It’s more important than ever to stay informed about how changes in the tax law may affect your charitable giving. The recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) creates challenges as well as opportunities for structuring your philanthropy. To help you on this journey, we’ve provided the checklist below of issues to discuss with your advisors.
Beginning in 2026, the new legislation will impact charitable giving in the following ways:
Get familiar with the deduction for non-itemizers, coming next year.
If you don’t itemize your deductions, you’ll be glad to know that starting in the 2026 tax year, you can claim a deduction for cash gifts to qualifying public charities (excluding donor-advised funds), up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for married couples filing jointly.
Evaluate whether “bunching” may be right for you.
The OBBBA increases the 2025 standard deduction to $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married couples filing jointly. Based on the increases to the standard deduction, you may want to talk with your tax advisors about “bunching” charitable gifts for 2025 using a donor-advised fund at the Foundation. Through this technique, you can make several years’ worth of charitable contributions in a single year to exceed the standard deduction threshold, thereby maximizing tax benefits in that year. Over the following years, your donor-advised fund can distribute grants to charities over time according to your wishes.
There are more reasons you might want to talk with your advisors about front-loading charitable contributions in 2025. In 2026, a new provision under the OBBBA takes effect that allows you to take a deduction for charitable gifts only to the extent that your giving exceeds 0.5% of your AGI. What’s more, if you’re in the highest tax bracket, 37%, you can still only deduct charitable contributions at the 35% rate. Consider giving now instead of waiting.
If you are over 70 ½, review the benefits of Qualified Charitable Distributions.
A Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) enables individuals aged 70 ½ or older to donate up to $108,000 per year (as of 2025) directly from an IRA to eligible charities, and in the process exclude the donated amount from taxable income altogether–rather than relying on an itemized deduction. QCDs may be especially advantageous after the OBBBA’s significant increase to the standard deduction because QCDs provide a direct tax benefit regardless of whether you itemize or take the standard deduction. Indeed, using a QCD to fulfill required minimum distributions (RMD) can lower your adjusted gross income, potentially reducing taxes on Social Security income and Medicare surtaxes and helping you sidestep the new floors and caps on itemized charitable deductions imposed by the OBBBA starting in 2026.
We encourage you to reach out to your attorney, CPA, and financial advisor to evaluate how the changes in the law impact your own situation. As always, the Foundation is happy to work side-by-side with you and your tax advisors to build a plan for 2025 and beyond that not only supports your plans to make a difference in the community, but also addresses the rule changes under the OBBBA.
