3 Ways to Simplify Your 2018 Year-End Giving

It’s that time of year, again!

For philanthropists, the end of the calendar year is generally the time to increase your nonprofit support and make your largest charitable contributions to receive optimal tax benefits.

In 2017, of the $410 billion Americans gave to U.S. nonprofits, roughly 30 percent of all charitable contributions occurred in the month of December and 10 percent of all giving came in the last three days of the year.

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At The San Diego Foundation, we thank our generous donors and greatly appreciate your role in granting more than $67 million to the nonprofit community to strengthen the San Diego region during our most recent fiscal year.

This year end, we want to help make your charitable giving and planning as easy as possible!

Value of Community Foundations

I recently spoke to one longtime fund holder at The Foundation who expressed her appreciation for the value community foundations provide donors at year’s end.

With more than 11,000 nonprofits in the San Diego region, this homegrown San Diegan looks to The San Diego Foundation to provide information and research about the nonprofits and social impact areas that matter most to her.

While she has several philanthropic interests, education is her passion.

She and her husband connect with our charitable giving team each October to strategize year-end giving plans and discuss which local nonprofits they can support to help underserved students attend and finish college.

These conversations have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars granted from their donor-advised fund.

In addition to guidance in grantmaking, this donor benefits at year’s end because she is able to contribute to her donor-advised fund using a variety of assets, including cash and complex assets like stocks, mutual funds and more.

She and her husband have replenished their fund in a variety of ways over the years. Currently, they are working with our team to donate privately-held stock before 2018 ends.

3 Ways to Prepare for Year-End Giving

As giving increases at year-end, every donor at The San Diego Foundation can expect an easy and timely process for making contributions to donor-advised funds and grants to organizations you care about in San Diego and beyond.

The following information ensures you are prepared for your year-end charitable decisions:

1. First, get to know your Giving Team at The San Diego Foundation here:Meet Our Giving TeamYou can contact our Stewardship Team at (619) 235-2300 or donorservices@sdfoundation.org at any time during office hours Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm, to speak with someone right away about your year-end giving needs, whether that’s something as simple as accessing your fund or more complex like donating a stock gift.

   If you need help outside of our office hours, GuideStar and Charity Navigator are great alternative resources to inform your year-end giving decisions.

2. Our online donor portal, NetCommunity, provides you with convenient, direct access to manage your funds, recommend grants, make deposits directly from your bank account to your fund, view fund statements and more.If you are not already signed up with NetCommunity, please follow the link below and the simple steps to set up your account:Access NetCommunity
3. Also, it’s most important to know your charitable giving deadlines to make sure your contributions are eligible for a tax deduction this calendar year and your grants are made on time.You can donate many types of assets, such as cash, stocks and more, to your fund at The San Diego Foundation. To be eligible for a yearly tax deduction, you may need to initiate your gift as early as November.

Asset Type	Deadline
Mutual Fund	Mutual fund donations must arrive to The Foundation by November 23.
Stock	Stock donations must arrive to The Foundation brokerage accounts by December 21 at 1:00pm.
Credit Card	Credit card donations must be processed by The Foundation by December 28 at 1:00pm.
Cash	Cash donations should be hand-delivered to our Liberty Station office by December 31 at 12:00pm.
Check	Mail must be postmarked by the U.S. Post Office by December 31.
Grantmaking
Grants	Grants guaranteed to be postmarked before December 31 must be received by December 20 at 12:00pm.

Thank you again for supporting our region and making San Diego a better place to work, enjoy, live and learn for all communities.

2018 has been an influential year of opportunity. Let’s create more, together.

See the 2018 Year-End Giving Guide

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About Brian Zumbano

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”13623″ img_size=”” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]As Vice President, Chief Development & Stewardship Officer, Brian leads the Development and Stewardship Division, overseeing The San Diego Foundation donor engagement and fundraising activities. He is responsible for expanding and diversifying the organization’s donor base through strategic efforts that will grow The Foundation’s assets and increase the impact of charitable giving in the region.

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