s greatest needs, or all of the above, we are here for you!
A new year presents an excellent opportunity to check in on your charitable giving priorities. This is the case every year, but it is especially important in 2026 not only because of the crucial priorities to improve our community’s quality of life, but also because of a few new tax laws that may impact charitable giving strategies for some people. Here are the changes that you’ll want to be aware of, and, most importantly, share with your tax advisors as soon as possible to determine how these changes might impact your situation. Forward this article to your tax advisors, or print it and take it to your next meeting. New threshold to itemize charitable deductions One of the most significant shifts affects individual taxpayers who itemize their income tax deductions. Beginning this tax year, charitable contributions will only be deductible to the extent that they exceed 0.5% of a taxpayer’s adjusted gross income. In practical terms, this means that a portion of charitable giving will no longer generate a tax benefit. For example, a taxpayer with an adjusted gross income of $200,000 will see no deduction for the first $1,000 of charitable contributions made in a year. Only donations above that amount will be eligible for deduction, subject to existing percentage-of-income limits. This new rule functions much like a deductible in an insurance policy, raising the effective threshold for receiving a tax benefit and reducing the immediate incentive for smaller annual gifts among itemizers. Limitation on itemized charitable deductions for high-income taxpayers High-income taxpayers will face an additional limitation through a new cap on the value of itemized charitable deductions. Even if a donor is in the highest federal income tax bracket, the tax benefit of a charitable deduction will be limited to 35 percent of the contribution. As a result, taxpayers in the 37 percent bracket will no longer be able to offset their income at their full marginal rate when making charitable gifts. Good news for the 60% cap Another important change provides greater certainty for donors who make substantial cash contributions. The long-standing rule allowing cash gifts to qualified public charities to be deducted up to 60 percent of adjusted gross income has been made permanent. After satisfying the new 0.5% AGI floor, donors may continue to deduct cash contributions up to this level, while non-cash gifts or contributions to certain types of organizations remain subject to lower percentage limits. This permanence preserves a relatively generous framework for major philanthropy even as other rules become more restrictive. New incentive for non-itemizers The new rules introduce an incentive for taxpayers who do not itemize deductions. Beginning with the 2026 tax year, individuals who claim the standard deduction will be allowed to take a limited charitable deduction above the line, meaning it reduces income before adjusted gross income is calculated. Single filers may deduct up to $1,000, while married couples filing jointly may deduct up to $2,000, provided the contributions are made in cash. This deduction is available in addition to the standard deduction and represents a meaningful expansion of tax benefits for charitable giving among non-itemizers, many of whom have received no tax benefit for donations in recent years. Note, however, that gifts to donor-advised funds are not eligible for this deduction, and neither are noncash gifts. This is unfortunate because both gifts to donor-advised funds and gifts of highly appreciated assets are useful tools that incentivize charitable giving. QCDs may be even more useful Retirees and older taxpayers will also see an important adjustment through an increase in the Qualified Charitable Distribution limit. Beginning in 2026, the annual amount that can be transferred directly from an individual retirement account to a qualified charity will increase, allowing taxpayers age 70 ½ and older to direct more funds to charitable causes without including those distributions in taxable income. Because Qualified Charitable Distributions can also count toward required minimum distributions, this higher limit enhances a tax-efficient giving strategy that is unaffected by itemized deduction limits, adjusted gross income floors, or caps on deduction value. Limitations on corporate charitable deductions Corporate donors are not exempt from the new framework. Starting in 2026, corporations may deduct charitable contributions only to the extent that those contributions exceed 1 percent of taxable income. Contributions below that threshold will not generate a current-year deduction, although amounts that exceed applicable limits may be carried forward to future tax years. This new floor is likely to influence corporate giving strategies, particularly for businesses that make consistent but relatively modest charitable contributions. The existing 10% cap on corporate charitable deductions remains in place. Again, we strongly encourage you to forward this information to your tax advisors. Please loop us into the conversation so that we can work alongside your attorney, financial advisor, and CPA to ensure that you’re set up to meet your charitable goals for 2026 through strategies that also align with your tax, financial, and estate planning objectives. Whether you cc us on an email, ask your advisor to get in touch with us directly, or pull everyone together on a quick call or Zoom, we are here for you and look forward to the conversation!  If your head is spinning, it’s for a good reason! Let’s face it–the rules for using IRAs to give to charity were complicated before the OBBBA got thrown into the mix. Let’s address five frequently asked questions we’ve been hearing from attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors as you counsel your charitable clients.
“I have a lot of clients who are 70 ½ and older. I know the new tax laws are a big deal. Did the rules change for Qualified Charitable Distributions?” This is a great question, and it’s super important. The short answer is no–the One Big Beautiful Bill Act did not directly change the IRS’s rules for Qualified Charitable Distributions, or “QCDs.” Through a QCD, a taxpayer who is over the age of 70 ½ can direct up to $108,000 (2025 limit) from an IRA to an eligible charity, including some types of funds at the Community Foundation. “I can tell there’s more to the story. What else should I know to best guide my clients who are 70½ and older?” We are glad you asked! QCDs are even more tax-savvy after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because they bypass the new 0.5% adjusted gross income floor that will apply to itemized charitable deductions starting in 2026. Unlike other gifts, QCDs also avoid the 35% cap on deduction value for high-income taxpayers, preserving their full tax benefit. Because they reduce taxable income directly without requiring itemization, QCDs provide retirees a simple, consistent way to maximize charitable impact in a more restrictive tax environment. “When should I call the Community Foundation if I have a client who is a good candidate for a QCD?” Anytime! Several types of funds at the Community Foundation are eligible recipients of Qualified Charitable Distributions, including field-of-interest funds, designated funds, and unrestricted funds. Although your client’s donor-advised fund is not a permissible QCD recipient under IRS rules, our team is happy to work with you and your client to establish another type of fund alongside an existing donor-advised fund and set in motion an overall strategy that meets both the client’s financial and estate planning goals as well as the client’s goals for community impact. “Remind me again why IRAs are such powerful legacy gifts to charity?” Clearly, IRAs are tax-savvy savings vehicles during a client’s lifetime because contributions to traditional IRAs may be tax-deductible. Plus, the assets inside the account grow tax-deferred, allowing returns to compound. Leaving an IRA to charity at death, such as to a client’s fund at the Community Foundation, is also tax-savvy. The assets avoid income tax because the charity, unlike heirs, can withdraw the funds tax-free. The assets also escape estate tax because charitable bequests are fully deductible from the taxable estate. “Does the whole QCD have to go directly to the charity?” No! A special type of QCD allows your client to make a “split interest” gift to either a charitable remainder trust (CRT) or charitable gift annuity (CGA). The 2025 per-taxpayer limit for this so-called “legacy IRA” is $54,000. Note that the CGA option may be the most attractive option for your clients because of the significantly greater administrative burdens of setting up a CRT. Please reach out to the Community Foundation anytime. We are happy to set up a charitable giving plan that allows your client to make QCDs to help achieve their charitable goals.  Recent changes in federal tax law under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) bring both challenges and opportunities for nonprofit organizations in our community. The Community Foundation is here to help you prepare and consider how to update your strategies as the landscape shifts. We’re sharing answers to three frequently asked questions about how the new laws will impact giving, what you can do about it, and how the Community Foundation can help.
“What’s happening with the standard deduction, and how big of a deal is it?” The nonprofit sector is no stranger to the challenges resulting from a high standard deduction. In the aftermath of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which increased the standard deduction, the number of taxpayers who itemized deductions dropped significantly. This eliminated tax deductibility as a motivator for charitable giving for many Americans, which in turn, caused charitable giving to drop. Now, under the OBBBA, the standard deduction is going up again, which may continue to impact tax-motivated charitable giving, even with the uptick in itemizers thanks to the OBBBA’s new state and local tax deduction allowances (subscriptions required to the Wall Street Journal). So how big of a deal is this? In many ways, the increase in the standard deduction means more of the same. Tax motivations to give to charity will continue to apply to the relatively small number of donors who itemize deductions. That said, keep in mind that donors don’t give to charity solely for a tax deduction. Many other motivations come into play because people truly want to make a difference. What’s more, the additional changes coming in 2026, described below, may motivate certain donors to make big gifts this year. “Could 2025 really be a big year for charitable giving?” The answer is yes! Coupled with an increasing standard deduction, two OBBBA provisions that take effect in 2026 may provide incentives for your donors to “front-load” charitable contributions, not only to exceed the high standard deduction to allow them to itemize, but also to avoid two limitations to charitable deductions effective starting with the 2026 tax year. First, beginning in 2026, the deductibility of charitable contributions will be capped at 35% of adjusted gross income (AGI), even for itemizers in the 37% tax bracket. Second, also beginning in 2026, a 0.5% floor will apply to itemized charitable deductions, meaning that only contributions exceeding 0.5% of AGI will be deductible. These two upcoming changes reduce the value of charitable deductions for high-income taxpayers and may create a strong incentive for your donors to make big gifts in 2025. Our team is happy to serve as a sounding board as you explore ways to maximize support in 2025, including motivating donors to make gifts to add to your endowment or reserve fund at the Community Foundation. “How can we make the most of the new deduction for non-itemizers?” The OBBBA introduced a new deduction for charitable contributions starting in 2026: $1,000 for individual filers and $2,000 for married couples filing jointly. This provision, similar to the temporary pandemic-era incentive, allows non-itemizers to receive a modest tax benefit for their charitable gifts. This could meaningfully encourage new donors - particularly younger donors - to start making gifts to your organization. Note that this new deduction is for cash gifts only (and it also does not apply to gifts to donor-advised funds). You’ll want to mention this limitation specifically in your donor communications next year, and you’ll also likely want to clarify that despite the rules for this particular deduction, typically gifts of appreciated assets deliver the most tax benefits. Certainly, the OBBBA presents a mixed bag. You may discover that 2025 is a great year for large gifts, and, as the new laws take effect, 2026 will be an important time to add an additional focus on cultivating smaller gifts and broad-based support. As always, the Community Foundation is honored to be your trusted partner and sounding board, whether or not your organization has established an endowment or reserve fund at the Community Foundation. We invite you to reach out to explore how our team can help navigate tax law changes and maximize opportunities in 2025 and beyond.  It’s never been easy to navigate the ever-shifting tax rules to help clients structure charitable gifts, and now it’s even trickier. Major changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, are creating complexity, opportunity, and, for some, urgency. The OBBBA reshapes both how much a client can deduct for charitable contributions and which clients can benefit from these deductions in the first place. Indeed, your clients might have read a recent Wall Street Journal article (subscription required) outlining major tax planning themes related to charitable giving.
As always, the team at the Community Foundation is honored to be your first call when the topic of charitable giving arises in client conversations. In most cases, the Community Foundation’s tools can be useful, and if we can’t help directly, we’ll point you in the right direction. Here are three key issues to discuss with philanthropic clients: Evaluate whether the client could benefit from “bunching” charitable contributions in 2025 Many advisors are recommending that their clients address head on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s expansion of the standard deduction - $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married couples in 2025, with even higher levels for taxpayers aged 65 and older. A technique known as “bunching” charitable donations can be particularly useful. For example, if a client typically donates $12,000 each year to charity, but the client’s other deductions do not push them over the standard deduction, the client could give $36,000 (three years' worth of gifts) to a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation in 2025. The idea is that the client can combine this gift with other deductions to substantially exceed the standard deduction, allowing the client to itemize and claim a much greater deduction for that year. Over the following two years, the client can take the standard deduction and lean on the donor-advised fund to distribute funds to favorite charities. Note that 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 new state and local tax deduction allowances (subscription required to the Wall Street Journal). Look ahead to 2026 as you help clients plan for 2025 For your clients who continue to itemize deductions, 2026 will bring even further changes. Only charitable donations exceeding 0.5% of AGI will be deductible. For example, a couple with $225,000 in AGI would see their deductible charitable amount reduced by $1,125 per year. Although clients who are large-scale donors may find this change proportionately less impactful, clients making moderate or smaller-sized gifts might see a significant reduction in their eligible deductions. What’s more, under the OBBBA, high-income taxpayers will see their maximum tax benefit from charitable deductions calculated at a top marginal rate of 35%, down from 37%, starting in 2026. These changes may prompt higher-income clients to lean heavily on bunching strategies in 2025 to maximize current tax advantages before stricter limits kick in. Watch the fine print on the charitable deduction for non-itemizers Under the OBBBA, starting in 2026, taxpayers who take the standard deduction will be able to claim a direct deduction for charitable giving - up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for married couples filing jointly. This provision mirrors temporary measures seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Crucially, the deduction is limited to cash gifts made directly to qualified charities; donations of property or stock, and contributions to donor-advised funds, do not qualify. For the estimated 100 million Americans who do not itemize, which likely includes many of your clients, this provision is certainly good news. That said, gifts of appreciated stock and donor-advised funds are tax-effective and convenient charitable giving vehicles, and many clients may be disappointed that they can’t deploy these techniques to take advantage of this new deduction. 2025 certainly is shaping up to be an important year for helping your clients plan their charitable gifts. Please reach out to our team to explore ways to leverage the Community Foundation’s tools, including establishing your client’s donor-advised fund to take advantage of bunching. And of course, always remember that regardless of the tax implications, your clients’ philanthropy addresses vital community needs - and this is a motivator that transcends any deduction.  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 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.  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.  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 team at the Community Foundation is always happy to help you evaluate potential gifts to your endowment fund. This is especially the case when a donor proposes giving something other than cash or marketable securities.
When a donor mentions the possibility of giving real estate or closely-held stock, for example, please reach out to our team. One of the benefits of housing your endowment at the Community Foundation is that we can serve as your back office for complex gifts as well as serving as a sounding board for giving strategies in general. One of the most important factors to remember is that valuing and accepting complex gifts like real estate and closely-held stock is not easy! The Community Foundation will help you make sure that the donor and the donor’s advisors are aware of the IRS’s rigorous requirements for securing a qualified appraisal of a complex gift. Failure to follow these rules could wipe out the otherwise excellent tax benefits to the donor. These assets are called “complex” and “hard-to-value” for a reason! Even though complex gifts can present inherent challenges, they’re still worth pursuing. Charities that cultivate hard-to-value assets such as real estate and closely-held stock can unlock significant advantages for both their missions and their donors. Remember that unlike gifts of nonmarketable assets to a private foundation, a donor’s gift of a nonmarketable asset to your endowment fund or other public charity can qualify for a full fair market value charitable deduction, up to 30% of AGI, and also avoid capital gains tax. What’s more, beyond real estate and closely-held stock, the Community Foundation is happy to work with you and a donor to explore gifts of other complex assets, such as cryptocurrency, NFTs, and intellectual property, which expands philanthropic opportunities for donors who are business owners and investors in alternative assets. Keeping an eye out for opportunities to attract hard-to-value assets will help you build a resilient endowment fund at the Community Foundation while also empowering your donors to optimize their financial and philanthropic legacies. The Community Foundation helps you bridge expertise gaps, handle asset liquidation, invest the proceeds, and meet regulatory requirements so that you and your team can focus on donor relationships and impact. Please reach out to talk with our team. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  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.  2025 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for tax policy, to say the least!
The Republican-led Congress and White House are aiming to use the budget reconciliation process to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. This process allows them to bypass typical filibuster rules and require only a simple majority of 51 votes in the Senate. So what does this mean to you and your colleagues and the way you should approach generating support for your endowment fund at the Community Foundation? The Community Foundation will help keep our nonprofit partners up-to-date on potential tax law changes in 2025 related to the scheduled expiration of provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, and what might happen if the TCJA provisions wind up expiring instead of being extended. Here are three things that are important to know: Potential reduction in estate and gift tax exemption The estate and gift tax exemption is slated to decrease significantly at midnight on December 31, 2025. Currently, the exemption is $13.99 million per person. After 2025, this could be reduced to approximately $7 million per individual and $14 million per couple. This change may impact charitable giving strategies, particularly for high net-worth donors who use estate planning as part of their philanthropic efforts. Changes to charitable deduction limits The TCJA temporarily increased the deduction limit for cash contributions to public charities from 50% to 60% of adjusted gross income (AGI). If this provision expires, the limit may revert to 50% of AGI. This reduction could affect the tax benefits for donors making large charitable contributions, potentially influencing their giving decisions. Increase in standard deduction and impact on itemized deductions The TCJA significantly increased the standard deduction, which led to a reduction in the number of taxpayers itemizing deductions. If these provisions expire, the standard deduction could revert to lower pre-TCJA levels. This change might increase the number of taxpayers who itemize, potentially making charitable deductions more attractive for a broader range of donors. However, it's important to note that the overall impact on charitable giving could be complex, as it may be influenced by other factors such as changes in tax rates and the reinstatement of certain itemized deductions. These potential changes underscore the importance for charity fundraisers to stay informed about tax law developments and to work closely with donors and their financial advisors to navigate the evolving landscape of charitable giving strategies. For context, if you like to get in the weeds, we recommend taking a look at a recent study that breaks down the flow of capital into the nonprofit sector. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.  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.  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.  If you’ve reached or are nearing retirement age, you may be evaluating how charitable giving fits into your life in a bigger way than it did during your working years. If you’ve found that you have more time, more money, or both, now that work and raising children are in the rear view mirror, be sure you’re familiar with the various charitable giving techniques that are most appealing to retirees and the various ways the Community Foundation can help.
Here are four signals that it may be time to update your philanthropy strategies with the help of the Community Foundation team:
If these ideas capture your attention, please reach out! The Community Foundation is here to help you make the most of your giving, no matter what causes you choose to support. We look forward to collaborating to make your retirement years fulfilling and rewarding for you and the people–and community–you 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.  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. |
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