Encouraging your clients to plan ahead in 2025

As a professional advisor, you and your clients may still be recovering from a hectic end to 2024, but don’t let that stop you from helping families get a jump on their charitable planning for 2025.

As compelling as year-end giving may be, perhaps even more compelling are the reasons for planning and launching a charitable giving strategy early in the year. There are several benefits to a year-long giving strategy, which include:

  • Helping nonprofit organizations meet their budgets all year long, 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.
  • Allotting for more time to leverage the Community Foundation’s deep local knowledge to gain valuable insight on the region’s nonprofit landscape and make even more informed decisions with greater impact.
  • Giving the client more time to include children and grandchildren in the charitable giving conversation and tax-planning structures as a learning experience for the whole family.
  • If your client is over 70 ½, being able to avoid the year-end scramble to process a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from an IRA directly to an eligible nonprofit, such as a changing needs or field of interest fund at the Community Foundation, by executing a QCD in the first quarter.
  • Leaving enough time to explore options for more complex giving techniques, such as gifts of closely-held business interests or charitable remainder trusts, that might provide tax benefits as well as meet a client’s charitable goals, rather than waiting until the last minute when it may be hard for everyone to coordinate calendars.

As always, the Community Foundation is here to partner with you and your clients to meet your clients’ charitable goals for 2025 and beyond. You and your clients will be glad you planned ahead to help favorite organizations fulfill their missions throughout the entire year, as well as maximizing tax benefits and avoiding December’s crunch time.

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