Registration Live: 4th Annual Professional Advisors Symposium
The Evolving Role of the Professional Advisor: Changing Client Expectations
Join San Diego Foundation and fellow professional advisors for an afternoon of insight, strategy and connection as experts across legal, tax, fiduciary and financial disciplines explore emerging trends in charitable planning, complex assets and evolving client expectations. You know your clients. We know philanthropy.
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
12:30 to 5:30 p.m. PT
Farmer & The Seahorse – The Americana Room
San Diego, CA
Two hours of continuing education credit available (MCLE, CFP®, CPE and PFEC). Lunch and parking provided.
Although summer isn’t quite over yet, many attorneys, CPAs and financial advisors are already thinking ahead to year-end planning. That’s smart, especially where charitable giving is concerned. Now is an ideal time to revisit key strategies with your clients, especially as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act continues to influence tax planning.
SDF is honored to be your first call when matters of charitable planning arise in your work. As part of that commitment to service, our team is happy to offer key reminders, practical strategies and timely updates that will be useful as you work with your charitable clients.
- Highs and lows: Reminding clients about stock gifts
- Bunching charitable gifts, year-end and getting ahead
- Worth a read
- P.S. A quick note about pending legislation
Highs and lows: Reminding clients about stock gifts
As an attorney, CPA, or financial advisor, you’re well aware that your clients are typically better off from a tax perspective if they donate to charity by giving appreciated stock held for more than one year instead of writing a check. That’s because the client’s charitable deduction is calculated based on the stock’s fair market value, and the charity (unlike your client) can sell the stock without triggering capital gains tax. Indeed, many of your clients regularly give appreciated stock to their donor-advised funds at SDF.
So what happens when one of these clients starts asking questions about what’s on their tax return? For instance:
“Wait a minute. I distinctly remember that my stock was worth $81.95 per share when the market closed on the day I transferred 100 shares to San Diego Foundation to add to my donor-advised fund. But my tax return is showing a deduction amount less than $8,195. Is that a mistake?”
It’s a great question, and of course you know the answer! When a client contributes publicly traded securities to a fund at SDF—or directly to another public charity—the amount of the charitable deduction is indeed based on the fair market value of the asset at the time of the gift under Internal Revenue Code Section 170 and Treasury Regulation § 1.170A-1(c). For publicly traded securities, however, “fair market value” is not ordinarily the closing price. Instead, the IRS valuation rule generally uses the average between the highest and lowest quoted selling prices on the date of the contribution. This methodology appears in Treasury Regulation § 20.2031-2(b)(1), outlining the IRS’s longstanding valuation rules.
Here’s a simple example.
Suppose a client transfers shares to a donor-advised fund at SDF on August 20. On that date:
- High price: $82.40
- Low price: $79.60
- Closing price: $81.95
Many clients understandably assume their deduction will be based on the $81.95 closing price. Under the applicable valuation rules, however, the value generally used is the average of the high and low prices:
($82.40 + $79.60) ÷ 2 = $81.00 per share
The difference may be relatively small in many cases, but for larger gifts—or during periods of market volatility—it can become meaningful.
And again, yes, you know this! But many clients do not. That’s why it’s a good idea to remind a client about this rule when they’re making gifts of appreciated stock. It is also important to remember that determining the valuation date itself may involve additional analysis. The relevant date is generally the date the gift is considered complete for federal tax purposes, which may differ depending on how the securities are transferred and when control passes to the charitable organization. Because of these nuances, it’s wise to coordinate closely with SDF whenever timing is critical, such as at year-end.
Fortunately, SDF works with gifts of appreciated securities every day and can help facilitate smooth transfers. Especially as the fall planning season approaches, clients often focus on maximizing charitable deductions while avoiding capital gains tax on appreciated investments. Being prepared to explain why the deduction is based on the average of the day’s high and low—not simply the closing price—can be a helpful component of client conversations.
Please reach out to the SDF team anytime, and especially when a client is getting ready to transfer stock. We will keep an eye out for it and make sure the processing goes smoothly. Thank you for the opportunity to work with you to serve your clients!
Bunching charitable gifts, year-end and getting ahead
For many attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors, the last weeks of summer mark the beginning of year-end planning season. As clients return from vacations and turn their attention to tax and financial planning, it’s an ideal time to revisit charitable giving strategies that could be important to help clients achieve their 2026 planning objectives.
A popular strategy that deserves special attention in year-end planning is “bunching” charitable contributions. The bunching concept became widely discussed when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 substantially increased the standard deduction for calculating income tax. According to important historical data, this change caused many taxpayers who previously itemized deductions to begin claiming the standard deduction instead because their annual charitable gifts and other deductible expenses were no longer sufficient to exceed the standard deduction threshold.
Since the beginning of 2026, charitable planning has become even more nuanced. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act added a new limitation under Internal Revenue Code Section 170 requiring that itemized charitable deductions must generally exceed 0.5% of adjusted gross income before a deduction is available. In addition, Section 68 now effectively limits the tax benefit of itemized deductions for taxpayers in the highest marginal income tax bracket to 35%. These two new provisions are sometimes called the “floor” and the “cap.” Although in many cases charitable giving remains highly tax-efficient, these changes make proactive planning increasingly important.
So, what is “bunching”? And why is it so useful under current tax law? Here’s how it works:
—Rather than making charitable gifts in roughly equal amounts each year, a client may benefit from consolidating two or more years of planned charitable contributions up front into a single tax year.
—By concentrating, or “bunching,” donations into one year, the client may be better positioned to itemize deductions in that year while claiming the standard deduction in subsequent years, potentially producing greater cumulative tax savings over time.
For many of your clients, a donor-advised fund at SDF serves as an effective vehicle for implementing a bunching strategy. That’s because a client can make a single, larger contribution to the donor-advised fund, generally claim the charitable deduction in the year of the contribution under Internal Revenue Code Section 170(a), and then recommend grants to favorite charities now and in future years. In short, the timing of the income tax deduction is separated from the timing of charitable distributions, allowing the client’s favorite nonprofits to continue receiving consistent annual support.
As year-end approaches, many clients will naturally ask whether they should “bunch,” or accelerate, charitable gifts before December 31. Advisors who raise the bunching conversation now—and coordinate early with the SDF team—can help clients evaluate whether this strategy aligns with both their philanthropic objectives and their broader financial plans and then implement the strategy without rushing through it.
Bunching is not the only technique to be aware of well before year-end! Here are two additional important reminders for your client conversations:
—Remember that charitable planning opportunities are typically even more attractive when appreciated securities are involved. Under Internal Revenue Code Section 170(e)(1)(A), a client who contributes long-term appreciated publicly traded securities to a public charity, including a donor-advised or other type of fund at SDF, generally may deduct the property’s fair market value (subject to the applicable adjusted gross income limitations) while avoiding recognition of the built-in capital gain that otherwise would result from a sale. This is usually a much better tax outcome than giving cash.
—Note that Qualified Charitable Distributions allow IRA owners age 70 ½ or older to give directly to charity tax-free—up to the 2026 annual limit of $111,000—even before required minimum distributions begin, potentially lowering adjusted gross income and reducing taxes on Social Security benefits and Medicare premiums. For a subset of your clients, this is important in light of the charitable deduction limitations under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
SDF is honored to work alongside you and other advisors all year long to help structure charitable gifts in a way that advances your clients’ philanthropic goals while making the planning process as seamless as possible. Reach out anytime to get a jump on year-end planning!
Worth a read: Moving from charitable transactions to charitable strategy
At SDF, our team keeps an eye out for helpful sources and reading material to help you more easily stay up-to-date on trends and techniques for advising your charitable clients.
Four recent articles make a common point: the most effective charitable planning rarely happens in response to a single tax event. Instead, it grows out of ongoing conversations about a client’s values, family, financial goals, and legacy.
How to Turn Wealthy Clients’ Charitable Giving Into a Cohesive Plan
– Kiplinger
This article encourages advisors to move beyond treating charitable gifts as one-off transactions and instead help clients develop a coordinated philanthropic strategy across tax planning, estate planning, wealth transfer, and family dynamics.
When Clients Ask About Their Tax Bill, the Answer Might Be Philanthropy
– Advisor Perspectives
The focus of this article is that major tax events—such as business sales, retirement plan distributions, or highly appreciated assets—often create ideal opportunities to discuss charitable giving. Even though the transactional elements might spark a conversation, substantive charitable planning goes far beyond a single transaction and is most effective when it becomes part of a broader financial planning conversation.
Purpose-Driven Wealth Starts with Asking the Right “Why”
– InvestmentNews
This article outlines why technical expertise is important, but meaningful planning begins by understanding what clients hope to accomplish with their wealth. That’s why advisors should add deeper questions about values, purpose, and legacy, which naturally leads to conversations about intentional charitable planning and stronger long-term client relationships.
The High-Net-Worth Want Philanthropy Guidance
– Financial Advisor Magazine
The article reports that high-net-worth clients increasingly expect their financial advisors to provide philanthropic guidance as part of comprehensive wealth planning. In other words, this creates a big opportunity for advisors who are proactively talking about charitable giving with their clients.
If you skim these articles you will see immediately that a pattern is emerging! Clients don’t simply want to save taxes—they want their wealth to reflect what matters most to them. The team at SDF is here as a sounding board to help you begin charitable planning conversations early. Please reach out anytime!
P.S. A quick note about pending legislation
The SDF team appreciates that so many attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors recommend to clients age 70 ½ and older that they take advantage of Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from traditional IRAs. Your client can direct a QCD to a designated fund, field-of-interest fund, scholarship fund, or unrestricted fund at SDF, or even directly to support SDF’s overall mission and work.
Because QCDs are so useful, we’ve got our eyes on pending legislation that might expand the ways your clients can use them. Specifically, Congress continues to consider two bipartisan charitable giving bills: the Charity Parity Act (S. 2204/H.R. 4495), which would permit QCDs directly from employer-sponsored retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, in addition to traditional IRAs, and the IRA Charitable Rollover Facilitation and Enhancement Act (S. 3975), which would extend QCD eligibility to donor-advised funds. Neither proposal has advanced beyond committee, but both are still active and of course could be very useful to expand charitable giving options if enacted.
We will keep you posted!
The team at SDF is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.
Learn More
For more than 50 years, we have worked with an extensive network of wealth advisors, estate planning attorneys, tax planners and other financial advisors to help high-net-worth clients and families achieve financial planning objectives and charitable giving goals while maximizing tax deductions.
If you want to learn more about customizing charitable solutions that match your clients’ needs, contact me at (858) 245-1508 or [email protected].
