Educate Your Donors About Giving Under New Tax Rules

Many donors and nonprofit organizations waited to see the tax implications of making charitable gifts since the standard deduction increased to $12,000 for singles and $24,000 for couples last year. For 2019, it will increase to $12,400 and $24,400 for couples.

This means if a donor can’t itemize, the donor can’t include charitable gifts as a tax deduction.

However, if they can itemize and exceed the standard deduction, then they can include charitable gifts. Many experts say that donors will continue to give regardless of whether they can “write-off” their gifts or not, as the intrinsic value of helping others exceeds their desire for a tax deduction.

What can you do to educate your major donors? Well, if they are age 70½ and older, the donor can use a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) to donate up to $100,000 annually directly from a traditional IRA to an eligible public charity without counting that amount as taxable income. Instead, it would count towards their required minimum distribution (RMD) and reduce the taxable amount of their mandatory withdrawal.

Here is a great article from Kiplinger.com that explains this in detail, so you can explain it to your donors.