Imagine the future. Your community foundation helps bring your charitable goals to life.
Greetings from the community foundation!
The year is in full swing! It is our pleasure to work with so many individuals, families, and businesses to establish charitable funds and legacies to achieve the community impact that means the most to you. For those of you who have not yet established a fund but are considering it, thank you! We look forward to learning more about your charitable goals and identifying ways the community foundation can help.
Here’s what’s trending here at the community foundation.
–This is a great time of year to reflect on the causes you love and the reasons you love them. Whether it’s a favorite charity because you’ve served on the board of directors for years, or an organization you’ve recently begun supporting, the community foundation’s tools can help you deepen your involvement and meet your estate planning goals at the same time.
–Missed deadlines are no fun, especially where tax rules and the IRS are concerned. If you intended to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution in 2024 but missed the deadline, take a moment right now to be sure you are planning for 2025. QCDs are excellent tools for people who’ve reached the age of 70 ½, and the community foundation can help you make the most of the opportunity.
–Having choices is a good thing, right? Of course! But that doesn’t mean it’s not overwhelming to be faced with a lot of options, especially where charitable giving is concerned. That’s where the community foundation comes in. We can help you sort through the options, simplify a strategy, and set a plan in motion to achieve both your philanthropic and tax planning goals.
Wishing you all the best for February!
With gratitude,
Angie Tatro,
CKCF CEO
Celebrating the causes you love
A new year is in full swing, but you’ve still got plenty of time to consider your charitable impact and how you’d like to make a difference in 2025. A great way to do that is to reflect on the difference you’ve already made through the years.
For starters, think about how the many causes you’ve supported have resulted in tangible, positive improvements in the quality of life for so many people in our region. Indeed, many people are drawn to charitable giving and decide to establish a fund at the community foundation because of personal experiences with charities during a time of need. For example, perhaps a loved one benefited from groundbreaking medical research funded by charitable donations. Or maybe you or a family member overcame personal challenges with the help of nonprofit counseling services, or your business might have thrived thanks to a nonprofit-supported arts district or mentorship program. Nonprofit hospice care may have provided comfort and support during a difficult time with a family member. Even a cherished pet may have come into your life through a nonprofit animal rescue. What’s more, many people find that their happiness increases through acts of giving. When you know you’re helping someone, it makes you feel good!
The team at the community foundation is here to help you shape your charitable giving plan for 2025 and beyond. We’d welcome a conversation to review key components of your philanthropy and help you make the biggest impact possible. For example, we can review:
–Opportunities to accomplish your charitable giving goals this year through gifts of appreciated stock
–Opportunities to incorporate gifts to your fund in your estate plan and create a lasting charitable legacy
–Examples of how you can join forces with other fund holders to support larger initiatives
–Examples of donors who are not only pursuing their own charitable priorities, but are also supporting the community foundation’s work to improve quality of life in our region for generations to come
–Reviewing historical grants to charities from your donor-advised fund and examples of the impact of those grants, which in turn can help inform future grant making to the causes you love
–Ways your grants and the charities you support are helping achieve positive community change in priorities identified as critical by the community foundation
If you’d like to discuss your giving strategies or explore new ways to maximize your impact, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to help you achieve your philanthropic goals and create lasting change in our community.
QC … drat! If you missed the 2024 deadline, start planning now
A Qualified Charitable Distribution (“QCD”) is a useful tool if you’ve reached the age of 70 ½ and want to give to a designated, field-of-interest, or unrestricted fund at the community foundation. Indeed, in 2025, you can direct up to $108,000 from your IRA to many types of funds at the community foundation, although donor-advised funds are not eligible.
But what if you intended to make a QCD in 2024 and time got away from you? Perhaps you even initiated a QCD on December 31 but it was too late to qualify for 2024 because of the way these transactions are settled between administrators and recipients. This is a complex topic for sure, and you’ll want to discuss the details with your tax advisors. At a high-level, here are a few considerations if you missed the opportunity last year.
First and foremost, ensure you have taken your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) for 2024 if you are required to do so. Failing to take your RMD can result in significant penalties, so this should be your top priority. If you missed your RMD deadline because you were planning to make a QCD, you should file IRS Form 5329 and request a waiver.
While you can’t retroactively make a QCD for the previous year, you can get a jump on 2025. Indeed, there are lots of reasons to make your QCDs early in the year. For example, it’s smart to try to avoid potential conflicts with the “first-dollars-out rule,” meaning that the first dollars withdrawn from an IRA will count toward your RMD. QCDs early in the year help ensure that it will count toward your RMD before taking any other distributions that might be taxable. And of course, avoiding the year-end rush is imperative.
The community foundation team is always happy to work with you and your advisors to help you carry out your charitable giving goals, whether you’re exploring a QCD or any of the many ways you can support the causes you love. We look forward to working with you this year!
Gifts to your fund: Breaking through the paradox of choice
As you consider your 2025 giving priorities, you’ll no doubt recall that writing a check to favorite charities is not the only way to support the causes you love. But sometimes it seems easiest to reach for the checkbook because it’s overwhelming to think about all the options.
You might be experiencing what’s known as the “paradox of choice,” a phenomenon where an abundance of options actually decreases your satisfaction and diminishes your decision-making ability. Too many choices can cause decision fatigue, anxiety, and regret over potentially missed opportunities.
We understand! The team at the community foundation is here for you. We’ll help you evaluate potential assets that would make great gifts to your donor-advised or other type of fund at the community foundation, including:
–Gifts of publicly-traded stock, allowing you to potentially avoid capital gains tax
–Giving shares of closely-held business interests to your fund as part of a long-term business succession plan
–Gifts of real estate, including farmland or commercial property, allowing you to potentially avoid capital gains tax and reduce the value of your taxable estate if future estate taxes are a concern
–Beneficiary designations on retirement plans, and even “Qualified Charitable Distributions” from your IRA to a designated or field-of-interest fund if you are over the age of 70 ½
–Naming your fund at the community foundation as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, or even transferring a whole life policy and making annual tax-deductible contributions to the community foundation to cover the premium
–Gifts of oil and gas interests, cryptocurrency, and collectibles are also possibilities for adding to your fund at the community foundation
The bottom line here is that our team can help you work through the possibilities. We’ll make sure that the daunting range of options doesn’t prevent you from making the best decisions to achieve both your financial planning and charitable giving goals.
The team at the community foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.
