Year-end Giving Strategies to Maximize Impact

The end of the year brings holiday celebrations, gatherings with families and friends and … tax planning. Before you get caught up in the seasonal whirlwind, it’s a good idea to take a look at your end-of-year giving strategies.

As your community foundation, Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) is a partner you can count on to understand and respond to your unique needs. GCF’s team of experienced professionals, well versed in a region-wide perspective and effective nonprofit organizations, are on-hand for consultation to ensure your generosity has the largest possible impact. GCF also offers personalized service and flexible giving options.

As 2019 comes to a close, you may want to consider these charitable tax strategies:

• A Bunching Strategy combines several years of annual donations into one year. This valuable tool, identified in response to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, is a way to clear the higher standard deduction requirement hurdle. Through your donor advised fund, the “bunched” charitable donations can be distributed over several years, but you’ll obtain the tax deduction in the first year. It’s an effective way to leverage your contributions and tax commitment to maximize the power of your giving.

• Qualified Charitable Distributions are tax-free charitable gifts which may be made by individuals age 70½ and older to satisfy IRA distribution requirements. The law allows individuals to transfer up to $100,000 of IRA assets directly to a qualified public charity without accruing federal income taxes. These assets can be put into a specific-purpose fund at GCF.

If you’re considering creating a charitable fund, contact our team at 513-241-2880 before year-end to discuss your goals and strategies.

If you already have a donor advised fund at GCF, to ensure grants from your fund are received in 2019, we recommend that you make your grant suggestions:

• Online through GCF’s new Giving Connection platform before Dec. 26.
• By fax to 513-768-6133 before Dec. 26.
•  By mail before Dec. 19.

Gifts of publicly traded stock and hand-delivered checks must be received in our office by 5 p.m. Dec. 31. Checks received by mail must be postmarked by Dec. 31 to qualify as a 2019 tax deduction.

Our office is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, except for Dec. 24-25 and Jan. 1. To discuss arrangements for year-end giving and grantmaking, contact our team at 513-241-2880.