Your clients (and you!) may still be recovering from a hectic end to 2024, but don’t let that stop you from helping families get a jump on their charitable planning for 2025. 

As compelling as year-end giving may be, even more compelling are the reasons for planning and launching a charitable giving strategy early in the year–even in January. Benefits of a year-long giving strategy include:

  • Helping nonprofit organizations meet their budgets all year long, which can save them from worrying as much about whether constituents’ ongoing needs can be addressed.
  • Leveraging employer matching gifts programs early in the year when dollars are available and there is plenty of time to process the paperwork.
  • Increasing predictability of cash flow and therefore being proactive, not reactive, in supporting the causes your clients love. Your clients might even consider setting up automatic contributions to their donor-advised or other types of funds at the Wayne County Foundation to formalize this component as part of an ongoing plan.
  • Taking advantage of plenty of time to learn more about the charities a client plans to support so that a client can be an even more informed and impactful donor, including fully utilizing the Foundation’s expertise and resources.
  • Giving the client (and you) time to include children and grandchildren in the charitable giving conversation and tax-planning structures as a learning experience for the whole family.
  • If your client is over 70 ½, being able to avoid the year-end scramble to process a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from an IRA directly to an eligible charity, such as an unrestricted or field-of-interest fund at the community foundation, by executing a QCD in the first quarter.
  • Leaving enough time to explore options for more complex giving techniques, such as gifts of closely-held business interests or charitable remainder trusts, that might provide tax benefits as well as meet a client’s charitable goals, rather than waiting until the last minute when it may be hard for everyone to coordinate calendars. As always, the Wayne County Foundation is here to help.