Here are several tax-smart charitable giving strategies to consider:

• Give through qualified charitable distributions (QCDs). These are donations made directly from your individual retirement account (IRA). They can take the place of the required minimum distribution (RMD) for anyone 73 or older. If you are 73+, charitable giving through QCDs is almost surely the best way to give. Your QCDs reduce taxable income dollar-for-dollar without itemizing deductions. An additional benefit: QCDs are the only kind of giving which reduces gross income. Gross income impacts Medicare Part B and D premiums, the $6,000 seniors’ tax deduction and the increased deduction for state and local taxes (SALT deduction).
• Bunch your gifts. Unless you can give via QCDs, you only get a tax deduction from charitable giving if you itemize deductions. Most people don’t, because their itemizable deductions are less than the standard deduction. In 2025, the standard deduction is $31,500 (married filing joint, under age 65). Most of our clients could get a $10,000 tax deduction, and some have mortgage interest – but those two deductions usually add up to less than the standard deduction. A workaround: bunch several years of giving into one year and claim the standard deduction in other years.
  • If, for example, you file as a married couple, have tax and interest expense of $15,000, and give $10,000 annually to non-profits, those itemized deductions total $25,000, so you would still claim the standard deduction of $31,500. But if you gave $30,000 to non-profits in 2025 and made no gifts in the next two years, you would itemize in 2025 ($45,000 total deduction) and claim the standard deduction the next two years, resulting in tax savings over the 3-year period.
• Use a donor-advised fund (DAF) to facilitate bunching. The problem with the example above: most non-profits would prefer annual gifts, not a large gift every three years. The solution: set up a DAF, contribute to it in the year you need the tax deduction most, then make gifts from your DAF equally over three years. Giving into the DAF creates your tax deduction.
• Give appreciated securities. If you give cash, you can get a tax deduction. But if you give appreciated securities, you get the same tax deduction and you avoid the tax which would have been due on selling the appreciated securities. It is, as they say, a “twofer.”
  • If you have a DAF, it’s much easier to gift appreciated securities. Some non-profits do not accept appreciated securities. A DAF will.
• Plan for 2026 charitable giving changes. They may change your 2025 strategy. There are several changes coming in 2026:
  • Starting in 2026, you will be able to deduct up to $1,000 for gifts to non-profits ($2,000 for married filers) on top of your standard deduction, without itemizing. The gift(s) must be in cash, not securities. Standard deduction claimers might consider waiting to give until January, instead of in December 2025.
  • Starting in 2026, the first 0.5% of gross income will be lost as a potential deduction if you are itemizing. This may encourage some people not to wait until 2026. It will make bunching even more attractive.
  • Starting in 2026, anyone at the highest federal tax bracket (37%) will see the tax benefit of charitable giving reduced slightly, from 37% to 35%.