A special message to advisors
Meeting the ever-changing needs of our community has always been an integral part of our mission as a community foundation. Over the last several weeks, our team has responded to the COVID-19 emergency in several ways, including outreach to nonprofits that are providing critical services to the citizens of our region, educating donors about opportunities to help those in need, and staying on top of the rapidly-evolving Federal legislation that will help mitigate the pandemic's devastating effects on families and organizations.
We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to advisors like you who in many ways are on the front lines of helping your clients get through this challenging time. Whether you are an attorney, an accountant, or a financial advisor, we appreciate your commitment to our donors and their families to help them weather the storm and stay on track to meet their wealth and community legacy goals.
As always, we are here to serve as your partner to help your clients navigate charitable giving priorities, especially in times like this when your clients are balancing financial uncertainty with passion for the charities they love.
What's in the CARES Act for philanthropy?
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), signed into law by President Trump on March 27, is the largest stimulus package in history. The Act unlocks $2 trillion in funds for American individuals and businesses impacted by COVID-19.
Here’s what the Act includes to help stimulate charitable giving:
An above-the-line deduction for a “Qualified Charitable Contribution” of up to $300 for non-itemizers is available for cash contributions made to charities (excluding donor-advised funds and supporting organizations) for the 2020 tax year and beyond.
For cash contributions to charities (excluding donor-advised funds and supporting organizations) made in 2020, the AGI limit is increased from 60% to 100%, with a 5-year carryforward for contributions that exceed 100% of AGI.
We encourage you to let your clients know about these tax incentives so they can help support the nonprofit organizations in our community that are delivering aid to the people most affected by the pandemic.
Four tips for advisors
There is certainly (and understandably) no shortage of news about COVID-19. We've compiled a few of our top tips to help streamline your information-gathering efforts as you assist your clients with charitable priorities:
You'll find Kiplinger’s calculator useful to determine the amount of a client’s stimulus check.
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy provides an overview of the collective efforts of philanthropy to address the COVID-19 outbreak.
We encourage you to visit the community foundation’s website for the latest news on efforts to help our own community and how you and your clients can get involved.
Finally, we'd love to learn from you. Please let us know what you're hearing from clients about their philanthropic priorities during this unprecedented challenge in the lives of the people in our community.
Be well, and thank you again for being part of the community foundation.