COVID-19: How philanthropy supports community nonprofits
Like cities and towns across the country, our community has been affected by COVID-19 in many different ways. Every day, the team at the community foundation helps organizations address the pandemic’s ripple effects across every part of our community’s nonprofit sector, especially social services, healthcare, and education.
Philanthropy has stepped up to the plate, according to a study conducted by Candid indicating that U.S. foundations, corporations, and individuals have granted more than $10.7 billion since the pandemic began to address COVID 19-related challenges. “There is no doubt that philanthropy has responded to COVID-19 on a scale not seen before,” notes the study’s authors.
As your partner in improving the quality of life in our region, the community foundation is committed to its role in educating donors and connecting donors to the causes they care about. Our team continues to stay up-to-date on your organization’s efforts to help the people who need it most. Every day, we field dozens of donors’ questions about how they can structure and support philanthropic vehicles to address the gaps.
If your staff and board would like to activate your organization’s donors around pandemic-specific fundraising efforts, we encourage you to reach out to our team. The community foundation can help you:
Create a designated fund so that donors easily can earmark gifts to your organization to go toward relief efforts for COVID-19.
Establish an endowment in a donor’s name, dedicated to ensuring that your organization has the funds to keep operating during future pandemics and other crises.
Help you structure and receive gifts of closely-held companies and other hard-to-value assets from donors who’ve experienced valuation increases despite the pandemic.
Through the pandemic and beyond, the community foundation is your partner in giving.
Refresher course: Qualified Charitable Distributions
Given the critical needs facing our community, our team invites you to contact us if you have any questions about how the Qualified Charitable Distribution technique can enable your donors to unlock assets and deploy them toward your mission.
Taxpayers who have reached 72 years of age (or who reached 70 ½ prior to January 2020) can take advantage of the Qualified Charitable Distribution, enabling the taxpayer to direct up to $100,000 from an IRA to one or more qualified charities instead of taking the tax hit on the income from a retirement plan Required Minimum Distribution.
Keep an eye out for clients who are retired and who are actively supporting your organization. Especially useful is the feature that QCDs are not limited to taxpayers who itemize. So, even your donors who fall under the recently-increased standard deduction can reduce their taxable income dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000, and support your efforts in a meaningful way.
This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.