Hello from the community foundation!
We hope your November is off to a good start.
Market conditions remain challenging, and the team at the community foundation is here to help you navigate your charitable giving priorities even in choppy economic waters.
Many of our fundholders, and even many people who are considering establishing a fund at the community foundation, are asking our team good questions about how to maximize charitable giving this season. Involving families is important to you, as is watching out for scams. Accordingly, in this issue we’re covering the topic of “checkout charity,” which many of you are experiencing when you shop at the grocery store or even online. We’re also including reminders about the health benefits of getting involved in philanthropy, which is so important to consider as the giving season gets into full swing. Finally, we’re offering suggestions for how you might incorporate charitable giving into your Thanksgiving festivities this year.
Thank you to all of you who are already fundholders at the community foundation. If you are considering establishing a fund at the community foundation, we’d love to work with you. The community foundation is our region’s trusted source for all things philanthropy, and we are honored to serve you as you pursue the charitable endeavors that mean the most to you and your family.
Wishing you all the best for a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
–Your community foundation
“Checkout charity”: Cause for concern?
Though you may not recognize the term, you’re likely familiar with “checkout charity.” That’s the name given to a relatively new and fast-growing way for making charitable contributions.
Different than the more strategic or planned giving that occurs through the community foundation, checkout charity donations are often the result of spur-of-the-moment, periodic or one-time asks triggered by a tragedy (Hurricane Ian), holiday (feeding the food-insecure at Thanksgiving) or cause (health and safety products during the pandemic). Solicitations can occur in person or online, and by either a familiar face or automated means like text messaging.
And while these donations may appear small on an individual level—say a dollar or more added to a grocery store visit—they quickly add up! In fact, Engage for Good reported that $605 million was collected in 2020 by 76 campaigns that each exceeded one million dollars, a 24% increase from 2018 when 79 campaigns exceeding one million dollars brought in more than $486 million.
However, concerns about such efforts have included feelings of anxiety, uncertainty or lack of knowledge about such causes; whether the gifts would reach their proper destinations or be used as intended; or if there could be elements of fraud or misrepresentation. Nearly 50% of survey respondents described such campaigns in negative terms or feelings like “annoyed,” “pressured,” or “being judged.” Of the remainder, 30% had neutral feelings; only 20% were positive.
The community foundation encourages support of all legitimate organizations and causes. But given the rising number of opportunities to give, their frequency and spontaneity—at a checkout line, initiated by a social media post or a stranger’s ask—we also encourage proper vetting of the requester and obtaining an appropriate confirmation for tax purposes when applicable. Donors should proceed with caution, but also know that many impulse gifts to charity, often made at a local grocery store or through a national brand retailer, are “pass-through” in nature, with no financial benefits accruing to the point-of-purchase organization.
The community foundation works for you as a one-stop shop for impactful giving specific to the organizations you hold dear. We have and will continue to offer:
–A welcoming attitude and relationship of trust built over time.
–Discretion in receiving and distributing your gifts, providing anonymity when that is a priority.
–Appropriate recordkeeping for tax deductibility or other legalities.
–Professional management of your donor-advised fund or other account.
We welcome your questions regarding any organization or cause seeking your financial support.
Give a little and feel a lot better
In the classic book The Go-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea, authors Bob Burg and John Mann share how Joe, a young professional, uses unselfishness to ultimately find business success.
Among the philosophies:
–Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
–Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
On a personal level, we’ve all heard the adage, and to paraphrase, “It’s better to give than to receive.” Two often-cited benefits of giving are (a) that it makes you happy, and (b) it makes you healthier and live longer.
These benefits can be experienced through small gestures, like opening a door for a stranger; surprising the next-in-line at the drive through with a free cup of coffee; or checking on a neighbor before or after a storm.
Volunteering is another source of happiness and health enhancement. According to the University of Maryland Health System, volunteering can bring physical and behavioral health benefits including a broader social network, lower blood pressure (which can reduce risk factors associated with heart disease and stroke), improved mental health and stress relief.
By doing good, we feel better ourselves.
In many ways, interestingly enough, your community foundation can be a facilitator of health benefits. By helping to establish, manage and distribute your gifts of generosity to the causes you care about, the community foundation can simplify the giving process to your favorite organizations that power medical innovation, support equipment acquisitions and fund construction at university health centers, hospitals, and blood banks, as well as the many important services delivered by community health providers.
Quite notably, many generous and significant gifts received by health centers in 2021 referenced family foundation involvement. Among those facilities are Cedars-Sinai Health System (Los Angeles, CA); Atrium Health (Charlotte, NC); Wolfson Children’s Hospital (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Saint Barnabas Medical Center (Livingston, N.J.).
By giving through the community foundation, whether to an unrestricted fund, field-of-interest fund, or a donor-advised fund, and whether to health-related charitable organizations or others, a donor’s gifts to charity can go above and beyond simply meeting individual or family tax and giving goals. By serving those in need and the greater good, gifts to charity help others feel happier and healthier—donors and recipients alike.
The perfect plate: Turkey, pumpkin pie and charitable giving
As you prepare to gather with family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday, we invite you to reach out to the team at the community foundation for suggestions on how to incorporate charitable giving into the festivities.
For example:
–Take this opportunity to brush up on the rich history of charitable giving in America.
–Consider asking each family member to conduct quick research on a community need that they feel strongly about, such as homelessness, early childhood education, preserving the environment, medical research, and so on. Even just 15 minutes of online research on how the issue is playing out locally can be eye-opening!
–When your family is together, each person can briefly share what they found in their research. If the group feels strongly about one or two issues, you might consider pooling donations–whether $5 per person or $50.
–Contact the community foundation to find out which nonprofit organizations in the community are most closely aligned with addressing the issues you’ve selected. Make your family donation to those organizations.
Thanksgiving is also a good time to start planning for year-end charitable giving to meet your philanthropic goals. For instance:
–Making gifts of cash or appreciated stock to your donor-advised fund at the community foundation can help you streamline your charitable giving recordkeeping and still allow you to support your favorite charities with year-end gifts. If you’ve not yet established a fund at the community foundation, we’d love to help you set that up. There is still plenty of time to put it in place to meet your year-end tax planning and charitable giving needs.
–If you are over the age of 70 ½, consider making a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your IRA to one or more qualifying charities, which include an unrestricted or field-of-interest fund at the community foundation. QCDs, available up to $100,000 annually per taxpayer, are an excellent way to bypass required minimum distributions and the corresponding income tax liability.
–Many families update their estate plans around the holidays. If you’re planning to review your wills and trusts, it’s a great time to check in on any bequests and adjust those provisions, especially if you’ve recently established a donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation and intend for part of your estate to flow into those vehicles.
As always, please contact the community foundation for charitable giving inspiration and insights. We are here to help!