The philanthropic professionals at the North Carolina Community Foundation can help ensure your year-end giving goes smoothly, whether you’re creating an endowment or adding to existing funds.

If you’re interested in how to start a fund and which approach makes the most sense for your objectives, we invite you to learn more about creating a fund here.

Tax-wise giving

If you’re looking for tax-wise ways to make your gifts at year-end, here are a few tips to guide your giving:

• Open or add to a donor advised fund: If you seek a tax deduction but aren’t sure which nonprofits you wish to support, consider opening a donor advised fund with NCCF. You may claim an immediate tax deduction, but decisions on which specific nonprofits benefit may be deferred. To open a donor advised fund, please email Beth Boney Jenkins, NCCF vice president for development, or call her at 919-256-6932.
• Use appreciated securities: The IRS allows a charitable tax deduction on the full fair market value of your gift if you have held the stock for more than 12 months. You may also avoid capital gains on the appreciated portion. To make a stock gift to NCCF, please email John Hartley, NCCF chief investment officer, or call him at 919-256-6918.
• Leverage the charitable IRA rollover: This provision was permanently enacted into law and enables donors age 70½ or older to donate up to $100,000 from their IRAs without first counting the distribution as income. Though the provision is not currently extended to donor advised funds, many other types of funds at NCCF qualify, including designated and agency funds, scholarships and community grantmaking funds. For questions, please contact Jenkins.

New tax law considerations

Many time-tested techniques of philanthropy still ring true under the new tax law. However, you may wish to enhance your strategy with respect to the new law. You can consider bundling your philanthropic gifts in a strategically timed fashion to ensure the tax-deduction meets your target. A donor advised fund remains one of the most useful tools available to achieve this goal.

Important deadlines and reminders

To make a gift online: Remember to make your gift to any NCCF fund by midnight, Dec. 31. To make an online gift, click here or the GIVE NOW button on any NCCF web page.

To make a gift by check: Checks must be postmarked no later than Dec. 31, and mailed to:
NC Community Foundation
3737 Glenwood Ave., Suite 460
Raleigh, NC 27612

Grant recommendations

Donor advised fundholders may recommend grants as a part of year-end giving. Recommendations should be made by Dec. 10. Grant recommendations can be made using the recommendation form available on our page for fundholders here. Forms should be emailed to grants@nccommunityfoundation.org.

Holiday office hours

Our offices will be closed Dec. 24, 25 and 26. We will reopen on Thursday, Dec. 27 with a half-day scheduled for Monday, Dec. 31.