The End of the Calendar Year Provides Two Excellent Opportunities to Do Good, and to Help Ourselves as Well
by Bill Clontz, Stewardship Consultant
As we approach the holiday season, this is an excellent time for all of us to take some extra opportunities for generosity in supporting our congregation and the UUA. Two vehicles for giving- Giving Tuesday and the US Tax Code (!) can help.
Giving Tuesday Something of a new national tradition has taken hold in recent years in the form of Giving Tuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (this year it falls on November 29th). This is a day meant to counter the excess of spending and acquisition that has become associated with Thanksgiving weekend (Black Friday, etc.).
Giving Tuesday offers a simple, yet practical, gesture of setting aside some time and money for others, for taking a deliberate act of sharing and reflection. It’s a terrific idea, and what better place to share than with your congregation, where your gifts go to work immediately and visibly?
Share this idea with your congregation, and you may also wish to encourage such giving in memory of or in honor of individuals or causes important to the donating individual. Take this opportunity to make an extra gift where it really counts.
Tax Time is Upon Us- Make It Work for You and Your Congregation As you think about preparing your 2016 taxes, keep in mind some easily accessible steps you can take to lessen your tax burden and to help your congregation. NOTE: These are general information tips. It’s always wise to check with your tax and/or financial advisor when making any gifts with tax implications.
Think about paying your annual commitment in full early. If your commitment runs through next June, for example, consider paying it in full by the close of this December and take the full tax deduction this year.
Donate appreciated stock. If you own appreciated stock or mutual fund shares that you’ve held for over a year, consider donating them to your congregation. If you itemize deductions, you can generally claim a deduction for the market value at the time of the donation and avoid any capital gains tax.
On the other hand, don’t donate stocks or mutual fund shares that have decreased in value while you’ve owned them. Sell the underperforming investments, book the resulting capital losses and then donate the cash proceeds from the sales to your congregation. That way, you can generally claim an itemized deduction for the cash donation while keeping the tax-saving capital loss.
Make charitable donations from IRAs. IRA owners and beneficiaries who have reached age 70-1/2 are permitted to make cash donations totaling up to $100,000 to IRS-approved public charities directly out of their IRAs.
These so-called qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) are federal-income-tax-free, but you can’t claim an itemized deduction for the charitable donation. That’s okay, because the tax-free treatment of QCDs equates to an immediate 100% federal income tax deduction without having to worry about restrictions that can delay itemized charitable write-offs.
QCDs have other tax advantages, too. If you’re interested in taking advantage of the QCD strategy for 2016, you’ll need to arrange with your IRA trustee for money to be paid out to one or more qualifying charities before year end.
Donor Advised Funds (DAFs): Our colleague Mark Ewert has a special webinar coming up on 6 December, repeated on 7 December, talking about Donor Advised Funds. If you have such an instrument in place, or are interested in establishing one, participate in Mark’s webinar and learn about this option for giving. Find out more and see the link to sign up at https://stewardshipforus.com/webinar-donor-advised-funds-for-congregations/
Happy Holidays to all! Let’s make this season one of generosity, sharing, and commitment.
Bill Clontz is a stewardship consultant with the Stewardship for Us Team, supporting the UUA. Bill can be reached at bill@stewardshipforus.com, via UUA Congregational Life, (http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising), or via regional staff.
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Stewardship Consultant Barry Finkelstein has been a Unitarian Universalist congregational stewardship consultant since the Fall of 2007 and has worked with over 50 congregations on annual budget drives, capital campaigns, and strategic planning. Reach Barry at Team@stewardshipforus.com