As year-end approaches, many clients will look to their professional advisors for help with financial, tax and charitable decisions.
A good place to begin is with a simple question: “Are there people, organizations or causes you would like to support?”
That question may be especially timely for clients who:
- Experienced an unusually high-income year
- Own highly appreciated stock or other assets
- Must take a required minimum distribution from an IRA
- Are preparing to sell a business, real estate or another significant asset
- Want to involve children or grandchildren in their family’s philanthropy
- Have life insurance policies or retirement assets they no longer need
- Want their estate plan to reflect the values and community they care about
At The Erie Community Foundation, we work with attorneys, accountants, financial advisors and other professionals to help clients explore charitable options that fit within their overall plans.
Here are seven conversations worth considering before December 31.
1. Has the client’s portfolio grown?
Donating appreciated publicly traded stock can be more tax-efficient than writing a check. When eligible securities are given directly to charity, the donor may receive a charitable deduction based on the asset’s fair market value and avoid the capital gains tax that could result from selling the asset first.
The Erie Community Foundation can accept publicly traded stock and mutual funds. The gift can support an existing fund or establish a new charitable fund based on the donor’s interests.
2. Would it help to organization several years of giving at once?
Beginning in 2026, taxpayers who itemize may deduct only the portion of their charitable contributions that exceeds 0.5% of adjusted gross income. This makes the timing of charitable gifts an important part of year-end planning.
For some clients, it may make sense to combine contributions they would otherwise make over several years into a single tax year. A donor-advised fund at The Erie Community Foundation allows a client to make the charitable contribution now and recommend grants to eligible nonprofits over time.
This approach can simplify recordkeeping, provide more time for thoughtful grantmaking and create opportunities to involve children or grandchildren in the family’s giving.
3. Does the client need to take a required minimum distribution?
IRA owners who are at least age 70½ may make a qualified charitable distribution directly from an IRA to an eligible charitable organization. In 2026, an individual may direct up to $111,000 through a QCD. For clients who are subject to required minimum distributions, the transfer may also satisfy all or part of the year’s RMD.
A QCD is not included in the donor’s taxable income. The donor does not also claim a charitable deduction for the gift.
QCDs cannot be contributed to donor-advised funds, but they may be used to support other eligible funds at The Erie Community Foundation. Our team can help identify an option that fits the client’s charitable goals.
4. Is the client anticipating a business or real estate transaction?
The sale of a privately held business, real estate or another closely held asset may open the door to charitable planning.
A gift involving one of these assets generally requires time for review, valuation and coordination among the client’s advisors. It is helpful to raise the charitable question while a transaction is still being considered. Some planning options may no longer be available after the terms of a sale have been finalized.
The Erie Community Foundation can consider gifts of privately held business interests, real estate, limited partnership interests and other complex assets. Our team works with the client’s legal, tax and financial advisors throughout the process.
5. Are the client’s beneficiary designations current?
Year-end is a good time to review beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance policies and other assets.
Retirement assets left to individual heirs may carry income-tax consequences. Naming a charitable organization or fund as a beneficiary can allow those assets to pass to charity without income tax. Other assets may be more appropriate to leave to family members.
A client may name The Erie Community Foundation, an existing charitable fund or a new fund created through their estate plan. The fund can support specific nonprofits, a particular area of interest or the Foundation’s Community Impact Fund. The Community Impact Fund gives the Foundation the flexibility to respond to changing needs and opportunities across our region.
6. Does an existing life insurance policy still fit the client’s plan?
A life insurance policy may have been purchased to address a need that has since changed. As part of a year-end review, advisors can help clients decide whether retaining the policy, changing its beneficiary or using it to support a charitable legacy best fits the current plan.
Depending on the policy and the client’s circumstances, the client may be able to name a charitable fund as a beneficiary or transfer ownership of the policy as a charitable gift.
For clients who want to combine philanthropy with income planning, a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust may provide an income stream while creating a future charitable gift.
7. What does the client want their generosity to accomplish?
Tax considerations may start the conversation, but they usually are not the reason someone gives.
Some clients want to support several favorite nonprofits. Others care deeply about education, health, economic growth, neighborhoods, arts and culture or another area of community life. Some want their children or grandchildren to continue the family’s giving. Others want to leave a flexible resource that can respond to needs they cannot yet foresee.
The Erie Community Foundation offers several fund options:
- A donor-advised fund allows donors and future advisors to recommend grants over time.
- A donor-designated fund provides ongoing support to specific charitable organizations.
- A field-of-interest fund supports a cause, population or geographic area.
- A scholarship fund helps students pursue educational opportunities.
- The Community Impact Fund gives the Foundation flexibility to address the region’s most pressing needs and promising opportunities.
With nearly a century of experience in the Erie region, the Foundation offers local knowledge, philanthropic guidance, investment stewardship and grant administration in one place.
We’re Here to Help
Your client does not need to have every detail decided before beginning the conversation. We would be happy to sit down with you and your client, listen to what matters most to them and explore options that fit with the financial and estate-planning work already underway.
We respect the relationship you have built with your client and see our role as a partner in the charitable planning process.
Together, we can help your clients inspire generosity, engage the people and causes they care about, and empower communities across our region, today and tomorrow.
For more information, contact Steve Weiser, Vice President of Philanthropic Services, at SWeiser@ErieCommunityFoundation.org or 814.413.7345.
The Erie Community Foundation does not provide legal, tax or financial advice. Donors should consult their professional advisors to determine how charitable strategies may apply to their individual circumstances.