There is no time like the present to start planning, but there are prudent, and evergreen, ways to integrate charitable giving strategies into holistic planning for every age and stage of life. This article provides an overview of key considerations for charitable planning that will last a lifetime and beyond.

Start with the Story

Philanthropy starts with planting seeds of inspiration, connection, and crucial support. What may stem from a childhood memory of a parent filling a church collection basket or a teacher leading a holiday donation drive can often grow into a lifelong commitment to generosity. For some, it is about turning pain into purpose. For others, it is about giving back to a cause that supported them or funding an organization that is helping to create a more equitable world. Regardless of the inspiration, philanthropy is personal.

Many clients may not know how to achieve their charitable goals or what they can accomplish through effective charitable planning. For advisors assisting clients with financial and estate planning, asking questions about their personal backgrounds, values, and charitable giving can open a broader conversation about their overall financial goals. This not only helps provide essential context for stewardship but is also a great relationship-building tool.

• No one likes a blank page, so begin with three simple questions:
  1. Are there any charities or causes you support on a regular basis?
  2. Do you want to include any of these charities in your financial or estate plan?
  3. If I could show you how to shift tax dollars to charitable dollars in your planning, would you be interested in exploring that?

• For a deeper dive, consider the following:
  4. What is your earliest memory of giving?
  5. What is the most meaningful gift you have ever made?
  6. What are your hopes for future generations?
  7. How would you like to be remembered?

Current Giving

There has been considerable speculation about how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law by Donald Trump on July 4, 2025, will impact philanthropy. While its downstream effect on charitable giving patterns remains to be seen, 2025 will undoubtedly be an important year for tax planning. The 2025 tax law changes, coupled with increased need from nonprofits due to sector-wide federal funding cuts, support a wholesale review of donors’ current giving, along with some timely tax-efficient giving strategies.

• Review: The following current giving exercise can be used any time to help clients think more intentionally about their annual giving strategy:
  1. Compile a list of charities you support annually or more regularly.
  2. Assign each organization to a broader category or program area (e.g., education, healthcare, conservation) to help identify common themes or priorities/focus areas.
  3. Consider your motivation for each gift (e.g., were you attending an event, honoring a friend, responding to an appeal, addressing a need, supporting a capital campaign, or making a board gift?).

• Rethink: Once your client has taken inventory of their current giving, ask clarifying questions to help discern whether adjustments are in order.
  1. Is your current giving consistent with your primary focus areas?
  2. Is there anything you would like to change?
  3. Do you need additional information?
  4. Does this have implications for your financial or estate planning goals?

The nonprofit sector is currently on shaky ground. Many donors are concerned about the future sustainability of their favorite charities and causes. If they are looking for ways to help, encourage them to reach out to their favorite nonprofits directly and ask what type of support is most urgent right now. Local United Ways and community foundations can also help identify critical funding needs and opportunities that align with donors’ interests. If clients typically wait until the holiday season to send their annual gifts, encourage them to give earlier if they have the capacity to do so. Unrestricted gifts promote flexibility and ease undue burden on nonprofit staff and volunteers.

Due to ongoing uncertainty and volatility, there are likely to be many mergers and strategic partnerships in the future. If this is a particular area of concern, donors might wish to focus more on the need than specific nonprofits. Look for opportunities to support endowments or pooled funds that address a need, opportunity, or population rather than concentrating on the longevity of individual charitable organizations.

Financial Planning

• Regroup: While the OBBBA incentivizes “charitable bunching” for those who can itemize in 2025, it has been a popular strategy since the introduction of the TCJA in 2017, which ushered in a much higher standard deduction. “Charitable bunching” refers to the technique of bunching or grouping sizeable charitable gifts into a single tax year to leverage the opportunity to itemize. This approach is often paired with the use of a donor-advised fund (DAF), thus allowing donors to take a larger charitable deduction in the year they “bunch” their gifts to their DAF. They can take the standard deduction in subsequent years while drawing from their DAF to cover their annual giving. The process can then be repeated when they are ready to replenish their DAF.
• Reset: Highly appreciated securities are a perennial favorite, albeit underused, charitable asset. Donors can contribute highly appreciated assets owned for one or more years to tax-exempt nonprofit organizations and receive a charitable deduction for the fair market value up to 30% of AGI (with a five-year carryover allowance). Contributing the assets pre-sale, rather than cashing them in and contributing the proceeds, affords donors the dual benefit of a charitable deduction and capital gains avoidance. For donors who do not wish to alter their portfolio, they can still transfer the shares to charity, claim the tax deduction, and repurchase the same stock at the current price, resetting the cost basis and eliminating the capital gains from the prior appreciation.
• Rebalance: For clients who need to rebalance their portfolios, consider donating rather than selling shares from an overweight asset class and buying underweighted assets. This approach helps to balance the investment mix while avoiding a taxable event.

Retirement Planning

Giving from retirement accounts is one of the best ways for donors to include a charitable component in their lifetime and legacy plans. Starting at age 59 ½, individuals can begin taking taxable distributions from traditional IRAs without penalty. For donors who itemize, donating the IRA distribution should allow for a charitable deduction that offsets the taxable income.

After age 70 ½, donors can transfer gifts directly from their IRAs to charity as qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) without incurring taxable income. QCDs are considered tax-free rollover gifts and are not eligible for a charitable deduction. To qualify as a QCD, transfers must go directly from an IRA to charity and must be made outright, thus excluding private foundations and donor-advised funds. With the current limit set at $108,000 per individual per year, many donors are using QCDs to seed endowment funds and jumpstart legacy plans. Donors can also start counting QCDs toward their required minimum distributions once those begin at age 73.

As beneficiary designations, retirement assets make ideal gifts to tax-exempt organizations rather than heirs or individuals, who might be taxed for receiving income in respect of a decedent.

Estate Planning

While it seems logical that people who are giving while living will want to include charity in their estate plans, it would be a mistake to overlook or dismiss the many individuals with the capacity and desire to leave a charitable legacy despite a lifetime of frugality or modest means. For many legacy donors, the largest charitable gift they will ever make is fulfilled upon their death.

For wills and trusts, specific, residual, or even contingent bequests to charities are common. Designating charities as full or partial beneficiaries of retirement, investment or life insurance accounts is another straightforward option. Flexibility is an important consideration when drafting estate planning documentation, especially if multiple charitable beneficiaries are named. Community foundations and other charitable fund sponsors offer legacy planning services that allow donors to define, and refine, a legacy gift purpose during their lifetimes. Legacy funds like these alleviate the need for estate attorneys and financial advisors to revise wills, trusts and beneficiary designations for clients if their charitable intentions change.

There are many planning strategies and considerations for legacy giving, but beyond estate tax considerations and specific giving vehicles, the story and the motivation are what matter most. For individuals without children or living relatives, legacy giving can offer a way for them to leave a lasting impression while sustaining lasting impact. For those with heirs, philanthropy can provide a vehicle for multigenerational giving, ensuring that the value of generosity is passed on to future generations. For those who are lifetime volunteers and civic champions, they can bequeath a gift to their community to help build generational wealth for future residents.

Tax law is always changing. And philanthropic strategies will always change with the tax law. But many of the ideas highlighted above have stood the test of time, and one thing that will never change is the ultimate motivation for giving, which is to safeguard the things we love. In fact, it can be argued that that is the common denominator underpinning all our work, regardless of where we are sitting at the table. Professional advising is a team sport, and everyone benefits when advisors collaborate to develop a comprehensive, holistic, flexible plan that safeguards and sustains everything their clients care about, now and in the future.

Jan Lane, CAP®, is a senior philanthropic advisor at the Central New York Community Foundation. In her role, she supports charitable planning for individuals, families, and organizations, and leads the Community Foundation’s legacy planning program. Jan believes that everyone has a story worth telling and is passionate about the power of stories to inspire resilience, empathy, and connections among strangers, family, friends, and community members.