Ahead of the game: Benefits of a year-round giving plan

It’s easy to see why nearly a third of all charitable gifts are made in December each year: Tax deadlines are looming, many charities reach out to donors with an appeal during the giving season, families gather for holidays and celebrate favorite causes, and, of course, procrastination gets the best of well-intended supporters who find themselves making 11th-hour donations. 

As compelling as year-end giving may be, perhaps even more compelling are the reasons for encouraging your clients to consider a charitable giving strategy early in the year, starting with January. Benefits of a year-long giving strategy include: 

• Helping nonprofit organizations meet their budgets, which can save them from worrying as much about whether constituents’ ongoing needs can be addressed. 
• Leveraging employer matching gifts programs early in the year when dollars are available and there is plenty of time to process the paperwork. 
• Increasing predictability of cash flow and therefore being proactive, not reactive, in supporting the causes your clients love. Clients might even consider setting up automatic contributions to a donor-advised or other type of fund at the Community Foundation. 
• Taking advantage of the time to learn more about charities so that your clients can be even more informed and impactful. 
• Giving themselves more time to include children and grandchildren in the conversations as a learning experience. 
• If a client is over 70 ½, avoiding the year-end scramble to process a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from an IRA directly to a charity. 
• Leaving enough time to explore options for more complex giving tools that might provide tax benefits as well as meet charitable goals, rather than waiting until the last minute when it may be hard to coordinate calendars with you and other advisors to map out the best strategy for the client’s situation. 

You and your client will both be glad you planned ahead to help the client’s favorite organizations fulfill their missions throughout the entire year, as well as maximizing tax benefits and avoiding the year-end crunch time. 

As always, the Community Foundation is here to help. Reach out to Alison O’Carroll, director and philanthropic counsel, at 404.333.0241 or aocarroll@cfgreateratlanta.org to discuss these benefits and learn how a client can use an existing or new donor-advised fund to carry out their 2023 charitable wishes.