Cut-and-paste messages for year-end, finishing 2025 strong, and engaging purpose-driven corporate donors

Greetings from the community foundation! 

In this season of giving, we are thankful for the opportunity to work with such talented professionals at nonprofit organizations across our entire region. Thank you! We’ve enjoyed collaborating with so many of you throughout the year, and we look forward to many more conversations in the months and years ahead. 

We’re happy to share trends and tools to help you navigate the year-end flurry of activity. 

—As you distribute your last-minute fundraising messages for 2025, we encourage you to keep messages simple and focused, especially because many of your donors may be facing 2026 tax changes. Ideas include promoting appreciated-stock gifts, emphasizing QCDs for donors who are 70 ½ and older, and reminding your supporters not to wait until late December because processing some types of gifts can take time.

—The community foundation is happy to provide ready-to-use language to help you craft year-end appeals that highlight both immediate needs and your organization’s objectives for long-term stability. Use these messages to invite donors into multiple giving pathways, show concrete impact, and offer clear, tax-smart calls to action before December 31.

—If you are looking ahead to 2026 and wondering what might be in store for corporate giving, you are not alone! It’s a big question mark for many charities and, simultaneously, for many companies. That’s because new tax laws taking effect next year could discourage some forms of corporate giving. In this environment, consider starting now to seek out purpose-driven companies that may be more likely to continue their support in creative ways even under the new laws.

We wish you all the best for the holiday season! Thank you for your partnership as we work toward increasing charitable giving, connect donors and nonprofits, and strive to make a positive difference in the quality of life in our region. 

–Your community foundation

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FEATURED ARTICLES

Tis the season: Three tips for year-end giving

As your donors gear up for the giving season, it’s more important than ever to stay in front of them with clear, simple messages about how they can support both your annual campaigns and your long-term reserves—especially with major charitable deduction changes taking effect in 2026. 

Here are three key reminders that remain surprisingly overlooked, even among longtime donors.

Promote gifts of appreciated stock 

Donating long-term appreciated securities continues to be one of the most tax-efficient ways for donors to support your organization because it eliminates capital gains tax while allowing a deduction at fair market value. Donors often default to writing a check, missing out on significant tax savings—and this is important particularly after strong market performance in 2025 in many stock positions. As always, the community foundation can help facilitate gifts of appreciated stock to your endowment or operating fund at the community foundation to ensure donors achieve maximum benefit before next year’s less favorable rules take effect for donors who itemize deductions. 

Keep emphasizing Qualified Charitable Distributions

Even though QCDs have been around for years, many eligible donors remain unaware of them or confused about how they work. Your year-end outreach should include a clear reminder to donors age 70½ and older that they can make up to $108,000 in QCDs for 2025. With the new AGI floor and deduction cap taking effect in 2026, QCDs will become even more valuable because they bypass itemized deduction limits altogether. Encourage donors to consult their tax advisors.

Encourage donors to watch the calendar

Certain gifts—including QCDs and transfers of appreciated stock—require multiple processing steps and cannot be executed at the last minute. While of course your team moves quickly, and you also can lean on the community foundation for help, it’s best to allow several business days to ensure everything is completed properly. Remind donors that checks must be postmarked or hand-delivered by December 31, and marketable securities must fully transfer by year-end, whether through the community foundation or directly to your organization.

We look forward to working closely with you and your colleagues to help your donors finish 2025 strong and position themselves wisely ahead of the 2026 tax law changes.

Strengthening your year-end appeal: Cut-and-paste messages

As the last days of 2025 approach, you’re likely preparing to send a final appeal to your donors. This is one of the most important fundraising moments of the year—and an ideal opportunity to remind supporters that their generosity can sustain both today’s work and your organization’s long-term stability, including through your endowment or reserve fund at the community foundation.

With a few intentional adjustments, your year-end message can inspire gifts for immediate needs and encourage donors to invest in your organization’s future. Here are three strategies and sample language you can cut, paste, edit, and use right away. 

Invite donors into the full picture of giving

Year-end letters work best when they reflect the many ways supporters can be part of your mission. Consider language such as:

Our community thrives because of caring supporters like you who choose to stand behind our mission in so many meaningful ways. Some of you give every December to support our operating budget. Others have strengthened our future by making gifts to our long-term reserves. And many of you have made thoughtful legacy plans through a bequest or retirement account beneficiary designation. Whatever your path, your commitment makes our work possible—and we are truly grateful.

Show donors how their gifts create real impact

Help donors understand what their support has accomplished this year—especially how long-term giving plays an important role. For example:

Because of the generosity of donors, our organization was able to add two case managers this year, expanding services to nearly 50 additional children. What’s more, endowment distributions alone allowed us to equip our team with updated technology, saving time on administrative tasks and giving us more capacity for direct, personal support. These are just a few examples of how your giving strengthens our work today and long into the future.

Provide clear, simple ways to give before December 31

A strong call to action makes year-end giving easier and more likely. Offer straightforward options and highlight tax-smart strategies:

We welcome your year-end gift in whatever way works best for you. You can give online at [URL], or mail a check to the address below. If you’re considering a gift of appreciated securities—an especially tax-efficient option this time of year—please reach out. Through our partnership with the community foundation, we can help you make a seamless gift to support our annual operations, our reserves, our endowment fund, or all of the above.

As always, please reach out to the community foundation. We are happy to serve as a sounding board as you close the year strong and head into 2026! 

Engaging purpose-driven companies

A new year is right around the corner! As you look ahead to 2026, you’re facing the possibility that it may be more challenging to secure corporate donations than in the past. Here’s why:

–The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) introduced a new 1% taxable income “floor” that corporations must exceed before any charitable contributions become deductible. This means that routine or modest corporate gifts will no longer generate a tax benefit unless they surpass that threshold, making philanthropy a less financially incentivized activity for many companies. 

–At the same time, the existing 10% cap on corporate charitable deductions remains in place, so companies will need to navigate both limitations together, complicating their giving strategies. 

–As a result, some companies may delay or reduce their charitable support, prioritize fewer but larger gifts, or shift their giving toward sponsorships classified as marketing expenses rather than charitable donations. Understanding this changing landscape will be essential for you and other nonprofits as you plan donor engagement and corporate outreach in the year ahead.

In light of upcoming changes, it’s more important than ever for your team and board to seek out companies that integrate a well-defined social purpose into their business operations and strategy. These companies are more likely to view their philanthropic partnerships as strategic investments rather than simply transactional gifts. Here’s how you can make this work for you:

–As you meet with corporate leaders, be sure to mention research signaling that some purpose-driven companies post up to 25% higher revenue and up to 22% higher pre-tax profit than those that don’t focus on purpose.

–Approach purpose-driven companies by positioning your conversation not simply as a funding request but as a collaborative opportunity: alignment between the company’s business purpose and your community impact.

–Discuss specific opportunities for a company’s support to help boost the company’s brand and public image; enhance employee engagement, recruiting efforts, and retention; and most importantly, achieve meaningful results in our community where the company’s employees live and work.

As always, lean on the team at the community foundation as a sounding board! We offer a wide range of charitable giving tools for businesses of all shapes and sizes, and we are happy to help structure gifts to your organization where a business would like to establish a corporate fund, set up funds for employees, and make it possible for executives to donate a wide variety of assets. 

We look forward to hearing from you! 

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Rallying donors to address urgent needs, getting loud about QCDs, and asking for more in 2025

Greetings from the community foundation! 

As communities across the country grapple with increasing needs, our region is certainly not alone in doubling down on efforts to raise awareness and funds to help people in crisis. Our community’s nonprofit organizations are a testament to the region’s resiliency, strength, and commitment to everyone who lives here. At the community foundation, our team is honored to work with your organization and so many others that strive to improve the quality of life every single day, especially during times of trouble. 

As year-end approaches in the midst of such urgent community priorities, we’re sharing three tips to help you engage your donors for philanthropic support.

—Tax laws are changing next year, and the next few weeks present a window of opportunity. Be sure you are aware of how you can use this opportunity to encourage your donors to respond to urgent needs while they’re also consulting their tax advisors about charitable giving opportunities. 

—As you look ahead not only to year-end 2025 but also to 2026, take a moment to quickly review the power of the Qualified Charitable Distribution. Yes, you hear about QCDs a lot, but these tools are complex and need to be reviewed periodically so that you can mention them to your donors, who in turn can consult their tax advisors. QCDs will become even more important next year as tax laws change.  

—Don't be shy at year-end! Ask your donors to increase their support. Lots is changing with the tax laws, and many of your donors may be able to reap benefits from giving more this year. Lean into the opportunity! 

Many thanks for the opportunity to work together! It is our honor to work alongside you as we strive to engage donors to make a difference in the community we all love. 

–Your community foundation

THIS MONTH’S

FEATURED ARTICLES

Urgent needs, tax law changes, and charitable giving opportunities

Across our region, many families are facing difficult circumstances. You and other nonprofits that serve these families are working tirelessly to meet growing demand. Whether acute challenges from time to time are triggered by a government shutdown that disrupts paychecks, services, and community programs, a natural disaster, or broader economic factors, the community foundation stands beside you. We know that nonprofits are on the front lines of every crisis, and we want to share a few strategies to help you sustain and grow the support your organization needs during this and other periods of uncertainty.

Highlight your local impact.

Donors—including those with donor-advised funds and those giving through the community foundation—want to know their dollars make a difference close to home. Be specific when you describe how your organization is responding to current needs. Share stories that illustrate urgency, but also show measurable outcomes and accountability. Local donors trust nonprofits that communicate clearly and demonstrate tangible results for families and neighborhoods in crisis.

Tap into donor-advised fund generosity. 

Many donors already have charitable dollars set aside in donor-advised funds at the community foundation. These funds are ready to be granted quickly when compelling needs arise. Now is the time to reach out to your supporters who hold donor-advised funds and remind them that their giving can make an immediate impact. When you make it easy for them to recommend a grant—by providing your organization’s full legal name, EIN, and a clear purpose, for example—you help remove barriers to giving.

Connect your appeal to the timing of tax changes. 

The urgency of community needs in late 2025 aligns with an important window for donors who itemize their deductions. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), limits on charitable deductions will tighten beginning in 2026. This means that donors who “front-load” their giving this year—by contributing more before the new rules take effect—may be able to maximize both their tax benefits and their philanthropic impact. In your communications, remind donors that giving now not only helps your organization meet immediate needs but also may allow them to take advantage of favorable tax treatment while it lasts.

Promote partnership and resilience. 

Crises rarely happen just once—they recur in different forms and at unexpected times. Encourage your supporters to think long term by contributing to your reserve fund, endowment, or sustainability initiatives. At the community foundation, we are always ready to partner with you to design endowment funds and other giving opportunities that strengthen your organization’s ability to respond to future challenges. By building relationships with your donors now, you can help ensure that support is available when the next urgent need arises.

As always, the community foundation is here to support our region. We are honored to work with many donors who care about your mission. Together, we can ensure that our community’s nonprofits remain strong, adaptable, and ready to serve—no matter what challenges come next.

QCDs: It’s time to get loud!

Local charities have a unique opportunity to raise awareness among supporters about Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Donors age 70½ or older who own an IRA are eligible to transfer up to $108,000 in 2025 directly from the IRA to a qualified charity and, if the donor is at least 73 years old, that transfer counts toward the required minimum distribution (RMD)—in either case without increasing taxable income. By helping your donors understand this vehicle, your organization can open another pathway to support while your donors optimize their tax and retirement planning.

It’s important to understand the high-level mechanics of a QCD so you can speak knowledgeably with your donors (while always encouraging them to consult their own tax advisor). A valid QCD must be a direct transfer from the IRA custodian to the charity; if the donor takes a distribution and then gives it away, it won’t qualify as a QCD. Also, QCDs must come from IRAs (not employer plans), and the donor cannot receive any goods or services in return for the gift. By being aware of these parameters, you and your team can work with donors and their advisors to channel a QCD gift appropriately and avoid common pitfalls.

As the tax and legislative landscape evolves, presenting QCDs as part of the giving conversation can strengthen your fundraising strategy. Because a QCD lowers a donor’s adjusted gross income (AGI) rather than simply serving as an itemized deduction, it offers multiple benefits—especially for donors whose standard deduction is already large or who are subject to limits on charitable deductions. When you incorporate this strategy into your donor messaging and stewardship conversations, you are helping supporters give more with less friction, while your organization gains from their generosity.

The community foundation team is available as a resource and sounding board for this “IRA to charity” option. First and foremost, though, it is crucial that you encourage your donors to consult their tax and financial advisors, since neither your organization nor the community foundation is in the position to provide tax or financial advice. 

By working together—nonprofits, donors, advisors, and the community foundation—you can expand philanthropic impact in our region while helping donors make smart choices aligned with their goals and the needs of the community.

Ask for more: Year-end 2025 is an opportunity

The year is winding down! As you look ahead to the next few weeks, consider that now is a key moment for nonprofits in our region to double down on fundraising efforts. Although overall giving among affluent households has increased over the past decade, the number of those households making donations has declined. This means that fewer donors are shouldering the burden of philanthropy, and for charities in our community, proactive outreach has never been more critical.

In this shifting landscape, it is worthwhile for charities to ask for more—and to ask earlier. Donors are increasingly strategic about their giving, prioritizing organizations and campaigns where they believe they will see impact and accountability. Because fewer households are giving, organizations that position themselves as trusted, local, high-impact partners have a stronger chance of securing the gifts that will sustain their mission.

Another factor to keep in mind is that many donors are favoring causes close to home. The community foundation sees this every day! The organizations in our community have an inherent advantage. You and other charities serve this community, you understand its needs, and you are positioned to demonstrate direct outcomes. Messaging that reminds donors that their support will stay in the region and make a tangible difference can resonate deeply.

Ultimately, this is a moment for courage and clarity in fundraising. It’s not just about asking for support—it’s about articulating your unique value and inviting donors into the story of your work so they feel that their investment has meaning. 

At the community foundation, we stand ready to serve donors who express a desire to give to your organization. We do this through donor education and tax-wise charitable giving techniques to make gifts happen that otherwise would not. Many of your donors have established funds at the community foundation, and we are happy to assist as you lean in and ask more of your stakeholders to ensure the stability and improvement of our community’s quality of life. 

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

The impact of fewer donors, 2025 opportunities for high-income earners, and a legacy giving punchlist

Greetings from the community foundation! 

2025 has been an interesting year, to say the least. At the community foundation, we are honored to work with hundreds of donors and charities across our region to increase charitable giving, connect with causes that are important to our community’s quality of life, and lead the way to fill critical needs. Our community is always generous, and this year has been no exception. 

Here’s what we’re focused on as year-end giving ramps up:

–For many charities, the shrinking donor base has exacerbated an already challenging fundraising climate. We’re happy to offer a few tips to help you engage your current donors and, importantly, welcome your new donors with open arms. 

–Be sure you’re up to speed on the opportunities presented under new tax laws for your donors to maximize charitable giving in 2025. This is a unique window of opportunity, and the community foundation is happy to serve as a sounding board.

–We completely understand how daunting it can be to add yet one more thing to your already busy workload. Still, legacy giving is not one of those things that can be shoved to the side. Check out our tips for making it easy to integrate legacy giving strategies into everything else you’re doing. 

Many thanks for the opportunity to work together! We look forward to a successful final quarter of 2025. It is our honor to work alongside you as we strive to engage donors to make a difference in the community we all love. 

–Your community foundation

THIS MONTH’S

TRENDING TOPICS

What fewer donors means to your mission

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

If you’ve been in a fundraising role for a while, you might have observed that your donor list has been shrinking in recent years. It is not your imagination! Even in 2024, a year of record-breaking total giving, the donor base itself is declining. Two decades ago, approximately two-thirds of U.S. households made charitable donations annually; today, that number has dropped to under half. This means that although certainly total gift volume can grow, it is often driven by a smaller core of high-net-worth donors, leaving more organizations competing for a shrinking base of everyday givers. 

So how should you address this shift toward “top-heavy philanthropy”? Here are a few suggestions:

Keep talking about impact

Despite–or perhaps in light of–the recent whirlwind of commentary about new federal laws and the implications for the charitable deduction and charitable giving, it is really important to keep in mind that for most individuals, the decision to give is driven by deeply personal factors–such as compassion, moral obligation, empathy, or a belief in a cause—rather than financial incentives. So keep talking about impact and how your organization is improving the quality of life in our region! 

Step up your stewardship game

It is important not only to focus relationship building on your long-term, major donors, but also on your newest donors–even if those new donors are giving just a small amount. Many donors start small and may be testing you out. A new donor is always cause for celebration–especially in today’s climate. Consider developing a simple framework laying out the steps to engage a new donor, starting with adding the donor to your email list, of course, followed perhaps by personal outreach via multiple channels of communication that don’t necessarily involve an ask. If you build the relationship up front, bigger dollars are more likely to follow later.

Lean into complexity

The increased standard income tax deduction certainly has been a factor in the declining number of donors since 2017. With so many fewer people itemizing their income tax deductions, tax benefits are no longer the nudge they used to be to encourage people to give to charity. But that doesn’t mean you should give up staying current on tax planning techniques involving charitable giving. Many high-net worth donors and high-income earners who still itemize deductions are very philanthropic and may be open to establishing formal charitable giving plans to support favorite organizations including yours. The community foundation is happy to work with you and your donors on gifts of closely-held business interests, real estate and other complex assets, so when you encounter a potential opportunity, don’t say no. Reach out to our team!   

Thank you for all you do for our region! The community foundation is honored to be your partner. 

High-income donors: Why 2025 is big for charitable giving

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

The fourth quarter is upon us, and you’re no doubt gearing up for year-end giving initiatives. This is always a busy time! Indeed, the 2025 giving season is particularly important because new tax laws have created a window of opportunity and increased awareness about charitable giving in general among your donors and the general public. 

Here’s what you need to know–and do:

High-income donors should consider giving more this year

What to know

Starting in 2026, taxpayers who itemize income tax deductions will be eligible to deduct charitable contributions only to the extent that they exceed 0.5 percent of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income. In addition to this floor, the new tax laws impose a cap on charitable deductions beginning next year such that even your donors who are in the 37% income tax bracket will be eligible to deduct charitable contributions only up to the 35% level. This means donors who accelerate giving in 2025 may capture tax value that will be harder to access later. 

What to do

To lean into this opportunity, consider adding messages to your email newsletters, year-end talking points, and other materials along the lines of this: “Do you itemize deductions on your income tax return? Talk with your tax professional about the advantages of increasing your charitable giving in 2025 before the laws change in 2026. We are grateful for your support!”

Appreciated stock is still an excellent gift

What to know

The new tax laws brought a lot of changes, but don’t forget about the longstanding charitable giving strategy of giving appreciated stock. 2025 has been a strong year for many stocks, and it’s likely that your donors are holding appreciated securities. Donors often need to be reminded that they can give stock held for more than one year to a public charity, such as your organization, and potentially avoid capital gains tax. 

What to do

Be sure to include language in your year-end giving materials reminding donors that your organization can accept gifts of stock, such as: “Remember, appreciated stock is often a far more tax-effective gift to charity than cash. Consult your tax advisor to see how this might work for you, and please reach out to our team to arrange for a gift before year-end. We appreciate your support!”

Qualified Charitable Distributions are ever-important

What to know

The rules for Qualified Charitable Distributions (“QCDs”) are not directly affected by the new tax laws. QCDs remain a powerful charitable giving tool for your donors who are over the age of 70 ½. Your donors might be concerned or confused that the QCD rules have changed alongside other rules for charitable giving, so it is worth reassuring them that each taxpayer who is 70 ½ or older can give up to $108,000 (2025 limit) to a public charity (such as your organization) directly from an IRA and the distribution won’t be included in adjusted gross income.

What to do

Consider including language in your year-end newsletters and other materials about QCDs, such as: “Are you over the age of 70 ½? Do you own an IRA? If so, a Qualified Charitable Distribution may be a great way to support your favorite charities. Check with your tax advisor, and give us a call! We would be honored to receive your gift in the form of a QCD.”  

As always, the team at the community foundation is here to help! Please reach out anytime! 

Legacy giving: A simple plan to get started

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

You and your team no doubt understand how transformational bequests and legacy gifts can be for your organization. In 2024, total charitable giving in the United States reached $592.5 billion, according to the Giving USA 2025 report. The total amount given through bequests alone was $45.8 billion, representing approximately 8% of all charitable donations for the year.

Indeed, it is essential to cultivate not only general giving—annual, major, and campaign gifts—but also legacy giving. A variety of philanthropy sources help build your organization’s resilience and sustainable funding base.

Focusing on legacy or planned giving can feel daunting when your team is already juggling annual appeals, capital projects, events, and major donor cultivation work. If you break it down into manageable steps and integrate legacy giving themes into what you are already doing, however, implementing a legacy giving plan becomes much more achievable. 

Consider these ideas:

–A simple first step is to lightly embed legacy language into your materials. Take a little time to review your marketing and donor communications, including webpages, brochures, one-pagers, and appeal packets, and make sure each mentions the opportunity for donors to support your future through legacy gifts. 

–On your website, especially on your “Ways to Give” and “About” pages, be clear about your endowment or reserve fund, if you have one, or simply highlight a few of the options for structuring legacy gifts alongside general giving to support your organization in the future. 

–Each email newsletter or regular donor update should include a short reminder that donors can leave a lasting legacy through a bequest, IRA beneficiary designation, or other planned gift. 

–Even in annual or capital campaign letters that ask for current support, it is worth briefly mentioning that your organization is also open to conversations about legacy gifts. Over time, you can experiment with different ways of presenting the information, from a short “Did you know” line to a small boxed call-out, to see what resonates best with your audiences.

–Integrate legacy topics into your conversations with donors at all levels of giving. These conversations are often focused on what impact can be achieved right now, but they can also include a discussion of what a donor’s legacy gift to your organization might accomplish in the future. 

–If you are building an endowment, such as through a fund at the community foundation, describing endowment gifts as a way to ensure lasting support for programs helps donors understand the long-term value of their generosity. Many donors do not naturally think about the business side of nonprofit sustainability, so it can be eye-opening for them to learn how endowment and reserve funds help your organization weather economic ups and downs. 

–Stewardship is also key: donors who commit to legacy gifts should be recognized and thanked, whether through a legacy society, added to a list in your annual report, or being invitated to special events.

–Stories are powerful tools for sparking interest. Sharing examples—when permission is granted—of donors who have made legacy gifts and the difference those gifts have made for your organization can inspire others. 

By incorporating legacy and planned giving themes into your regular communications, donor conversations, and storytelling, you can create a balanced fundraising strategy that builds both annual support and long-term stability. Asking for a legacy gift does not need to feel like a rare, high-pressure conversation; instead, legacy gifts can become a natural option for loyal donors who want to see your work thrive for generations.

The team at the community foundation is happy to serve as a sounding board as you develop and strengthen both your annual giving and your legacy giving to ensure that your mission continues to deliver lasting, transformative impact—today and well into the future. Thank you for all you do.

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Tips for tough times, corporate giving, and good news about donor-advised funds

Greetings from the community foundation! 

We are rounding the corner to the last quarter of 2025, and it’s an important time to check in on current charitable giving strategies and how the community foundation can help you stay up to date. It’s been a busy and eventful year, especially where tax policy and other economic factors are concerned.

–The community foundation is happy to share three tips for pushing through the tough times that are facing many nonprofit organizations in our community. From getting back to basics, to maintaining your innovative edge, to doubling down on current donor relationships, a few key principles can help guide you and your team during the months ahead.

–The charitable deduction rules for corporations are changing, and you’ll want to be equipped with at least the basics so you can get a jump on outreach strategies to corporate donors. The community foundation is always here as a sounding board.

–Our team fields lots of good questions from nonprofit organizations about donor-advised funds at the community foundation. We’re happy to provide a quick refresher on how these funds work and how they help grow your mission.  

Thank you for all you do for our community! We are grateful for our partnership and look forward to collaborating during the busy year-end months of 2025. 

THIS MONTH’S

TRENDING TOPICS

Three tips for tough times

It’s certainly no secret that times are tough. Nonprofits in our community are facing mounting pressures as inflation drives up operating costs, pandemic-era relief funds have expired, and demand for services continues to climb. At the community foundation, we are honored to work with local charities that are powering through the obstacles to engage donors and keep charitable dollars flowing to support important work, all while keeping an eye on long-term prospects for legacy gifts and endowment growth. Here are strategies that are working for many charities:

Focus on financial basics

Of course, during good times and bad, nonprofit organizations are encouraged to strengthen financial management practices by closely monitoring cash flow, improving transparency, and enhancing reporting to build trust and stability with stakeholders. What’s new for some organizations in 2025 is stepping up communications with donors on these fundamental topics, both in marketing strategies and in one-on-one meetings. For example, if your organization’s endowment fund is managed at the community foundation, it’s worth considering leaning on that as a talking point to inspire confidence among your donors.

Stay innovative

It’s easy to see why some organizations get caught in “hunker down” mode when times are tough. Perhaps counterintuitively, though, challenging economic conditions can often serve as inspiration for nonprofits to innovate operationally—streamlining processes, adopting new technologies, and rethinking traditional service models—to improve efficiency and impact. This is also an area where the community foundation can help. To streamline your ability to accept gifts of noncash assets, for example, the community foundation can serve as your back office to receive “alternative” donations. 

Cultivate current donors

Taking care of your biggest fans is tried and true advice. Certainly you’ll always want to be on the lookout for new donors, but that work ought not diminish ongoing efforts to build strong relationships with your current donors. Recurring donations, for instance, not only offer nonprofits a predictable and stable funding stream, but they’re also a strong sign of donor loyalty. Indeed, recurring donors demonstrate significantly higher retention and tend to remain committed for many years compared to one-time donors. Long-term donor relationships also pave the way for meaningful conversations about legacy and endowment giving. 

Please reach out to the community foundation anytime. We are happy to be a sounding board to help your mission stay strong, in good times and in bad!

Engaging corporate donors in the OBBBA era

The dust is settling on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025. Charities are beginning to wrap their arms around the new law’s significant shift in the tax treatment of corporate charitable donations. 

Beginning in 2026, a new 1% floor will apply, meaning corporations must donate more than 1% of taxable income before any charitable contributions become deductible. This limitation is in addition to the current 10% “ceiling.” Navigating these two laws, along with the five-year carryforward rules for unused deductions, will present challenges for both charities and the companies that support them. 

So what can you do? Here are three suggestions: 

First, get a jump on the issue this year before the new law kicks in. Reach out proactively to your corporate donors and offer to meet with their finance teams to help structure donations in 2025 to maximize tax benefits. 

Second, get up to speed on how a “bunching” strategy—deliberately combining multiple years of giving into one larger gift year to surpass the 1% floor—might work in 2026 and beyond. With careful planning and coordination with corporate donors, you can take steps to blunt the effect of feast or famine donation cycles that could make it hard for your organization to budget and plan its programs. 

Third, keep in mind that companies may still be able to deduct charity sponsorships as marketing expenses if the payment provides a direct business benefit, such as advertising, rather than being considered a pure charitable donation. Under IRS rules, a business will need to substantiate the benefit received. Note also that your organization will need to properly account for this support on your end of the transaction, including determining whether to report it as “unrelated taxable income.” 

As is the case with any tax rules—and especially new rules that are not yet well understood—the issues are complex with lots of legal twists and turns! Reach out to your legal and tax advisors to get up to speed on how the new rules might impact your own specific situation, and consider the community foundation team as a sounding board in those discussions. We are here to help! 

Good news about donor-advised funds

Understandably, nonprofits often worry that donor-advised funds may delay or diminish their donors’ contributions. In reality, though, donor-advised funds can be very helpful to boost financial support for your mission. Three fundamental concepts are important to gaining a better understanding of how donor-advised funds work at the community foundation.

Many options are available at the community foundation.

It’s important to note that a donor-advised fund is just one of many types of funds that an individual, family, or business can establish with the community foundation. You’re likely more aware of donor-advised funds than other types of funds because they are frequently covered in financial media and also because your organization might have received grants from specific donors through their donor-advised funds. Dollars in donor-advised funds are already set aside for charitable giving, and it’s very convenient for donors to use their funds to support favorite organizations–like yours.

The community foundation encourages donors to give directly.

Rest assured that the team at the community foundation encourages donors to give directly to their favorite charities when that’s the best strategy to achieve a donor’s estate planning, tax, and charitable goals. When that’s not a viable option, though, both the donor and the charity benefit from the donor using a donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation. Examples include cases where the donor wants to give a complex asset, such as real estate or closely-held stock, or needs to plan out several years of giving to address fluctuating income levels and tax liability. Some donors also prefer to give anonymously, and a donor-advised fund can help with that.  

Donor-advised funds are becoming increasingly popular. 

Donor-advised funds are attractive vehicles to help donors organize their giving. In turn, donor-advised fund sponsors—including community foundations—continue to channel billions of dollars in contributions annually to thousands of charities through these vehicles. When donors begin giving through a donor-advised fund, their annual support for organizations often increases significantly, underscoring donor-advised funds’ potential to deepen long-term donor engagement. 

The community foundation is always happy to provide an overview of how these vehicles work and why donors set them up in the first place. Please reach out anytime.

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Your donors and the OBBBA, event tickets, and Make-A-Will Month

Hello from the community foundation!

We appreciate so many local charities reaching out to our team to understand what may be in store for charitable giving under the new laws passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. We are always happy to be a sounding board for trends and developments in philanthropy, and we’re happy to point you in the right direction. To that end, we’re covering three topics that seem to hit home among so many of our nonprofit partners.

—By now, you’re generally aware of the changes to the charitable tax laws under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. How big a deal are these changes? And how should you approach communicating the opportunities to your donors? The community foundation is happy to offer suggestions.

—Event season is just around the corner. This means you’ll likely see an uptick in questions from your donors about whether they can use their donor-advised funds to buy tickets. We know this is a tricky issue, and we’ve got you covered with a quick explanation.

—August is National Make-A-Will month, and we know you want to take full advantage of this opportunity to plant seeds with your donors for endowment gifts and planned gifts. We are offering tips to help you make the most of the buzz.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to work together! Whether your organization has established an endowment or reserve fund at the community foundation, or whether you’re just considering it, thank you! We look forward to a conversation. Thank you for all you do for our community.

—Your community foundation 

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FAQs: What’s up under the OBBBA?

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.

Donors want to know: “Can I sponsor your event through my donor-advised fund?”

It’s no secret that events can help drive fundraising revenue, build community, and foster engagement among your current donors and potential donors. One study even noted that 81% of U.S. donors attend fundraising events every year. As you plan your next gala or golf tournament, keep in mind the special rules that apply to receiving support from donor-advised funds at the community foundation or elsewhere. 

Here’s how this works: 

If a donor is hoping to support your event through a donor-advised fund, the donor cannot receive in return what the IRS calls “more than an incidental benefit.” This means that dollars going toward rounds of golf, meals at a gala, t-shirts, and raffle tickets are not only not tax deductible, but also that a donor-advised fund cannot pay any portion of that ticket or sponsorship–not even the tax-deductible portion. It’s important to be aware that the IRS prohibits this type of “bifurcation.” 

Remember, however, that donors can still give to your organization to help celebrate your event so long as they waive all benefits that go beyond incidentals. Acknowledging and recognizing donors are considered incidental, which means you can (and should) mention the donors in your materials and thank them at the event. If a donor would like to attend the event, the donor can certainly purchase tickets using their personal funds. 

The community foundation is your partner in making a difference. Please reach out anytime to learn more about how donor-advised funds work. Happy party planning!

Make-A-Will Month: Opportunities to grow your endowment

Every August, National Make-A-Will Month highlights the importance of planning for the future. For charitable organizations, it presents a unique and timely opportunity to engage donors in meaningful conversations about leaving a lasting legacy through their wills and other estate planning documents. Beyond encouraging supporters to complete or update their estate plans, National Make-A-Will Month gives you a ready-made platform to discuss how legacy gifts and contributions to your endowment can sustain mission-driven work for generations to come. 

Here are a few ideas to inspire your donor communications during this month and beyond:

Remind donors that an estate plan is important.

Never assume that your donors have their estate plans in good shape. Indeed, many people know they should have a will or a trust but postpone getting it done. With estate planning already top of mind thanks to widespread Make-A-Will Month awareness campaigns, your donors may be more receptive to considering how charitable gifts, including to your organization, can become part of their legacy. Consider Make-A-Will Month as a sort of “bridge” between donors’ good intentions and taking action, benefiting both the donor and your organization.

Start a conversation about legacy giving

Even though you and your team know how important it is to at least briefly mention planned giving in nearly every donor conversation, discussions about leaving a legacy still can sometimes feel uncomfortable. Make-A-Will Month is a ready-made ice breaker, so it’s easier for you to introduce the topic without awkwardness. You can normalize the idea of including charitable gifts in a will, which in turn empowers donors to think about the impact they’d like to make long after they’re gone. The upshot here is that every single donor communication this month is an opportunity to open the door for a legacy discussion.

Shine a light on endowment gifts

Make-A-Will Month is a perfect time to educate your donors about the benefits of supporting your endowment. Indeed, endowments are often built with assets received from bequests in a donors’ wills or trusts, via beneficiary designations on retirement accounts or life insurance, or more complex gifts such as charitable remainder trusts. While estate planning is on your donors’ minds, reinforce the importance of your organization’s endowment to fund essential programs year after year. By connecting the themes of estate planning and lasting impact, you’ll be able to illustrate how a bequest to your organization can make a difference for generations to come. 

As always, whether it’s Make-A-Will Month or any other time of the year, please reach out to the community foundation. We are happy to serve as a resource as you develop strategies to deepen donor relationships. We’ll help you evaluate strategies for reaching out thoughtfully during Make-A-Will Month so you can tap this opportunity to expand trust and connection with your donors, paving the way for the future of your mission. 

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Bequest giving, the magic of recurring donations, and what to know about tax legislation

Hello from the community foundation! 

We hope the summer months are treating you well. The team at the community foundation has been fielding a lot of questions from nonprofit professionals and board members about how you can continue to keep donor relationships strong even through these uncertain times. We’re happy to share insights and trends that can help support your stewardship efforts as you focus not only on building long-term endowment assets, but also strive to ensure that annual giving continues to sustain your important mission.  

–The much-anticipated Giving USA report is out, and there’s good news about 2024 philanthropy, which hit a new high. Bequest giving, however, dropped last year, but it’s not necessarily a red flag because bequests are by definition unpredictable. Learn how you can interpret the statistics and stay focused on legacy giving as an important revenue stream.   

–Any opportunity to keep a donor engaged is a good one! That is certainly the case with recurring gifts. The community foundation team is always happy to serve as a sounding board for ways you can both maintain recurring giving and also engage those donors in planned giving and legacy conversations.

–All eyes are on potential changes in the tax laws that could impact charitable giving. Learn how the latest developments in Federal legislation might impact your donors, and in turn inform your fundraising and donor engagement strategies.

Whether your organization has established an endowment or reserve fund at the community foundation or you’re considering it, we appreciate the opportunity to work together. Thank you for all you do to improve the quality of life in the community we all love.   

–Your community foundation

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Bequest giving was down. Does it matter?

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

No doubt you’ve seen the news that bequest giving declined by 4.4% in 2024, according to the just-released Giving USA report. As a nonprofit professional, though, you know that bequest giving is inherently volatile. Indeed, despite the volatility, bequests still accounted for 8% of total charitable giving, underscoring their significance for long-term funding strategies. 

At the community foundation, we work with nonprofit organizations every single day to help support your efforts to build endowments and attract long-term funding from donors to sustain your mission in perpetuity. In many cases, we do this by administering a charity’s endowment or reserve fund. In other cases, we do this by helping charities accept complex gifts from donors, such as real estate or closely-held stock. In all cases, we are very aware of the fundraising environment and how important it is to you–and your board–to keep donor support flowing through annual gifts, major gifts, and legacy gifts.

Here are three key takeaways from the Giving USA report, which you might consider sharing with your board: 

• Charities should continue to prioritize individual donor engagement, as individuals remain the backbone of U.S. philanthropy.

• Economic conditions, especially stock market performance, have a significant impact on giving—monitoring these trends can help with planning and forecasting.

• Bequest giving is still a major component of fundraising and, although the results can be unpredictable from year to year, a focus on planned giving will deliver strong results in the long term. 

As always, the team at the community foundation is here to help! Please reach out. We are happy to arrange a presentation at one of your upcoming board meetings to share best practices for planned giving programs, tips for encouraging donors to leave a legacy to your endowment fund, and factors to keep in mind as you launch efforts to attract gifts of nontraditional assets such as real estate and closely-held stock. We are here for you! 

On repeat: How recurring donations can inspire legacy gifts

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

These days, it seems as though there’s a subscription for anything you need. A recent study noted that the average consumer holds approximately 4.5 entertainment streaming subscriptions alone. With the world continuing its shift toward convenient subscription options, it makes sense that your donors are happily moving in this direction as well.

In 2023, a year when revenue from one-time online giving decreased by 5%, revenue generated from monthly giving increased by 6%. In a more recent study, revenue from monthly giving outpaced revenue from one-time giving by 10%. Monthly giving is continuing to trend as an attractive giving option for donors. Here’s why that’s good news for you:

Recurring givers are committed

If you start a subscription for a new product or service, it’s likely that you’re pretty committed, or at least believe in the product enough to subscribe for multiple months. Monthly givers are no different. A study tracking donor trends from 2018 - 2022 showed that nonprofits had better than average retention rates for recurring givers. Indeed, if a donor starts a recurring gift, there’s a pretty good chance they’re bought into your mission and will be around for the long haul.

Recurring givers make it easier to plan

With one-time donors, it’s hard to know how much they’ll give from one year to the next. Turbulent economic conditions, busy family lives, or flat out forgetting to give can always affect your bottom line giving totals. With recurring givers, you can often expect a similar amount month-to-month, helping you plan your short-term budgets and expected income. Indeed, 91% of recurring donors have their gifts set on “autopilot” by automatically charging their credit or debit cards.

Recurring givers often donate more than their regular gift

While recurring donors are already contributing a great deal to support your mission, 50% of recurring donors also make additional gifts throughout the year. Whether through regular communications, solicitations, or year-end gifts, recurring givers are excellent candidates for major gifts, endowment gifts, planned gifts, and legacy gifts.  

Just because a donor has set giving on autopilot, though, it doesn’t mean the donor doesn't need cultivation. It’s actually the opposite. How are you caring for your recurring givers and building a community of some of the most faithful, committed partners to your work? And how are you optimizing your communications and training your team to bring in new recurring givers that will be around for the long haul, especially to ultimately make major gifts and leave a gift to your organization in their estate plans?

The community foundation team is happy to help you explore ways to elevate your stewardship strategies to deepen relationships with recurring donors so that they become strong supporters for your endowment or legacy program. We look forward to a conversation!

Matching gifts, staying hopeful, and keeping an eye on proposed legislation

Hello from the community foundation! 

In these challenging times, the community foundation is here for you. Our team is always happy to serve as a sounding board as you explore ways to keep your donors engaged to sustain your mission for the long term. We’re offering updates to help you stay the course and keep you informed of external factors that may affect your fundraising efforts.  

–You’re familiar, of course, with matching gifts programs, and now is an excellent time to review strategies that can help you maximize these opportunities. The statistics continue to show that matching programs can increase donor engagement and the value of gifts. Consider leveling up your donor communications to inspire more matching gifts. 

–It’s easy to get discouraged in the face of many external pressures that could significantly impact your ability to carry out your mission and raise funds to meet your budget and long-term goals for growth and sustainability. Still, there are reasons to be hopeful about donors’ commitment to the community and your important work, even right now.

–You’re certainly watching legislative developments, several of which are raising significant concern. The community foundation keeps an eye on potential changes in the law that could impact your work, paying particular attention to proposed changes that could affect your fundraising and donor engagement strategies. Learn what may be on the horizon. 

Thank you for everything you do! Whether your organization has established an endowment or reserve fund at the community foundation, or you’re considering it at some point in the future, we look forward to our next conversation. We are in this together!  

–Your community foundation

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Saving for a rainy day: Matching gifts and growing your endowment  

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

Many charities and their boards of directors are evaluating strategies to grow the organization’s endowment during these challenging economic times. One way to do that is by strategically leveraging donors’ financial contributions through corporate or other matching gift programs. 

You’re certainly aware that many employers will match your donor’s donation—often dollar for dollar—effectively doubling the impact without requiring the donor to give more. Sometimes an individual donor or a specific foundation will offer to match donations for a particular campaign or for a period of time. Of course, any type of match increases the total dollar amount flowing to your organization to sustain operations or grow your endowment. In addition–and a factor that charities often overlook–is that matching gifts also incentivize donors to give larger gifts because they know their contributions will be amplified. Indeed, research shows that 84% of donors are more likely to give if a match is offered, and one in three will increase their gift size when they know it will be matched.

Here are two tips to attract matching gifts. First, focus on getting the word out to your donors. Second, try to streamline the matching process. Both of these factors are important. Many donors are unaware of their eligibility for employer matching programs, so it’s a good idea to consider integrating matching gift search tools into donation forms, send targeted follow-up emails, or at least provide clear instructions on how to submit match requests. Promoting matching opportunities during key campaigns—such as endowment drives or special giving events—and combining corporate matches with major donor or board-funded matching challenges can create a sense of urgency and multiply the impact even further. Some organizations have seen campaign revenue increase by 30% or more when a matching gift offer is included..

Beyond immediate fundraising gains, leveraging matching gifts deepens donor engagement and builds stronger relationships with both individual supporters and corporate partners. Donors who participate in matching programs often feel a greater sense of impact and are more likely to continue giving in the future. 

If you’re ready to explore how you can tap even further into matching gifts as a strategy to sustain your operating budget or grow your endowment, please reach out to the community foundation team. We are happy to discuss ideas for cultivating partnerships with local businesses and major donors for matching campaigns that can open new avenues for support and ramp up your organization’s visibility within the community. 

Making matching gifts a central part of your fundraising strategy can help unlock new revenue streams, inspire larger and more frequent gifts, and ensure long-term financial sustainability. We look forward to a conversation! 

Reasons to be hopeful, even in times like these

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

It is an understatement to say that 2025 has been rough for charitable organizations. Economic volatility, a challenging political climate, and tax reform on the horizon are major factors for many nonprofits.

Despite the harsh realities of external factors, here are three potential bright spots for your organization’s staff and board to consider as you continue the hard work of delivering on your mission. 

Generosity tends to endure through crisis

History shows that even during economic downturns, disasters, or uncertainty, the spirit of generosity persists. Donors are motivated not just by surplus wealth but by a deep belief in the causes they support. In other words, the people who care about your organization really do care. Even in the wake of major recessions and national tragedies, nonprofits have adapted to new realities, rallied donors, and continued to raise the funds they need to carry out their missions.

Keep talking to donors

Certainly not all donors are affected the same way when times get tough. Some may find it hard to give due to financial constraints, while others may be less financially affected and continue giving at historical levels or even beyond. It’s important for a nonprofit’s board and staff to keep communicating with donors, avoid making assumptions about capacity or lack thereof, and stay confident and passionate about your mission and its importance to the lives of the people you serve. In other words, don’t stop asking donors for gifts, and don’t narrow the range of gifts you’re seeking. Annual giving, campaign giving, endowment giving, and planned giving all are still on the menu. Now is not the time to take a step back.

Step up your own game

There is no better time to get better at fundraising than during a challenging time! You and your team may look back and be glad you were forced to get more efficient, creative, and strategic about engaging donors in every aspect of giving, including endowment and legacy giving. Double down on testing new ideas on a few donors so you can “fail small” and see what works. When you see results from a particular strategy, take note! If something works during really tough times, imagine what could happen when things turn around.

Please reach out to the community foundation team! We are happy to serve as a sounding board to help you navigate these turbulent times so that your organization can emerge stronger and better than before. Philanthropy is essential to maintaining and improving quality of life in our community, and we are all in this together.

On notice: Three observations about pending tax legislation

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

Over the last few weeks, our team at the community foundation has talked with dozens of nonprofit leaders and people who serve on charities’ boards of directors about the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill” (H.R. 1) that passed the House of Representatives by a narrow margin on May 22, 2025. Understandably, many nonprofit organizations are concerned that this legislation might impact their work. 

Among many troubling elements are provisions that could affect fundraising strategies to attract annual gifts, major gifts, endowment gifts, and planned gifts. Here are three provisions that are especially important to watch. 

Corporate giving

What’s the provision?

The proposed legislation introduces a 1% “floor” on corporate charitable deductions, meaning corporations could only deduct charitable contributions that exceed 1% of their taxable income, up to the existing 10% cap. 

What’s the concern?

This provision could discourage corporate giving, particularly for companies that typically donate less than 1% of their income, as their contributions would no longer be deductible unless they surpass that threshold. The uncertainty over whether corporations can deduct the full value of their contributions or only the amount above 1% adds further ambiguity, potentially leading to reduced corporate support for charities. 

Is it all bad news?

Many corporations support charities through sponsorships that come out of their marketing budgets, not their charitable giving budgets. The proposed legislation does not impact a corporation’s ability to deduct marketing expenses. 

Private foundation giving

What’s the provision?

The pending bill would restructure and increase taxes on private foundations, specifically the net investment income tax. The bill replaces the previous flat rate with a graduated structure, imposing higher rates on larger foundations—up to 10% for those with assets exceeding $5 billion. 

What’s the concern?

The proposed increase in tax liability could potentially reduce the amount of funding available for charitable grants, as private foundations may have fewer resources to distribute after accounting for the higher taxes. Additionally, increased compliance costs associated with these new tax structures could further divert funds away from charitable activities and into administrative overhead. 

Is it all bad news?

Donor-advised funds could become an even more important source of funding if the new laws cause some donors to shift away from private foundations as their primary organizing structure for their philanthropy. In the case of donor-advised funds held at the community foundation, this could be good news because the community foundation actively works with donors to use their donor-advised funds to keep charitable dollars flowing to charities in our community. 

Individual giving

What’s the provision?

The proposed legislation affects individual giving by extending provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that were scheduled to sunset at the end of this year. Specifically, the standard deduction is slated to remain high under the proposed legislation, as is the estate tax exemption. 

What’s the concern?

The chilling effect on charitable giving of a higher standard deduction and higher estate tax deduction is likely to continue.

Is it all bad news?

The bill includes a modest charitable deduction for non-itemizers, allowing up to $150 for single filers and $300 for married couples.

Collectively, these changes potentially could make fundraising more challenging for charities. What’s important to keep in mind, though, is that nothing is set in stone–yet. Significant changes to the bill are likely as the Senate starts reviewing the bill in June. 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 posted as the situation develops. We are here for you! 

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.

Donors’ 401(k)s, planned giving momentum, and tips to build your endowment

Hello from the community foundation! 

We hope you and your colleagues are doing well, despite a chaotic start to 2025. Please know that the team at the community foundation is here for you as a sounding board, and especially as a partner to help you continue to grow long-term charitable giving so that your organization can thrive well into the future. 

We’re happy to provide updates and tips on topics you might be encountering these days as you work with your donors. 

–The stock market’s volatility has left many donors feeling less secure about their financial positions. Even younger donors who are years away from retirement cringe when they see the balances drop in their 401(k)s and IRAs. The fact that donors are paying attention creates an opportunity to remind them about the benefits of naming a fund at the community foundation as the beneficiary of an IRA or other qualified retirement plan. 

–Don’t let your planned giving strategies wind up on the backburner, even as the economic landscape makes it tempting to focus mainly on annual giving and major gifts. The community foundation is happy to offer tips and suggestions for ensuring that planned giving messages don’t get tossed out the window. It’s too important to ignore.

–Growing your endowment is a priority no matter what the economic climate. That said, you can adjust your approach to reflect the realities of the market. The community foundation is happy to offer tips to help you continue to add to your endowment fund even though times are tough.

Please reach out anytime if you’d like to brainstorm ideas for endowment-building or planned giving, or even troubleshoot an actual donor situation. We are here for you through thick and thin.

–Your community foundation

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TRENDING TOPICS

Managing 401(k) drops: Lemonade from lemons 

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

It is important to know right now that your donors may be feeling the squeeze with their 401(k)s and IRAs. In many cases, account balances can fluctuate significantly due to market swings, especially for those heavily invested in stocks. This may leave your donors feeling a little (or a lot) on edge.

Now that donors are paying more attention to their 401(k)s and IRAs, you’ve got a real opportunity to remind them about the benefits of naming a charity as the beneficiary of a retirement plan. Here’s an example of why this is so advantageous:

When a donor names your organization as the beneficiary of an IRA, you’ll receive the entire IRA balance without paying any income tax. This, in turn, means that the full value of the account stays with you. By contrast, if the donor’s children were to inherit the IRA, they would have to pay ordinary income tax on withdrawals. What’s more, under the SECURE Act, they are required to withdraw the entire balance within 10 years, potentially pushing them into higher tax brackets and reducing the after-tax inheritance.

On the other hand, if your donor’s estate plan leaves the appreciated stock to children, the tax result is very different. Here’s why: When the children inherit the stock, it’s subject to a "step-up in basis” to its fair market value at the date of the donor’s death. This means that if the donor’s children sell the stock immediately after inheriting it, they won’t owe capital gains tax on the appreciation that occurred during the donor’s lifetime. Of course, if the donor were to leave the stock to your organization, you would also avoid capital gains tax, but because the IRA is a far less tax-efficient asset for heirs, it's better to allocate the IRA to charity and the stock to children. 

Please reach out to the community foundation for ideas and tips about communicating this opportunity to your donors to help you grow your endowment assets. Now is the time to encourage donors to name your organization as the beneficiary of IRAs. It’s a strategy that maximizes the after-tax value received by both a donor’s heirs and your organization. 

Run, don’t walk: Why planned giving can’t wait

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

The news from the stock market has not been rosy! Investor confidence is rattled and many households are reassessing their financial priorities. Despite increasing challenges brought on by 2025’s turmoil, it’s important to remember that your organization and other charities are presented with a unique opportunity to lean into planned giving discussions. 

Certainly many donors are feeling less secure about their finances amid a challenging economic climate and the recent stock market downturn. Understandably, In this environment, donors may be more hesitant to make large gifts or even maintain previous levels of annual giving, preferring instead to preserve liquidity and safeguard their immediate financial well-being. 

This is where planned giving comes in. Planned giving offers you and your colleagues a compelling alternative because donors can make a significant, lasting impact without affecting their current cash flow through bequests or beneficiary designations that take effect in the future to support your organization’s endowment. 

Unlike annual gifts, planned gifts are less vulnerable to short-term market volatility and provide a more predictable, stable revenue stream—critical for organizational resilience during uncertain times. By proactively engaging donors in thoughtful planned giving conversations, you can help your supporters feel confident about their legacy and financial security, while also ensuring your organization’s long-term sustainability despite today’s economic headwinds. 

Please reach out to the community foundation! We’re always happy to offer suggestions and resources to help you maintain momentum with your planned giving program.

Three tips for keeping endowment giving strong amid economic upheaval

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

If you’re looking at your endowment-building goals for 2025 and feel a wave of uncertainty wash over you, you are not alone! Charities everywhere are facing mounting challenges in 2025 as economic uncertainty, market volatility, and shifting donor priorities threaten endowment giving. The community foundation is here to help ensure that your endowment fund and efforts to grow it remain robust, which in turn fosters the stability of your mission.

Here are three forward-thinking, donor-centric strategies to consider right now to avoid losing momentum on your endowment-building efforts:

Focus on current donors

Retaining existing donors is more cost-effective and impactful than acquiring new ones, especially during economic downturns. Be sure to maintain regular, transparent communication with endowment and legacy donors, sharing real-time updates on how their gifts are making a difference. Express appreciation through personalized recognition, such as thank-you calls from board members, special events, or exclusive updates. You can also offer tailored engagement opportunities, such as site visits or meetings with people your organization has helped, to deepen donor connection and trust. In times of uncertainty, your donors want assurance that their contributions are well-managed and impactful.

Share compelling stories

Donors—especially those considering or maintaining endowment gifts—are increasingly focused on impact and results. To build and sustain trust, highlight specific stories and data that demonstrate the real-world results of endowment giving. Invite donor feedback and, where appropriate, involve them in discussions about endowment management or future priorities. Indeed, a 2023 survey found that 70% of donors consider transparency a key factor in their giving decisions. By proactively sharing information and outcomes, charities can reassure donors and encourage continued or increased endowment support.

Offer choices

Economic upheaval often prompts donors to reassess how and what they give. Meet your donors where they are right now by offering a range of planned giving options, such as charitable trusts, bequests, gifts of appreciated securities, or retirement assets, to accommodate donors’ financial planning needs. At the same time, make giving as simple and flexible as possible, including digital platforms for recurring or micro-donations, and options for non-cash gifts. Related, consider designing your communications to provide personalized experiences, recognizing that different donor demographics respond to different messages and opportunities.

The community foundation is here for you! We are honored to help you maintain strong relationships and keep your endowment efforts resilient, even as economic conditions fluctuate.

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Building endowments, gifts of appreciated stock, and staying strong on planned giving

Hello from the community foundation!

It is our pleasure to work with you and so many other nonprofit organizations in our community that are making a huge difference every single day. Whether your organization has already established an endowment fund at the community foundation or you’re considering getting started sometime soon, we are here for you. 

Today, we’re sharing insights related to three areas that we know are on many nonprofit leaders’ minds. 

–Your donors may understand generally the concept of “endowment,” but they may not be fully aware of their options to support your organization in perpetuity. Learn more about how the community foundation can help you structure a donor’s endowment gift to meet a donor’s goals as well as your organization’s objectives for sustaining its mission.

–“But we say it all the time,” you might think when you see reminders to inform donors about the benefits of giving appreciated stock instead of cash. It may be true that you repeat the message over and over, and that’s precisely what you should be doing.

–Planned giving may seem like that one thing you simply cannot take on in the craziness of today’s fundraising environment and the snowballing of community needs. Don’t let yourself off the hook! Planned giving is crucial to your organization's future success, and the community foundation makes it easier.

Thank you for all you do for the community we love. Our team is here as your first call whenever questions about endowments and planned giving land on your radar. We look forward to helping your organization reach both short-term and long-term fundraising goals! 

–Your community foundation team

THIS MONTH’S

TRENDING TOPICS

Building for the future: Two ways to grow endowments

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

The community foundation is honored to work with so many wonderful nonprofit organizations in our region that are improving quality of life every single day. We know that it’s important for you to grow endowment assets to create a permanent source of support for your mission.

You’ve likely made it a priority to provide ongoing education and information to your donors to help them understand how your endowment works and why it’s so important to the future of your organization. Occasionally, a donor may ask you about the difference between making a gift to support your endowment, or, in the alternative, establishing a separate endowment fund at the community foundation to support your organization. 

Here’s a little background that may help you explain the differences to your donors. In either case, our team can help, so please do reach out. 

Building your endowment fund. Many donors will want to support your endowment fund held at the community foundation. Your board of directors may from time to time elect to make transfers from your organization’s assets to the fund. Your organization’s endowment fund is sometimes referred to as “quasi-endowment” because your board of directors has some degree of flexibility to access the principal for certain stated purposes such as emergencies. Annual distributions to supplement your organization’s budget are often made from the endowment fund based on market value percentages. 

Donor-established endowment fund. Sometimes, a donor would like to support your organization by establishing a separate and permanent endowment at the community foundation, whether during lifetime or through a bequest. In that case, the board of directors and staff at the community foundation will oversee income payments to your organization and also ensure that the principal stays intact in perpetuity. In many cases, a donor will want to structure an endowment gift as a designated fund to benefit your organization while also leaning on the community foundation for support. The donor can name the fund whatever they’d like (e.g., the Smith Family Endowment Fund). 

The community foundation team is experienced at managing the accounting, investment, and distribution aspects of all types of endowment funds. When you work with the community foundation, it’s convenient and rewarding to establish and grow your organization’s endowment, as well as offer donors the option to set up a separate named endowment fund. Both types of gifts help your mission stay strong and improve the quality of life for future generations. 

Gifts of appreciated stock: Say it, and say it again

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

Repeat, repeat, repeat. You may feel like you are constantly talking with your donors about the benefits of giving appreciated stock. Your talk track may go something like this:

–“Before you reach for your checkbook to make a gift to our endowment fund at the community foundation, consider giving highly-appreciated stock.” 

–“Appreciated stock is frequently a far more advantageous gift to charity than giving cash.” 

–“When you make a gift of shares held for more than one year, you’ll typically be eligible for a charitable deduction at the shares’ fair market value on the date of the gift.” 

–“Plus, our endowment fund is a charity and therefore capital gains tax won’t be triggered on the sale of the shares, leaving the full fair market value available to grow our endowment and pave the way for the future success of our mission.”

–“By contrast, if you’d sold the shares yourself and given the proceeds to our endowment fund, you’d owe capital gains tax. This can be a big hit if you’ve held the shares for many years and they’ve got a low basis.”

–“It’s easy to transfer stock to our endowment fund because we work hand-in-hand with the community foundation team.” 

You say all of this so much that you’re sick of it, so surely your donors are sick of hearing it too, right? Wrong. Your donors don’t live and breathe charitable giving like those of us who work in the nonprofit sector day in and day out. So, not only is the subject matter sometimes challenging, but it’s also likely that donors are not paying attention most of the time. Indeed, a lot of donors are missing out on the benefits of giving stock instead of cash.

Building your endowment fund, like any type of fundraising, is a long game. You have to keep repeating key messages so that the point finally gets across, often when the timing is just right and the topic of tax planning or charitable giving happens to be on a donor’s mind.

The team at the community foundation is always happy to serve as a sounding board for key messages and strategies to build your endowment, one person and one gift at a time, over and over–and over–again. We’re honored to work with you! 

Keep going: Tips to inspire your planned giving efforts

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

In an environment where immediate community needs are never-ending (and actually seem to be skyrocketing), it’s really hard to carve out energy and time in your fundraising plan to make room for planned giving. We understand! The team at the community foundation knows how crucial it is for our community’s charities to attract as many donor dollars as possible to meet 2025’s mounting demands.

Ignoring a planned giving plan altogether, though, would be a mistake. You’d be sacrificing the long-term longevity of your mission. Intellectually, nonprofit fundraising professionals understand this. It’s just that it seems so hard to do at the moment, in the midst of turbulent times and emotional drain.  

Keep your planned giving spirits high by considering the following:

–Donors’ planned gifts, such as bequests, are often significantly larger than annual donations. For instance, the average charitable bequest can range from $37,000 to $78,360, which is substantially higher than typical annual gifts. That’s because donors can make planned gifts from assets they might not be able to part with during their lifetime, such as naming a charity as beneficiary of a retirement plan.

–You may discover that engaging a donor in planned giving conversations actually enhances the donor’s annual giving and campaign giving. This is because you’re engaging a donor through yet another touchpoint, reinforcing that there are multiple ways to align values and beliefs with thoughtful gifts to support your mission and your endowment. Indeed, donors who arrange for a planned gift may increase their annual giving by up to 75% and beyond!

–Keep in mind that planned gifts are often unrestricted. This allows you to allocate the funds where they are most needed and, importantly, grow your endowment. 

–Pursuing planned gifts may not be as time-consuming as you think, especially given the return on investment often yielded by a planned gift. For instance, according to at least one study, for every dollar spent on promoting bequests, charities can expect an average return of $56.83, significantly higher than other fundraising methods. 

The key is to make it easy. Here’s how:

–Small tweaks to your marketing materials. Try to at least mention the opportunity for planned giving somewhere on each marketing asset. Make sure your website mentions your endowment fund at the community foundation. The same goes for printed materials, one-pagers, email newsletters, and annual appeal letters. Even though you mostly are asking for a current gift, don’t forget to mention that you’re always open to a discussion about endowment gifts through a bequest or beneficiary designation.

–Always mention it, even if briefly. Talk with your major gift donors about the importance of your endowment and operating reserves to the organization’s ability to weather the ups and downs of the market and community needs. Sometimes donors don’t think about the “business” side of nonprofits. Even if your meeting is about something else, you can at least plant seeds.  

–Offer real inspiration. If you can, find a current donor who is open to your organization sharing the story of the donor’s intentions to leave a planned gift to your endowment fund in addition to making regular annual gifts. Role models are powerful. 

We look forward to working with you to help you grow your endowment! The community foundation is committed to your success. We believe in philanthropy’s ability to improve the quality of life in our region through outstanding nonprofit organizations delivering services to people who need it most. Thank you for all you do.

Engaging Gen Z, hard-to-value assets, and tax tips for donors

Hello from the community foundation!

Not a week goes by without our team engaging with dozens of nonprofit partners like you who are making our region a better place to live every single day. It is our honor to help structure endowments and reserve funds to ensure that your missions stay strong for generations to come.

In this issue, we’re highlighting techniques and tips to help you cultivate donors’ gifts, including accepting gifts of hard-to-value assets, reminding donors about important tax rules for charitable deductions, and reviewing the importance of engaging younger generations in your mission.

Please reach out anytime to learn more about these opportunities and anything else that’s crossed your desk related to charitable giving strategies. We’re happy to serve as a sounding board alongside the services we provide to administer your endowment or reserve fund. We appreciate the opportunity to work together!

–Your community foundation team

THIS MONTH’S

TRENDING TOPICS

They’re paying attention: Why you shouldn’t ignore Gen Z donors

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

As you and your team review lists to identify potential endowment and legacy donors, it’s easy to slip into the habit of zeroing in on donors who are well-established in their careers and businesses, nearing retirement, or already retired. Of course, you’ll want to target these groups because they are likely to have the capacity to make large gifts, and they may be in a position to revise their estate plans or beneficiary designations to include your endowment fund.

But don’t stop there! Expand your endowment and legacy fundraising outreach to include not only Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials, but also Gen Z. Gen Z’s philanthropic engagement defies stereotypes about short-term thinking, with 84% already supporting causes through donations, volunteering, or advocacy—demonstrating a readiness to commit to long-term impact despite their youth. Certainly their financial contributions may be smaller due to early-career stages, but their focus on social justice, climate action, and equity aligns with the legacy-building nature of planned giving.

Here are three strategies to keep in mind:

–As Gen Z donors get into the workforce, they’ll be enrolling in 401(k)s and other retirement programs through their employers. This presents an opportunity for you to educate donors early in their careers about the significant tax benefits of naming a charity as the beneficiary of their retirement plans. 

–Regularly include messaging in your fundraising communications about the importance of your endowment to your mission’s sustainability for generations to come. The role your organization plays in the community’s future is an important message for Gen Z to hear repeatedly. 

–Use messages that demonstrate trust and transparency because these concepts resonate particularly well with Gen Z’s values. This helps signal that your mission is worth supporting long-term, an important factor in light of Gen Z’s eagerness to plan ahead.

Proactively engaging Gen Z now will help your organization secure future revenue and build on young people’s sincere desire to make a difference. Please reach out to the community foundation team to discuss ways you can engage Gen Z to strengthen your endowment and legacy giving strategies.  

Gifts of hard-to-value assets: Worth the effort

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

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 or reserve fund 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. 

Tax time tips for your donors

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

April 15 is right around the corner! Now is a good time to review a few basic tax principles related to charitable giving so that you’re prepared for donor conversations. Tax planning is on their minds, and you don’t want to miss an opportunity to secure a gift to your endowment fund. 

Your donors give for lots of reasons other than a tax deduction.

With taxes on the minds of so many donors this time of year, it’s important to remember that it’s not all about the tax deduction! Charitable giving is a priority for the vast majority of affluent families. Indeed, among people who own investments of $5 million or more, 91% of those surveyed reported that charitable giving is a component of their estate and financial plans. In another study, most affluent investors cited reasons for giving well beyond the possibility of a tax deduction and would not automatically reduce their giving if the charitable income tax deduction went away. During the fundraising process, be aware of donors’ non-tax motivations for giving, such as family traditions, personal experiences, and compassion for your mission. 

Your donors may still default to giving cash, so you have to stay in front of them.

Many donors simply are not aware of the tax benefits of giving highly-appreciated assets to their favorite charities. Even if you feel like you say it a lot, keep saying it! Donors often forget or are in a hurry and end up writing checks and making donations with their credit cards. It’s really important to remind your donors about the benefits of donating non-cash assets such as highly-appreciated publicly-traded stock, or even complex assets (e.g., closely-held business interests and real estate). The community foundation can help you work with donors to give highly-appreciated assets in lieu of cash to your endowment fund. This in turn can help donors reduce–significantly–capital gains tax exposure, and they can calculate the deduction based on the full fair market value of the gifted assets. 

Your donors may not remember the basic rules of deductibility.

It’s important to know that the deductibility rules are different for donors’ gifts to a public charity (such as your endowment fund at the community foundation) on one hand, and their gifts to a private foundation on the other hand. Donors’ gifts to your organization directly, or to your endowment fund, are deductible up to 60% of AGI for cash gifts and 30% of AGI for gifts of other assets. Gifts to private foundations are deductible up to 30% of AGI for cash gifts and 20% of AGI for gifts of other assets. In addition, gifts to public charities of non-marketable assets such as real estate and closely-held stock typically are deductible at fair market value, while the same assets given to a private foundation are deductible at the donor’s cost basis. This difference can be enormous in terms of dollars, so make sure you let your donors know about this if they are planning a major gift.

Make it a habit to repeat the tax basics in your donor communications. This will help you grow your endowment fund not only during tax time, but also throughout the year. As always, the community foundation is here to help! Reach out anytime!

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Make 2025 great: Donor engagement and endowment fundraising calendar

Make 2025 great: Year-round donor engagement strategies

The team at the community foundation is honored to work with so many charities that are making a big difference in our community every single day. We’re inspired every time we connect with you and your colleagues, whether our interaction is about a grant from a fund at the community foundation, helping you strategize about a major gift to help fund your operating budget, or discussing ways to maximize the growth of your endowment at the community foundation. 

As a gift to you and our other nonprofit partners, we’re dedicating this issue to providing an outreach calendar to inspire your fundraising efforts and donor engagement strategies, especially related to growing your endowment. Whether you decide to use all, some, or none of the suggestions in the calendar, at the very least, we hope the material serves as a jumping off point as you launch full steam ahead in 2025.

Thank you for all you do! 

–Your community foundation

A GIFT FOR YOU

FROM THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

Donor Engagement & Endowment Fundraising Outreach Calendar

January

• You’ve likely already reviewed your year-end activity to determine which donors were most active at year-end, and which of these active donors have already established a planned gift or have otherwise supported your endowment.  

• As you finished up your thank you notes, you very likely ran across at least a handful of donors that seemed ready for deeper engagement. Let’s carry that momentum forward! 

February

• Reach out one-by-one to the donors you noted in January as potentially ready for deeper engagement. Messages along the lines of planning for the year ahead and taking advantage of QCDs early in the year will resonate well. 

• Begin planning outreach to donors related to upcoming tax time. This is an excellent time to plant seeds with donors because they will be reviewing last year’s financial and tax matters with their advisors.  

• Consider also deploying content that focuses on involving family in supporting your organization, aligning loosely with Valentine’s Day. You can also showcase heartwarming stories of impact.

March

• Continue your tax-time outreach noted above. 

• Be sure to include reminders about the benefits of giving appreciated stock and the charitable deduction in general. This is important because as your donors review their tax return information for 2024, they may notice instances where they could (should!) have given appreciated stock instead of cash. They might also realize that they should have given more to charity than they did. This can help you generate gifts to your annual fund and endowment.

April

• Continue tax time reminders in all of your one-on-one communications. If you’ve promoted tax messages as noted above for March, you can get even more mileage out of the content by forwarding your March communications to donors in real time as you are on the phone with them. Sometimes people miss things in their email inboxes, but you always get a second chance to send it during a phone conversation or even live during a meeting. 

• If you send an April communication, consider using “spring cleaning” types of themes about getting organized and planning 2025 charitable gifts to your annual fund and endowment fund. This can help increase donor giving during the first half of the year.

May

• This is the time of year that donors may be gearing up for some down time during the summer. This is an excellent time to lean into conversations about bequests, IRA beneficiary designations, and other types of planned gifts to your endowment. 

June

• With tax time behind them, and the year-end rush still months away, donors and their advisors typically have more bandwidth to dig into discussions about including your organization’s endowment in an estate plan. Just because the pace is slower doesn’t mean the energy takes a hit! This is a great time to catch donors in a more relaxed mode. 

• Focus your content on mid-year trends and summer reading ideas to learn about charitable giving.

July

• This is a good time of year to zero in on legislative and tax law updates. By this time in the year, we have a pretty good idea of legislative agendas. Plus, you want donors to start thinking about you for year-end transactions. 

• The community foundation team is always a sounding board and resource for staying up-to-date with tax legislation that could impact your donors’ giving habits.

August

• Make a Will Month is a useful time for bequest and estate planning reminders, incorporating charitable planning into a business succession plan, planned giving, and giving while living. Use these themes in your communications. 

• Content can touch on not only Make a Will Month, but also forecasting the busy third and fourth quarters. Now is the time for donors to discuss endowment gifts, major gifts, and planned gifts.

September

• This is a really busy time of year, but you should not stop the drumbeat! 

• Content can include encouraging donors to start looking at how their giving goals are shaping up for the year. If a donor has expressed intentions to set up a planned gift to your endowment fund, or give to your endowment fund via a Qualified Charitable Distribution, it’s wise to set these transactions in motion now to avoid the year-end rush. 

October

• This is a particularly good time for personal outreach to all donors who have given to your endowment fund in the past or expressed interest in doing so. Work your way through the list, touching base personally with each donor. 

• Consider planning an outreach campaign to drop off holiday cards, cookies, or other small gifts to your legacy endowment donors.

November

• Focus your communications on reminders about the wide variety of assets that can be given to your endowment fund, and year-end deadlines for specific types of gifts such as checks, QCDs, gifts of publicly-traded stock, credit card gifts, etc.

• Emphasize the tax benefits of giving highly-appreciated stock to your endowment fund, as well as the benefits of naming your endowment fund as the beneficiary of an IRA.

December

• Be highly responsive to all donor inquiries; same day responsiveness is crucial, and ideally within the first couple of hours. 

• Focus your marketing content on the importance of endowment giving and additional year-end tips.

Engaging donors' hearts and minds, fundraising tips for board members, and tax laws to watch

Happy New Year! 

Our team at the community foundation is gearing up for a productive 2025. We’re especially focused on helping our nonprofit partners build endowments and grow their donors’ legacy giving. 

The dust may still be settling on 2024’s busy giving season, but January really is the best time to start cultivating major gifts, especially those that involve complexity. This month, we’re sharing insights on how your organization can start the year strong.

Thank you for all you do to support the quality of life for everyone in our region. We’re honored to help your organization tackle complex giving opportunities that will generate resources to fund your mission now and for years to come.

–Your community foundation

THIS MONTH’S

TRENDING TOPICS

Engaging minds and hearts is crucial to attract legacy gifts

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

Philanthropy professionals have long recognized the importance of emotional engagement in fundraising, particularly during annual campaigns or initiatives focused on immediate donations. Indeed, recent research underscores the critical role of emotional intelligence in successful fundraising. 

When it comes to charitable gift planning, however, such as helping a donor structure a legacy endowment gift, it’s tempting to approach the process as a primarily rational exercise. This is understandable given the complex tax and legal considerations involved in structuring various giving vehicles such as trusts, bequests, foundations, donor-advised funds, and beneficiary designations. Of course, it is crucial to address technical aspects to ensure donors' charitable intentions are fulfilled with tax benefits and financial goals in mind. 

At the same time, you’ll want to be sure that the emotional dimension of charitable gift planning isn’t overlooked. Legacy giving offers psychological benefits. Endowment gifts, in particular, can offer donors a sense of immortality and a way to perpetuate their values beyond their lifetime. No doubt you’ve watched this in action as you’ve helped donors structure legacy gifts to your endowment fund at the community foundation, and perhaps you've even played a role in facilitating a donor’s unique emotional and reflective process when considering such a gift.

Encourage your donors to consider the benefits of a legacy gift:

–Create a lasting impact that aligns with their personal values

–Leave a meaningful legacy that extends beyond their lifetime

–Culminate a long history of support for your organization in a significant way

To maximize success in legacy fundraising, nonprofit organizations should strive to engage both the hearts and minds of your donors. Consider sharing inspiring stories and testimonials that illustrate the long-term impact of legacy gifts. To further build an emotional connection, you might even offer the donor exclusive events or site visits to help donors visualize the future impact of their gifts. On the rational side of the equation, you’ll find that working with the community foundation team helps you provide clear information about the tax and legal aspects of various giving vehicles. Our team can also help you address concerns about administrative complexities and provide support throughout the giving process.

Please reach out anytime to the team at the community foundation to help you implement a balanced approach to tap into donors' emotional desires to make meaningful, lasting gifts while also ensuring that all technical aspects are properly addressed. We are here to help you develop more meaningful connections and ultimately achieve greater success in securing endowment and legacy gifts to keep your mission strong for generations to come.

Five-point formula: Board members and endowment fundraising

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

Especially at the beginning of a new year, the team at the community foundation fields a lot of questions from fundraising professionals about strategies for increasing gifts to an organization’s endowment fund. Not surprisingly, a very common question is this:

“How can we get our board members more involved in endowment fundraising?”

And of course, that is an important question. Board members’ active participation in endowment fundraising can provide a big boost to achieving your organization’s long-term financial stability.

Here's a five-point formula for getting your board involved in growing your endowment in 2025 and beyond. 

Step 1: Set the stage

Help board members fully understand the importance of endowment fundraising. Let them know that a strong endowment provides financial stability, supports long-term planning, and helps weather economic uncertainties. Start the year with a dedicated segment in your first board meeting to discuss the status of your endowment and its significance to the organization's future. Remember, transparency is key. Be open about your endowment's current status, even if it has been affected by market fluctuations. Honesty builds trust and motivates board members to take action.

Step 2: Inspire action

Present a confident and enthusiastic approach to fundraising for the year ahead. Emphasize that your organization is proactively addressing financial challenges while others might be hesitant. Be sure your board members know that a strong endowment acts as a buffer during economic downturns, ensuring the continuity of your mission.

Step 3: Equip your board members

Your board members certainly do not need to know all the details of how a gift to your endowment can be structured. Indeed, board members don’t need to know any details; they simply need to be armed with just enough information to be able to listen closely for opportunities when a potential donor mentions anything related to charities or financial planning. Then, it is natural for the board member to make an introduction to your team. Jumping off points for an introduction, and suggested board member responses, include: 

–Required Minimum Distributions from an IRA (“There are ways you can send funds from your IRA directly to a charity. I’ll connect you with Sally Jones at ABC Charity. I’m on the board and the organization does amazing work.”)

–Appreciated stock (“You probably already know that appreciated stock makes a great gift to a charity. I’ll connect you with Sally Jones at ABC Charity. I’m on the board and the organization does amazing work.”)

–Upcoming events (“I am on the board of ABC Charity. There’s an event coming up that you’d really enjoy. I’ll connect you with Sally Jones so you can learn more.”)

Step 4: Make it as easy as possible

Keeping it simple is key! Complexity is a known barrier to a donor’s commitment to give. Meet individually with each board member to discuss potential involvement in endowment fundraising efforts. You may be pleasantly surprised to uncover unique skills, connections, or resources that could benefit your endowment strategies. Along these lines, take advantage of events where board members can engage with potential endowment donors in a comfortable setting. Assign specific, manageable tasks to each board member based on skills and preferences, including asking them to seek out specific donors. And, importantly, encourage board members to make their own contributions to the endowment, demonstrating their commitment to the cause. This makes it much easier for a board member to talk with potential donors because they can speak from personal experience. 

Step 5: Celebrate success

Keep the board informed about the progress of endowment fundraising efforts, celebrating successes and addressing challenges. Acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of board members who actively participate in fundraising activities. Remember, activity creates results! If board members are out in the world talking about your organization and the endowment, good things will happen! 

As always, the team at the community foundation is here to serve as a sounding board as you implement strategies to encourage board members to become active participants in endowment fundraising, ensuring the long-term financial health of your organization.

What to watch: Potential tax law changes impacting your fundraising efforts

by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving

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.

Please reach out anytime to discuss strategies for growing your endowment even in the midst of tax policy discussions at the federal level. We will help you navigate uncertainty about what changes may be ushered in by lawmakers as the new administration steps in and Congress gets back in session. It’s critical to keep up the momentum of regular donor cultivation, and, as always, we are here to inspire and support you along the way! 

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Crypto gifts, timing of bequest distributions, and inspiring charitable children

Cryptocurrency: Likely a “no” for endowment investing, but a big “yes” for gifts

Growing your endowment fund at the community foundation is no doubt a top priority. Through your endowment fund, your donors have a meaningful opportunity to ensure that your mission stays strong for generations to come.

As always, the team at the community foundation is happy to be a sounding board on tricky issues like cryptocurrency so you don’t find yourself scrambling to answer donor questions.

Here’s what you and your board of directors need to know:

The high volatility of cryptocurrencies, coupled with regulatory uncertainty and cybersecurity risks, generally makes them an unsuitable investment for charities’ endowments, and that is certainly the case for your endowment fund at the community foundation. Indeed, the community foundation and its board of directors takes seriously the fiduciary responsibility to manage funds prudently, and the speculative nature of crypto investments could jeopardize your organization's financial stability.

At the same time, your fundraising team may wish to actively encourage cryptocurrency donations to your endowment fund at the community foundation. Notably:

–Even across the globe, the average crypto donation is significantly larger than traditional gifts, sometimes up to five times the size. 

–Accepting crypto donations allows nonprofits to tap into a new demographic of donors who are typically younger, forward-thinking, and tech-savvy individuals–who are often quite affluent. 

–Don’t overlook the potentially compelling tax benefits for crypto donors. Because the IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, donors may be able to avoid capital gains tax and benefit from a favorable income tax deduction when they donate appreciated crypto assets. 

The community foundation can help you work through the sometimes tricky process of accepting cryptocurrency gifts into your endowment fund, including what types of gifts the fund will accept, how long the fund will hold the asset, and completing all the technical steps required for a cryptocurrency transfer by leveraging the services of a qualified intermediary. Please reach out anytime to learn how your organization’s endowment can grow by appropriately embracing cryptocurrency donations. 

Show me the money: When does your endowment fund actually receive a bequest?

For decades, bequests have been a small but relatively steady component of total charitable giving in the United States. You certainly understand the importance of bequests to growing your endowment fund at the community foundation. To that end, your fundraising materials likely include language to encourage donors to include endowment bequests in their wills or trusts. A donor can leave a particular dollar amount through a “specific” bequest, or leave a portion of the estate or trust remaining after taxes, expenses, and distributions to family and other beneficiaries (known as a “residuary” bequest). A donor can also name your organization’s endowment fund as the beneficiary of an IRA or other retirement plan. 

So, after a donor passes away, when does your endowment fund actually receive the money? It depends on the type of bequest, and the money rarely arrives quickly. But, the community foundation can help. For example:

–If a donor names your endowment fund at the community foundation as the beneficiary of an IRA, the community foundation will pursue a transfer of the proceeds from the IRA administrator as quickly as possible. 

–In the case of a donor who names your endowment fund as the recipient of a bequest in the donor’s will, which is subject to probate, full distribution of a residuary charitable bequest will typically occur after the probate process is completed. A specific bequest of a certain dollar amount may be released in a “partial distribution” earlier in the probate process. A complete probate process can take several months or even more than a year, depending on the complexity of the estate

–If a donor has left a charitable bequest in a trust rather than a will, and therefore the estate is not subject to probate, distribution of the bequest may happen faster, but still, especially in the case of a residuary bequest, the trustees will want to ensure that all expenses, taxes, and other liabilities of the deceased donor can be covered before the trustee makes any distributions to beneficiaries, including to your endowment fund at the community foundation.

One of the benefits of working with the community foundation is that the community foundation team will take the lead on pursuing distributions from donors’ bequests to your organization’s endowment fund. Please reach out anytime with questions and to learn more!   

Charitable children: Inspiring donor engagement to grow your endowment

Year-end gifts are a crucial component of every nonprofit organization’s operating budget, and December is a wildly busy time! Even with so many transactions flying around, it’s still important not to lose sight of the relationship side of fundraising, especially so that you and your team can continue to intentionally and methodically cultivate gifts to your endowment fund at the community foundation.

More than half of nonprofit organizations say they don’t have donor engagement plans. That’s a lot of missed opportunities! Enhancing donor engagement by creating entry points for their children is a strategy that can deliver a lot of good throughout the year, year after year. 

Here are three ways to plant seeds with donors about how leaving a legacy to your organization’s endowment creates meaningful opportunities for family engagement:

Help donors celebrate their legacies. Encourage donors to talk with their children about why they’ve chosen to support your organization over the years, and why they are particularly interested in ensuring that your mission stays strong for generations to come. Offer your donors tangible examples of how your mission could help their children–and their children’s children and grandchildren–at critical junctures many years in the future. This helps reinforce the power of endowment giving across generations. 

Offer site visits, with a twist. Naturally, you and your colleagues regularly encourage donors to see your work up close. But have you considered encouraging donors to bring their teenage or adult children along to a site visit? And have you made sure that during the site visit, you are pointing out longstanding programs that are made possible only because of gifts to your endowment fund over the years? Wrapping these two elements into your site visit strategies can give your endowment fundraising an instant boost. 

Make it easy for young donors to donate to your endowment. It’s never too early to start talking about endowment gifts! If your fundraising strategy includes outreach to children of current donors, or emerging philanthropists in general, be sure your communications and marketing materials include at least basic language about supporting your endowment. You want all of your donors to see that giving to your endowment fund at the community foundation is always an option, at every stage of a donor’s philanthropic journey. 

Please reach out to the team at the community foundation to explore these and other ideas for engaging young givers in your endowment-building efforts. We are here to help! 

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Election aftermath, year-end reminders, and planned giving for executives

2024 elections: What will happen when the dust settles

Whew, what a year! Naturally, it will take time to determine how the aftermath of the 2024 elections will impact charitable giving. As the philanthropic sector waits patiently for clarity, here are a few points to keep in mind:

–Don’t get discouraged about year-end fundraising. Keep moving full steam ahead! The 2024 U.S. presidential election is not expected to significantly affect charitable giving for the year because many donors are likely to continue their support. Indeed, looking back, charitable donations have increased in nine of the last 10 election years. 2008 was the only exception, but that is understandable due to the financial crisis. 

–Remember that in general, confidence overall tends to increase after an election, which means that your donors may be more likely–or at least probably won’t be less likely–to consider supporting your organization. If you continue to confidently share information with donors about the impact of your programs, you’ll inspire donors to give with confidence, too.

–Tax laws will be up in the air for months after the elections as the budget reconciliation process moves forward. This means you ought to keep talking about the potential sunset of the estate tax exemption and encourage donors to consider charitable giving as a solid planning technique in their estate plans. Remember that your donors care about your mission, and saving taxes is not the only reason they give. That said, potential tax law changes can be an effective catalyst to start a conversation because it’s on your donors’ minds.

Please reach out to the team at the community foundation! We’re happy to serve as a sounding board for strategies to build your endowment and maximize year-end giving, whether it’s an election year or not. We are here for you, always. 

Crucial year-end reminders to boost your endowment

As your donors gear up for the giving season, it’s critical that you stay in front of them with simple, concise messages about how they can support your organization’s annual campaign as well as your endowment. Here are three very important reminders that surprisingly are still overlooked by many donors. 

–Promote gifts of appreciated stock! Giving appreciated stock is still one of the most tax-savvy ways for donors to support your organization because capital gains tax can be avoided. This is a no-brainer for fundraisers, but it is not automatic for donors who don’t deal with charitable giving every day. Donors tend to reach for the checkbook, which means they may miss out on significant tax benefits, especially because the 2024 stock market has been good to many donors’ holdings. As always, the community foundation can help you facilitate gifts of appreciated stock to your endowment fund or even to your general operating fund. 

–Keep mentioning the QCD. Yes, it may feel like a broken record to us, but truly, many eligible donors are still confused by, or totally unaware of, this great opportunity. Make sure your year-end communications include simple messages directed to donors over 70 ½, encouraging them to consider a Qualified Charitable Distribution–up to $105,000 per taxpayer–from an IRA. Distributions can flow either directly to your organization or to your organization’s endowment fund at the community foundation. Ask your donors to consult their tax advisors to evaluate whether the QCD is a good fit, and as always, reach out to the community foundation for assistance.

–Encourage your donors to watch the calendar. Some types of gifts, including QCDs, require several steps to execute. The community foundation is happy to help, and our team can work swiftly, but it’s best to allow at least a couple of weeks to ensure that all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed. Remind donors that cash gifts via checks in the mail need to be postmarked or hand-delivered to your office no later than December 31. Gifts of marketable securities also need to be fully transferred by December 31, so make sure your donors contact you in plenty of time for you to process and receive transfers either through the community foundation or directly.

We look forward to working with you and your colleagues to finish 2024 strong! 

Five reasons your planned giving strategy should include corporate executives

Corporate philanthropy increased to more than $36 billion according to recently-reported statistics, and although it represents the smallest share of total giving compared to other sources, your planned giving strategy should not overlook the corporate angle, especially as it relates to building your endowment fund at the community foundation. If you’re not careful, you may leave money on the table!  

Here are five reasons you should involve corporate executives in your planned giving outreach:

They’ve got big potential. Corporate executives often have significant wealth that could translate into sizable planned gifts for your endowment fund. Executives’ capacity to give through estate plans or other planned giving vehicles may far exceed what they can donate annually from income. Many executives may not yet have considered planned giving options because they are not familiar with the wide range of options. 

They like tax benefits. Executives tend to be very tuned into tax strategies. And of course, planned gifts can offer substantial tax advantages for executives and other high-net worth individuals. It’s always worth mentioning how planned giving could reduce a tax burden while also supporting your organization. An executive may not realize, for example, that leaving a gift to your organization’s endowment fund at the community foundation via an IRA beneficiary designation avoids both estate tax and income tax. 

Legacies could be their thing. Many executives are interested in creating a lasting legacy, especially if they’ve dedicated their careers to building a company with a strong local presence. Planned gifts to your endowment fund at the community foundation allow executives to make a major impact through a cause that aligns with their personal and corporate values.

They lead by example. One of the hallmarks of respected executives is, of course, leadership. Many executives have spent their careers leading by example. When executives make planned gifts, it can inspire and encourage others in the company–and executives in other companies–to consider similar donations. And of course, their participation lends credibility to your organization and endowment fund.

They want to help. Executives often have valuable professional expertise and networks that could benefit your organization beyond financial contributions. Engaging executives in planned giving discussions may lead to other forms of involvement, or at the very least, deepen their ongoing advocacy for your organization. Plus, an executive's personal planned gift could complement or enhance a company's existing corporate philanthropy efforts, aligning the company even more deeply with your organization.

Please reach out to the team at the community foundation to discuss these ideas and more! It’s our pleasure to help you engage corporate executives in planned giving discussions. We’re excited about helping you cultivate transformational gifts to your endowment fund that can pave the way for your mission’s future.

Building donors' endowment-giving habits, embracing small gifts, and annual appeals

Regular endowment gifts: Inspiring donors’ habits

You and your team are certainly familiar with annual giving strategies to encourage donors to regularly support your operating budget. When it comes to endowment fundraising, though, many organizations tend to think about endowment campaigns as isolated events every few years, perhaps executed alongside a capital campaign.

As the fundraising environment gets tougher, especially in an election year, take a look at your approach to engaging donors in endowment giving on a regular basis, not just during the occasional campaign every few years. Indeed, national annual events like DAF Day, National Estate Planning Awareness Week, National Philanthropy Day, and GivingTuesday create strong opportunities to engage your donors in endowment-focused conversations. 

The team at the community foundation is happy to offer ideas for ways to make regular, consistent giving to your endowment fund an attractive–and even habit-forming–practice among your donors. Whether a donor’s cadence of contributions is monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually, the consistency delivers many benefits. Of course, your endowment will grow, which is a huge benefit. But your organization also will benefit from the communications and engagement opportunities. Here’s how: 

–As individual donors’ contributions to your endowment fund grow over time, you’re able to show them how they’ve personally helped build that all-important nest egg to ensure that your organization’s mission stays strong. 

–Consider periodically letting individual donors know just how much they’ve contributed to your endowment fund over time, and translate that amount into the income you’re able to devote each year to improving lives. When a donor sees what a big difference this can make in perpetuity, they’ll be pleased and maybe even surprised.

–Showing these results during a donor’s lifetime is an excellent platform for a serious discussion about the donor leaving a significant bequest to your endowment. It’s much easier for a donor to envision the future impact of an endowment gift when they’ve witnessed present impact. 

Reach out anytime to the team at the community foundation. We’re happy to help you establish endowment-building strategies to ensure that your mission stays strong for generations. If your organization has not yet established an endowment fund at the community foundation, please reach out. There’s no better time than the present to begin paving the way for a bright future.

All are welcome: Embrace small gifts to boost your endowment’s future

Every organization dreams of that game-changing, multi-million dollar endowment bequest that comes as a complete surprise. Often it can seem totally random when we hear about a donor who leaves a major gift to a charity in a will, trust, or beneficiary designation. And sometimes it is unexpected. But in many cases, the “surprise” should not have come as a surprise because it was the result of years of careful seed-planting and intentional relationship-building.

Of course, nonprofit fundraising professionals are well aware that cultivating small gifts can lead to large bequests. The question is, though, how can you give your organization the very best chance of receiving a gift like this? Not surprisingly, it all starts with small steps that add up to big steps. Intellectually, we understand this. But it can be so hard to be patient. Stick with it, though! Never give up on letting your donors know that any size gift makes a difference. 

Here are suggested messages you can use to encourage donors to consider making small gifts to your endowment fund:

We want to help you support our organization’s endowment fund at a financial level that meets your charitable giving budget. At every level of giving, your endowment support is a catalyst for improving quality of life. Whether your gift to our endowment fund is a $250 credit card donation, a $2500 check, $25,000 worth of appreciated stock, or much more through a bequest or IRA beneficiary designation, you’re making a difference. We’re grateful for your support because it helps ensure that our organization’s mission stays strong for years to come. 

As you look ahead toward your year-end giving, you might be considering transferring highly-appreciated stock to your donor-advised fund at the community foundation. Remember that our organization’s endowment fund is held at the community foundation, too, making it very easy for you to use your donor-advised fund to support our endowment through year-end gifts of any amount. 

Consider that small donations from a large number of people can make a huge difference. Please help us spread the word! Forward our emails, share our posts on social media, and tell your family and friends that every dollar given to our organization’s endowment fund paves the way for a brighter future in our community. 

In so many ways, whether gifts are large or small or somewhere in between, philanthropy creates the margin of excellence that helps communities, families, and individuals thrive. The team at the community foundation is here to help you inspire your donors to support your endowment fund at every level. 

Tips for your endowment’s annual appeal

2024 is rapidly drawing to a close! You’re likely making plans to send a letter to your donors asking them to consider making a gift as part of your annual appeal strategy. Don’t miss this opportunity to weave in messages about your endowment fund at the community foundation and how important it is for donors to support both current and future needs of your organization.

Here are a few tips and suggestions for crafting an annual appeal letter to inspire both current and endowment gifts.  

Cast a wide net

Somewhere in your letter, be sure to illustrate the various ways donors can support your mission. For example, you could consider language like this:

Our community is better because of donors like you who’ve included our organization in your philanthropy plans and charitable giving practices. Perhaps you give every year. Perhaps you’ve established a designated fund at the community foundation to support our organization. Or maybe you’ve already made arrangements for a major gift to our endowment fund at the community foundation. You might have even updated your estate plan to leave a bequest or IRA beneficiary designation to our endowment fund. Whatever way you’ve chosen to support our mission, we’re grateful! 

Offer specifics

Let donors know about a few of the very specific ways your organization has been making a difference. For example:

Thanks to our donors’ generosity in building our endowment fund over the years, our organization was able to add two case managers to our team this year. This, in turn, means that we can ensure that nearly 50 additional children can receive the care they need. Donor support has also enabled us to provide our case managers with iPads, vastly increasing the efficiency of reports and communication, which in turn means we have more time to spend one-on-one with the children we serve.  

Tell them exactly what to do

A call to action is essential, of course, but make sure you offer options to make it as easy as possible for donors to make a gift. Offering options also shows that you are flexible and signals to donors that you’re open to a live conversation, which is the gold standard. Consider the following example:

We’d be honored to receive your gift in whatever way works best for you. You can donate online at [include URL] or mail a check to the address below. And, importantly, we’d be happy to receive your gift of appreciated securities, which can be highly tax-advantageous. Please reach out today to talk about a potential stock gift. We work with the community foundation to make it easy and seamless for you to make a gift to our organization’s current programs, endowment fund, or both. 

For more ideas about how to engage donors through your annual appeal letter, please reach out! The team at the community foundation is honored to be your partner as you grow your endowment fund and expand your organization’s ability to serve our community.

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Unrestricted giving myths, your friend the donor-advised fund, and going big with planned giving

Unrestricted gifts: Helping your donors break through the myths

The team at the community foundation frequently hears from nonprofit professionals about how difficult it is to communicate to donors the value and importance of unrestricted gifts. This is especially the case when you and your colleagues are striving to attract dollars to boost your operating reserve or endowment fund.

Here are five cut-and-paste talking points you can use in your donor communications to help break through the myths that often surround unrestricted giving. 

Myth: A charity can use unrestricted dollars for anything it wants. 

Reality: When a donor makes an unrestricted gift to a charity, it means that the charity has the flexibility to use the funds where they are needed most within the charity’s overall mission. A charity has a legal and ethical responsibility to use all donations–whether unrestricted or restricted–to carry out its charitable purpose. 

Myth: Unrestricted gifts have to be big to make a difference.

Reality: Any size unrestricted donation, whether to a charity’s current programs and operations or to its endowment fund, is meaningful. To fund their missions, charities rely on all levels of donations from a wide variety of donors. Even very small donations help charities build relationships with new donors and expand the circle of awareness. 

Myth: Donations that are restricted to supporting actual programs make the biggest difference.

Reality: A charity is like any other organization, whether for-profit or nonprofit, in that there are critically important expenses required to do its work. Rent, utilities, technology, and insurance aren’t technically “program” expenses, but without these expenses, a charity cannot function. Unrestricted gifts often help support these essential line items in a charity’s budget. 

Myth: It’s hard to see the impact of unrestricted gifts.

Reality: Unrestricted gifts are vital for a charity’s overall sustainability and allow it to carry on year after year. Indeed, a donor who gives an unrestricted gift can look at the entirety of the organization’s impact and know that the gift helped make it all possible. 

Myth: An unrestricted gift is not a “strategic” philanthropic investment.

Reality: Unrestricted gifts are arguably the most strategic type of giving because they demonstrate trust in the charity’s leadership to make the best decisions in carrying out the charity’s mission. An unrestricted gift also sends a signal to other donors that the organization’s leadership and staff are strong, which in turn attracts more support. 

Please reach out to the community foundation for more ideas about how you can communicate the value of unrestricted and endowment giving to your donors. We are here to help! 

Donor-advised funds: Your new best friend?

A donor-advised fund is one of many types of funds that an individual, family, or business can establish with the community foundation. You’re likely more aware of donor-advised funds than other types of funds because they are frequently covered in financial media and also because your organization might have received grants from donor-advised funds. 

The team at the community foundation is happy to talk anytime to help demystify these popular vehicles. At the very least, however, you’ll want to check out the recently-released DAF Fundraising Report that sheds new light on the overall role of donor-advised funds in philanthropy and the significant value donor-advised funds provide to charities. 

For example, the report revealed that when a donor starts giving from a donor-advised fund, their annual giving increases by 96%! Donor-advised funds are also helping keep philanthropy strong. According to the report, the number of donors using donor-advised funds has grown by 79% in an environment where the number of other types of donors has declined by 6%. 

It’s absolutely worth your time to learn the basics of how a donor-advised fund works. You and your team also should consider developing strategies to identify and cultivate relationships with your donors who are using their donor-advised funds to support your organization. Dollars in donor-advised funds are already set aside for charitable giving, and it’s very convenient for donors to use their funds to support favorite organizations–like yours.

It’s also important to know that the team at the community foundation encourages donors to give directly to their favorite charities when that’s the best strategy to achieve a donor’s estate planning, tax, and charitable goals. Many times, though, both the donor and the charity benefit from the donor using a donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation. Examples include cases where the donor wants to give a complex asset, such as real estate or closely-held stock, or needs to plan out several years of giving to address fluctuating income levels and tax liability. 

We are always happy to review how the community foundation works with donors through donor-advised funds and other vehicles to support your organization and others in the community. We look forward to hearing from you! 

Planned giving and big gifts go hand in hand

The news about large gifts keeps coming! And “big bet” philanthropy in general has been in the news recently, reportedly because donors’ approach to giving at scale is changing thanks to a greater focus on relying on the experts in organizations to deploy resources for maximum impact and trusting them to do so. It’s also encouraging that donors are trending toward giving gifts in dollar amounts that are appropriate to tackle the scale of the challenge to be addressed rather than basing donations solely on the organization's current capacity and budget. 

The team at the community foundation can help you maximize your ability to receive large gifts to your reserve fund or endowment fund. We do this by offering structure and services for you to house your fund with us. This, in turn, allows our team to help you with crucial fundamentals for planned giving tools to attract and accept large gifts, including:

–Support to accept complex gifts of alternative assets, such as real estate, closely-held stock, and even large blocks of publicly-traded stock

–Support to establish and administer charitable planning vehicles to benefit your organization, such as charitable remainder trusts and designated funds

–Support to help a donor establish a bequest to your organization in a will, trust, or–and especially tax-savvy for the donor–via beneficiary designation on an IRA or other qualified retirement plan

Indeed, planned giving, especially via bequests, continues to be an important source of funds for nonprofit organizations across the country. Some researchers have estimated that the historical average size of a charitable bequest falls somewhere between $37,000 and $78,360. That’s hundreds of times larger than the average one-time donation a living donor typically makes, which historically has been identified as hovering a bit over $100. 

Please reach out to the team at the community foundation to learn how we can help you grow your organization’s endowment or reserve fund. If your organization has not yet established its fund with the community foundation, let’s talk! Now is the time to make sure your planned giving and endowment infrastructure is firmly in place so you can lean into the “big bet” philanthropy trend. 

Make-A-Will Month, the power of friends and family, and endowment FAQs

In a pinch? Three Make-A-Will Month messages you can use right now

As you implement strategies to attract gifts to your endowment fund at the community foundation, it’s critical to regularly encourage donors to check their estate plans to be sure they’ve incorporated their intended bequests. Now is an especially good time to get the word out because August is national Make-A-Will Month.

Here are three cut-and-paste messages you can use in your communications with donors, whether those are broad communications such as website pages or one-on-one emails to particular donors.  

• Money, mortality, and family relationships can be tough for anyone to address head on, and when you combine them, it’s no wonder so many people put off setting up or updating their estate plans. Don’t delay! Reviewing your wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations not only gives you peace of mind, but also lets you explore ways to include a bequest to [ABC Charity]’s endowment fund at the community foundation. Please reach out. We’d love to work with you and your advisors to establish a legacy that will benefit the community for years to come. We’re so grateful for everything you do to help [ABC Charity]’s mission stay strong.  

• As you work with your attorney and other advisors, be sure to review the beneficiary designations on your insurance policies and retirement plans. Pay close attention to tax-deferred retirement plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs. Typically, you’ll name your spouse as the primary beneficiary of these accounts to provide income following your death and to comply with legal requirements. But as you and your advisors evaluate whom to name as a secondary beneficiary of these tax-deferred accounts, don’t automatically default to naming your children or your revocable trust. You and your advisors may determine that naming [ABC Charity]’s endowment fund at the community foundation is the most tax-efficient, streamlined way to establish a philanthropic legacy. A bequest like this avoids not only estate tax, but also income tax on the retirement plan distributions. Reach out to learn more! 

• We’ve all heard stories about the sad consequences of someone not having an estate plan, or even having out-of-date beneficiary designations. Estate planning documents, including wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations, often represent generous acts of clear distribution and conflict avoidance for your family and loved ones. An estate plan allows you to demonstrate how much you care about the people in your life as well as your charitable passions. We’d love to work with you and your advisors to include [ABC Charity]’s endowment fund in your estate plan.

As always, please reach out to the team at the community foundation! We are here to help you build your endowment fund. We appreciate the opportunity to work with organizations like yours that are making such a big difference in the quality of life in our community. 

Friends and family: Endowment-building thrives on relationships

“You can’t make old friends” isn’t just the title of an album; it’s an important reminder that long-term relationships are the key to successful endowment building. That’s common sense, of course, but sometimes it’s hard to put this principle into action. You’re ready now to grow your endowment fund at the community foundation, and you wish your donors shared your sense of urgency! 

There are no silver bullets or magic tricks or secret sauces to make donor relationships grow faster, but it might help to understand how your donors’ emotions factor into decision-making about when–and to what extent–they will make a financial commitment to your endowment. 

Along those lines, the team at the community foundation really enjoyed a recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review offering suggestions for ways to approach philanthropy so that it is “relational,” including thinking in terms of "we" instead of "us” or “them" and moving away from hierarchical models achieving impact. 

As you update your endowment-building plans, consider three ideas inspired by principles of relational philanthropy. 

Focus on donor loyalty and trust

Keep an eye toward creating long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with donors. Trust fosters donor loyalty, encouraging recurring and more substantial contributions over time, which is crucial to ultimately securing an endowment gift. To achieve this, you need to understand what benefits the donor is seeking by supporting your organization. Is it recognition? The knowledge that they’re part of something bigger than themselves? Confidence that a problem they’ve personally wrestled with will be solved for others? The donor’s perspective matters.

Inspire donor advocacy

It’s one thing for donors to feel personally connected to your organization. It’s an entirely bigger thing for them to become advocates. When a donor is so dedicated to your mission that they actively encourage their friends and family to also support your organization, you know you’ve got a friend for life. Asking this type of donor for a commitment to your endowment is likely to achieve a high rate of success. Pay close attention to which donors are regularly referring new donors to your organization, whether by offering up prospect names directly or inviting prospects to join the donor’s table at your organization’s annual event. 

Know your audience

Large-scale communications platforms such as email campaigns, social media, and your website are important tools in all fundraising activities, including securing endowment gifts. An endowment gift is a big ask, though, so make sure to layer in highly personal outreach to your donors, in addition to general messaging. One-by-one communication across channels allows you to demonstrate your organization’s understanding of donors' individual preferences for their involvement.

As always, please reach out to the community foundation anytime you have questions about best practices for growing your endowment fund. If your organization has not yet established its endowment fund at the community foundation and you’d like to learn more, we’d welcome the opportunity to talk with your team and board of directors. We look forward to continuing to work side-by-side to improve the quality of life in our community through the power of philanthropy. 

Speed round: Five fast FAQs about endowments

The word “endowment” can be intimidating, even for the most seasoned fundraising and planned giving professionals–and certainly for donors! But it doesn’t have to be that way. “Endowment” is such an important concept to secure your organization’s future, and it’s worth striving to simplify the basic points for your team and your donors.  

Here are answers to five frequently-asked questions about your endowment fund at the community foundation that may help you communicate with your staff, board, and donors. Please copy, paste, edit, and deploy as you wish! 

What does “endowment” mean?

“Endowment” refers to a designated pool of assets that are invested (in our organization’s case, by the community foundation) and tracked separately such that a modest portion (usually based on a percentage) of the assets are distributed each year to support our organization’s mission, and the rest of the assets remain invested to grow in perpetuity. 

Why is our endowment fund so important to the future of our organization?

The assets set aside in our endowment fund produce an income stream that helps support our mission now and in the decades ahead, allowing us to deliver on our mission consistently over time, especially as needs shift and the fundraising environment ebbs and flows. Plus, the growth of the endowment itself can provide increasing levels of support each year. 

How can donors stay involved even after they make an endowment gift?

Our team is happy to keep donors informed about the positive change in the community that is occurring thanks to distributions from the endowment fund. We’re happy to continue to keep a donor’s children and grandchildren informed, too, beyond a donor’s lifetime. In this way, a donor’s legacy continues through the generations. 

Who decides how the endowment distributions get used each year?

Our organization’s board of directors reviews endowment income each year as part of a careful budget process. It’s very clear that certain dollars are flowing into the budget from endowment income. Our independent board of directors, together with staff, develops and oversees a budget to meet our organization’s mission for the coming year.

How can a donor make an endowment gift?

A donor certainly may transfer cash to the endowment fund. Even better for tax purposes, a donor can transfer appreciated stock or real estate. A donor can also work with estate planning and financial advisors to structure a bequest to the endowment fund. Our team works with the professionals at the community foundation to help each donor design a gift to achieve both the donor’s tax goals and charitable giving goals. For instance, many advisors highly recommend a bequest through an IRA beneficiary designation because of the multiple tax benefits. Related, if a donor is over 70 ½, making a “Qualified Charitable Distribution” from an IRA directly to our organization’s endowment fund is a very effective charitable planning tool to reduce income tax and, if applicable, also satisfy Required Minimum Distributions.

The community foundation team looks forward to working with you and your donors to establish meaningful endowment gifts that support your organization’s mission for generations to come. Thank you for the opportunity to work together!

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Stack the stats in your favor, trends among millionaire donors, and sunset reminders

Fundraising: Stack the stats in your favor

By the time summer rolls around, reflecting on what happened last year may feel like cognitive whiplash. That’s not the case, though, with the statistics from the annual Giving USA report that are released every June for the prior year. The team at the community foundation reviews the findings closely so that we can identify trends and strategies that could help you and other nonprofits strengthen fundraising and stewardship practices and build financial resources to support the community for generations to come. 

You’re likely aware that the recently-released Giving USA report for 2023 reveals that while charitable giving in the U.S. increased to $557.16 billion, the increase failed to keep pace with inflation. When adjusted for inflation, total giving declined by 2.1% year-over-year. 

While the news is disappointing in some ways, it actually presents a terrific opportunity to communicate a positive set of messages to your donors. Here’s an example of a four-point messaging platform that might be a fit for your outreach strategy: 

–Acknowledge that fundraising has been tough for organizations across the board, and that’s why you’re so grateful for their continued support. Cite the Giving USA statistics to show donors that you’re on top of the issues. (You can also reference another recent study showing that trust in nonprofits has increased!)

–Let your donors know that the drop in giving is no match for the passion and commitment of your organization’s staff and board to ensure that the mission stays strong through best-in-class fundraising and stewardship strategies.

–Remind donors that it’s been a great year so far for many stocks! Encourage your donors to review their portfolios to identify highly-appreciated positions, and ask them to consider making a stock gift to your organization’s endowment fund at the community foundation, avoiding capital gains tax in the process.

–Suggest that your donors consider a planned gift to your endowment fund at the community foundation so that your organization is better prepared to weather the inevitable ups and downs of giving in the years ahead. Remember, a planned gift, such as a bequest or a beneficiary designation on an IRA, does not impact a donor’s wallet today. 

As always, please reach out to the community foundation for ideas and strategies. We are here to help you build your reserves and endowment funds. It’s our honor to support your work to improve the quality of life for so many people in our region. 

Self-made: Charitable motivations of do-it-yourself millionaires

A recent study sheds light on how high net-worth people who’ve made their own money tend to approach philanthropy. As it turns out, self-made millionaires are more likely to give to charity than those who inherited their wealth–a whopping 93% reported doing so. People with legacy wealth are still likely to be philanthropic, but only 74% reported that they give to charity.

So what does this mean for your fundraising and stewardship practices, especially as you strive to build your endowment fund at the community foundation? As you’re building donor engagement strategies and expanding your roster of supporters, don’t just focus on “old money.” Consider three strategies to jumpstart your endowment-building efforts by engaging self-made donors:

Track local companies. In every community across America, local entrepreneurs have started enterprises from scratch. In addition, more and more of your donors are investing in private markets instead of simply limiting their strategies to stocks listed on the exchanges. (Indeed, the number of publicly-traded companies has declined significantly since the mid-1990s.) The result of these two trends is that a large portion of many donors’ wealth is represented by closely-held stock in businesses they’ve started or in which they are investors. Make sure local companies and the people involved are on your prospect list. 

Talk the talk with entrepreneurs. Pay careful attention to the messages you use to engage entrepreneurs and people who own their own companies. These donors are likely to appreciate the investment characteristics of endowment gifts because they understand that an endowment’s long-term value is human-centered and not simply a financial strategy. Stay close to local companies and their owners as potential major donors, especially for long-term endowment giving. 

Understand gifts of closely-held stock. The team at the community foundation can help you tap into the increased popularity and tax benefits of donors giving closely-held business interests to support favorite charitable causes such as your organization. We can help you navigate a thoughtful stewardship process to encourage a closely-held business owner to consider a gift of ownership interests to your endowment fund at the community foundation, whether during the owner's lifetime in anticipation of a future (but yet-to-be-determined) exit, or upon death in the form of a bequest. 

We look forward to discussing the ways self-made millionaires can help your organization thrive for generations to come. Please reach out anytime to strategize with our team. We are here for you!

Estate tax exemption sunset: A broken record you need to know

We’re giving you fair warning that the team at the community foundation is not going to stay quiet when it comes to emphasizing the importance of understanding at least the basics of the estate tax exemption sunset. Yes, we will be that broken record! 

As a reminder, the estate tax exemption is the total amount a taxpayer can leave to family and other individuals during life and at death before the hefty federal gift and estate tax kicks in. This exemption is scheduled to drop big time after December 25, 2025. For 2024, the estate tax exemption is $13.61 million per individual, or $27.22 million per married couple. (Later this year, the IRS will issue inflation adjustments for 2025.) For 2026, without legislation to prevent it, the exemption is scheduled to fall back to 2017 levels. Adjusted for inflation, this would total roughly $7 million per person. 

Of course, no one will know for sure that the estate tax exemption is sunsetting until it actually sunsets. Certainly the upcoming election could impact the likelihood that Congress will intervene and extend the tax cuts from 2017 that increased the estate tax exemption in the first place. 

In any event, it is essential that you and your team understand what’s going on here so that you can be prepared to encourage your donors to discuss planning options with their advisors over the coming months while the issue is in limbo. You want your donors to know that you are on top of it! 

The net-net here is that a lot more people–including many of your donors–could be subject to estate tax in the not-too-distant future. This, in turn, means that your endowment fundraising strategies could get a shot in the arm as your donors work with their advisors to plan gifts and bequests to decrease their taxable estates through the charitable deduction. 

At the very least, the estate tax exemption is a fantastic conversation piece for your donor meetings, regardless of whether the sunset actually occurs at the end of next year. Potential tax increases tend to get donors’ attention, and you want to be right there in the mix to ensure that gifts to your endowment fund are on the radar. 

Please reach out to the community foundation team! We’d love to help you seize this opportunity.

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Summer fundraising, talking about endowments, and trends to watch

Doubling down: Summer development tips

Even with many of your donors traveling or taking time off, summer is not the time for stewardship and fundraising to move to the back burner. Especially because endowment gifts and complex charitable giving structures take time to establish, mid-year presents an excellent opportunity to double down on development efforts.

For example, always remind your donors to give appreciated stock instead of cash. Absolutely it feels like you are a broken record! You mention the benefits of giving appreciated stock all the time in your donor communications. But it really can’t be overstated. Donors are so tempted to reach for the checkbook for charitable giving, even when they are making a gift to your organization’s endowment fund at the community foundation.

Emphasize to your donors that not only will transfers be eligible for a charitable deduction at fair market value (if the donor held the shares for more than one year), but also your organization won’t pay income tax on the capital gains. This means the donor will be making a much bigger gift than if the donor had sold the stock, paid the tax, and supported your organization out of the proceeds. 

The community foundation is always happy to help you process gifts of appreciated stock, especially when a donor wants to give a large block of a single stock to support your organization as well as others. 

And keep talking about QCDs! Donors who are 70 ½ or older absolutely must consider giving from an IRA. Certainly you mention this a lot in your discussions with donors, but sometimes donors are not ready to hear it, especially if they are on the cusp of reaching 70 ½ but aren’t there yet. They will listen differently when they’ve actually hit the age. As you know, a QCD allows a donor to direct $105,000 from an IRA to your organization, penalty-free. If a donor is subject to the rules for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), QCDs count toward those RMDs. That means the donor can avoid income tax on the funds distributed to charity. The community foundation is happy to help you work with donors and their advisors to determine whether a QCD is a good fit to help maximize charitable giving.

Your endowment: Helpful language to engage donors

Your donors are likely very familiar with the term “endowment,” but they might not know how it works or how important it is to help sustain your mission for the long term. If you’ve established your organization’s endowment fund at the community foundation, we’re happy to help you communicate the benefits of endowment gifts to interested donors who may be new to providing this type of support.

For example, you can include language in your communications along these lines: 

“Endowment” is the word often used to refer to a designated pool of assets that are invested by and tracked separately such that a modest portion (usually based on a percentage) of the assets are distributed each year for charitable purposes, and the rest of the assets remain invested to grow in perpetuity. This growth, in turn, helps the endowment provide even more support each year to our organization.

And this: 

Our organization has established its endowment fund at the community foundation, where the team is experienced at managing the accounting, investment, and distribution aspects of endowment funds. Working alongside the community foundation, our board and staff are committed to keeping a finger on the pulse of our community’s greatest needs and maintaining a deep understanding of how our organization can meet those needs now and well into the future when priorities emerge that simply could not have been predicted. Distributions from our endowment fund are reviewed and approved by an independent board of directors to ensure that they fulfill our organization’s mission-focused goals for establishing the endowment in the first place.

And this:

When you support our endowment fund through gifts of stock, bequests in your will, beneficiary designations on your retirement plans, or even gifts of real estate and other complex assets, you are helping pave the way for our organization’s long-term stability to continue to improve the quality of life in our region. What’s more, we can work with you and your advisors to structure endowment gifts that meet your own estate planning and tax objectives.

As always, please reach out to the team at the community foundation for ideas about growing your endowment. We are here for our community, and we are here for you! 

Trends worth watching

The team at the community foundation is committed to keeping an eye out for trends and developments that impact charitable giving and your ability to raise funds for your organization’s mission.  

Here are three developments you'll want to track: 

–Although you and your donors certainly anticipate that your organization will thrive for years to come, there is no crystal ball. Sometimes, the unexpected happens and the viability of a nonprofit organization is threatened or called into question. It is especially important to consider these issues when planning for large endowment gifts. That’s why so many nonprofit organizations consult the community foundation about how to structure donors’ endowment gifts to ensure that the mission is served, regardless of what might happen to a particular entity. Please reach out as you work with your donors on major bequests. We can help ensure that both the donor’s intent and your mission are served across generations. 

–Be prepared to help donors with planning issues to address the anticipated changes to the estate tax exemption at the end of next year. The estate tax exemption is the total amount a taxpayer can leave to family and other individuals during their life and at death before the hefty federal gift and estate tax kicks in–is scheduled to drop, rather precipitously, after December 25, 2025. For 2024, the estate tax exemption is $13.61 million per individual, or $27.22 million per married couple, an increase over 2023 thanks to adjustments for inflation. Later this year, the IRS will issue inflation adjustments for 2025. For 2026, without legislation to prevent it, the exemption is scheduled to fall back to 2017 levels, adjusted for inflation, which would roughly total $7 million per person. That is quite a drop! This means a lot more people–including many of your donors–could be subject to estate tax in the not-too-distant future. The team at the community foundation is happy to help develop strategies for maximizing endowment gifts as the sunset draws near. Please reach out! 

–You’ll want to pay attention to the latest fundraising statistics, simply to be aware of what’s going on in the nonprofit sector overall. For example, while the number of new donors is up, donor retention rates continue to suffer. This does not need to be the case, however, for your organization; strong donor stewardship practices can significantly increase donor retention and even increase large gifts to your endowment. Please reach out to the community foundation for ideas on how to grow your endowment fund.

Thank you, as always, for the opportunity to work together! It is our honor to be your partner in philanthropy and community impact.  

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. 

Donors' due diligence, avoiding jargon, and non-marketable gift reminders

Be prepared: Tips for donors’ due diligence

As you and your team build momentum implementing your 2024 fundraising plan, keep in mind that many individual donors look at the same criteria used by foundations to determine whether to support a charitable organization. You may not even be aware that a prospective donor is conducting due diligence. Especially when a donor is considering making a large gift or setting up a bequest, gaining the donor’s confidence is key.

The team at the community foundation is always happy to serve as a sounding board as you strive to continuously improve your organization’s governance and operational documentation. 

Here are three items you might consider reviewing as you do a little spring cleaning.

Governing documents

Make sure your articles of incorporation are up-to-date and reflective of your current mission. Donors who are considering a large gift will want to see that your legal documents are in ship shape, especially with respect to the language required to achieve Section 501(c)(3) status. If you’re in doubt, consult the IRS’s suggested language. You’ll also want to review your bylaws. Bylaws can become outdated, in some cases due to technology. For example, you’ll want your bylaws to include permission to use up-to-date mechanisms to gain board approval, such as through an online poll in lieu of an in-person meeting. 

Tax returns

You’re no doubt on top of the need to file the annual Form 990 tax return. Make it a point, though, to check for consistency between your Form 990 and the Form 1023 you filed (likely years ago) to secure the IRS Determination Letter granting charitable status. Make sure your organization’s charitable purpose is still stated correctly. Consistency across key documents is important to a lot of large donors. Indeed, many donors review the Form 990 carefully before they decide to make a gift. Make sure yours is accurate and compelling. 

Gift acceptance policy

Make sure you’ve recently reviewed your policies for how your organization handles the acceptance of certain gifts, especially if they fall in the category of “Non-Standard Contributions” as defined by the IRS. Gifts of hard-to-value assets should not be undertaken lightly. We encourage you to reach out to the community foundation to assist in establishing a gift acceptance policy that will protect your organization and empower your fundraisers to engage in successful conversations with donors. To that end, the community foundation offers nonprofit organizations the opportunity to establish endowments and reserve funds to benefit from the community foundation’s governance and oversight, especially related to accepting complex gifts, as well as relying on the community foundation for all of the policies and administration associated with an endowment or reserve.  

We look forward to working with you!

“Planned giving”: Do your donors get it?

It’s common practice for fundraisers and other philanthropy professionals to use the term “planned giving,” but do your donors know what you mean? Certainly, some donors understand the term, especially those who’ve served on your board or who’ve worked with you to establish a bequest. But many donors–and especially prospective donors–could benefit from an explanation that avoids the confusion of industry jargon. 

To that end, in your fundraising communications, you might consider providing background to help orient your donors to the purpose of planned giving before you dive into defining it or describing it. For example:

–You could explain that a donor who writes checks or gives stock is making what’s sometimes referred to as a “current gift.” 

–You can further explain that many donors repeat these types of gifts every year so that they become “annual gifts.” 

–Next, you can draw a distinction between current or annual gifts and future gifts, outlining that well-structured future transfers to your organization are often referred to as “planned gifts” because, well, they require planning! 

–Be sure to let donors know that planned gifts are important to help the organization build its endowment and ensure that its mission stays strong for generations to come.

Clear, concise, and simple communication with donors will help your fundraising efforts. Indeed, a new study sheds light on the elements of communication that can help increase donor trust, including emphasizing good stewardship and solid decision-making practices. 

Consider adopting techniques to improve donors’ understanding of your message. For example:

–Use genuine, relatable storytelling to demonstrate the importance of your organization’s work, and share perspectives of the most affected people. Because you’re asking donors to consider gifts beyond their lifetime, be sure to illustrate the long-term, unpredictable needs facing the communities you serve and your organization's ability to address them.

–Provide plenty of context, including details that improve believability. Don’t assume that the donor is familiar with what your organization actually does. Illustrate the organization’s commitment to service as a non-negotiable core value that will continue to persist far into the future. 

–Live up to your position as a trusted messenger by sharing vivid details and inclusive viewpoints to build transparent relationships. Skipping details and getting straight to the result creates a missed opportunity to educate donors about the level of work required to achieve impact and the need for financial support through endowment and other long-term gifts. 

By communicating clearly with your donors, omitting jargon, and sharing stories to demonstrate the value of a donor’s investment, you’ll go a long way toward improving your fundraising efforts to build long-term support for your organization and its mission, especially through planned gifts that demand a high degree of donor trust. 

Reminders about non-cash and non-marketable gifts 

You’re likely very consistent about reminding your donors about the benefits of giving long-term, publicly-traded securities to support your organization’s mission. Don’t ever stop! It’s so easy for a donor to forget about this and write a check, missing out on the opportunity to avoid capital gains tax.

Non-cash gifts also include assets beyond just publicly-traded stock. Remember that the community foundation can work with you to accept donors’ gifts to your endowment fund of many types of assets, including:  

Closely-held business interests

With proper planning, a donor can transfer shares of a closely-held business to your organization’s endowment fund at the community foundation.

QCDs from IRAs

A Qualified Charitable Distribution (“QCD”) is a very smart way for a donor who has reached the age of 70 ½ to give to your endowment fund. A donor can direct up to $105,000 from an IRA every year. Together, married couples can direct twice that amount. The donor avoids income tax on the funds distributed to your endowment fund. 

Real estate 

Your endowment fund at the community foundation can receive a tax-deductible gift of a donor’s real estate, such as farmland or commercial property, avoiding capital gains tax and reducing the value of the donor’s taxable estate. 

Life insurance

For some donors, naming your organization’s endowment fund at the community foundation as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy is an effective way to leave a bequest. And, in the case of whole life policies, it may be possible and advantageous for the donor to not only name the endowment fund as beneficiary, but also transfer the policy itself and make annual, tax-deductible contributions to the community foundation to cover the premium. 

And that’s not all! Oil and gas interests, cryptocurrency, and collectibles are among the other assets that can make effective gifts to charity. Please reach out to the team at the community foundation to learn how we can help you accept non-cash, non-marketable gifts into your endowment fund. 

This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.