Ways to Give – 8 Ways to Make the Most of Your Year-End Giving!
Before we know it, the year will be over! Now is a great time to think about your annual charitable giving and tax liabilities.
Here are eight ways to make the most of your year-end giving and have the greatest impact on our community!
1. Understand your tax liability – Did your investments grow? Did you sell appreciated assets? This may determine how much you may want to give by December 31. Talk to your tax advisor.
2. Review your stocks – Selling stock will incur capital gains on the appreciation, but if you gift stock, you will receive a charitable deduction for the current market value. Such gifts are deductible up to 30% of your adjusted gross income and you can carry the deduction forward for up to an additional five years.
3. Give early and complete your gift by December 31 – Gifts of stock and real estate are more complex; don’t wait to make these gifts. Call us today!
4. Give now, decide later – Consider opening a Donor-Advised Fund at the Community Foundation. You can claim a deduction for contributions to your Fund in 2015, even though distributions from the Fund might be made in future years. A Donor-Advised Fund can be set up in one meeting and this type of Fund allows you and your family to recommend grants from your Fund.
5. Know the organizations you support – While there are many worthy causes, only donations to qualified 501(c)(3) organizations are tax-deductible. You can research nonprofits online at nonprofit watchdogs like Guidestar and Charity Navigator, or contact the Community Foundation.
6. Let the Community Foundation do the legwork – Let us share with you our extensive knowledge of the local nonprofit community and charitable needs of our region. We can also advise you on a variety of favorable giving options.
7. Update beneficiaries. You can update the beneficiaries on bank accounts, retirement accounts or insurance policies at any time, but it’s a good idea to do this at least annually. These are also easy ways to leave a planned gift – just add the Community Foundation as a beneficiary.
8. Take required minimum distributions. In the year following the year you reach age 70 ½, the IRS requires you to take a required minimum distribution from your IRA by April 1st. The penalty for failing to take RMD is a 50% tax on what should have been withdrawn. (The Community Foundation has been working with other foundations and a professional lobbyist to help secure legislation to extend the Charitable IRA Rollover, allowing seniors to give from their IRAs to charity, tax-free.)
During this season of giving and gratitude, I celebrate your generous hearts: the check you cut to your church, the money you drop in the red buckets, and the food drives you support.
But as always, I remind you that a gift to the Community Foundation is unlike any other gift. A gift to an endowment will be invested and your gift will continue to grow and have a lasting impact on your community…forever.
To learn more about the Community Foundation and its many services, visit www.clevelandbradleyfoundation.org or contact Lisa Geren.
