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Charitable Tips for the Golden Years

Qualified Charitable Deductions – “QCDs” – have been gaining popularity and inspiring an increasing number of retirees to look more deeply at their plans for charitable giving. It’s not too late to include these giving opportunities in 2023! These charitable giving techniques can often be appealing to retirees, and our staff at the community foundation can help administer these gifts quickly before the year is up.

Here are four characteristics of retirees and how charitable giving strategies may enhance your service to your clients.

Greater connection to community.

Retirees often feel a greater connection to their community and favorite charities than your clients who are not retired. Whether it’s because a retiree’s income and giving capacity are more predictable, or because a retiree has more time, getting involved with favorite charities can help retirees stay active and even avoid loneliness.

The staff at the Athens Area Community Foundation stay connected with the many nonprofit organizations in our region, and we are happy to serve as a sounding board for your retired clients who want to get involved.

We have a directory of nonprofits in the area that you can use to help find nonprofits. If your clients want to learn about specific nonprofits addressing a certain issue, our staff can send suggestions and ways to engage to learn more. All fundholders at our community foundation are invited to events throughout the year to volunteer, discuss community needs, and learn about new ways to give to make an impact in the community – connecting to not only the nonprofits in the community but also other like-minded donors. You can trust that your client relationship will be enhanced by a connection with our foundation staff!

Less likely to itemize deductions.

Many retirees apply the standard deduction on their income tax returns because they don’t have many expenses that qualify for itemization, such as business expenses and mortgage interest deductions. You can help your retired clients evaluate whether itemizing deductions in certain years could be beneficial. Through a donor-advised fund at the community foundation, your clients may be able to concentrate charitable contributions into particular tax years and benefit from the deductions above and beyond the standard deduction. This is called “bunching,” and a donor-advised fund can help your client take advantage of itemizing tax deductions while still allowing them to provide steady support to nonprofits in years that follow the itemizing year.

Our staff can make it easy for you to assist your client in opening a donor-advised fund. The paperwork is simple, and our staff are able to work through you or communicate directly with your client. Always keeping your relationship primary!

More interested in involving children and grandchildren in their philanthropy.

The community foundation is happy to help your retired clients fulfill their desire to stay connected with their children and grandchildren, including formalizing roles for these family members as advisors and successor advisors of the retiree’s donor-advised fund at the community foundation. This is often an excellent and easy way to structure philanthropic priorities for generational wealth as well as create positive, authentic communication channels across an extended family.

Excellent candidates for Qualified Charitable Distributions.

Your clients who are at least age 70½ can direct a tax-free distribution (up to $100,000 per spouse in 2023) from an IRA to a qualified charity such as a field-of-interest or designated fund at the community foundation. For your clients who must take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), the Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) is especially beneficial. This is because the distribution to charity counts toward the RMDs and therefore never lands in the client’s taxable income.

The Athens Area Community Foundation helps passionate donors create dynamic legacies every day. We would be honored to come alongside of you as you serve your clients in their golden years. What better time to help them feel great about the legacy they create through their charitable giving!

You can reach out to our staff any time to learn more:

Email: smckinney@athensareacf.org

Cell: 678-386-2582

Office: 706-357-7148