Stretch your charitable impact at year-end.

Dec 13, 2016

Stretch your charitable impact at year-end.

The holiday season offers a time to reflect upon all the blessings in our lives and consider how we can give our gifts of time, talent and treasure to the causes we care about and the communities we love.

As you consider how to make a difference during this season of giving, some advisors are encouraging donors to continue planning for the possibility of changes to the U.S. tax code as our country transitions to a new administration. Potential changes could affect the deductibility of charitable contributions. This makes the close of 2016 an ideal time to establish or add to a charitable giving fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines.

Establishing a charitable giving fund, called a donor advised fund, for you and your family is a tax-smart and efficient way to support the organizations that matter most to you. By opening a donor advised fund you can take a tax deduction this year for the gift, the donation is then invested to grow your charitable dollars and you can recommend grants to charities from the fund over time.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal on this subject also shared, “…donors often reap valuable tax benefits when they contribute appreciated assets such as stock shares instead of cash to charities, including to donor advised funds. Often there is no tax on the appreciation and the taxpayer can take a deduction for the asset’s fair-market value.”

As you consider how to take advantage of this opportunity, contact me at kinman@desmoinesfoundation.org or (515) 447-4207. We work with donors and their professional advisors every day to ensure we are meeting charitable goals in personalized, customized ways.