As we head into the final months of 2026, San Diego Foundation is here for you. Thank you to everyone who joined us on October 7 for our 4th Annual Professional Advisor Symposium, and to our sponsor, U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management. The afternoon highlighted how quickly client expectations around charitable giving are shifting, from multigenerational conversations to values-based planning and gifts of complex assets.

Now is the time to bring those conversations to your clients. We know you’re gearing up to implement year-end strategies, including charitable giving, and as always, it’s our pleasure to keep you up to date on what’s trending.

Year-end checklist: repeat, repeat, repeat

Couple looking at laptopIt’s October. You’re well aware of the calendar, and so are your clients. You’ve likely already begun reminding them about year-end tax deadlines and loose ends to tie up before 2027. But memories are short, and just because you’ve already mentioned year-end deadlines doesn’t mean you should stop reminding your clients. Clients appreciate knowing you’re on top of their estate, tax and financial planning priorities.

When it comes to charitable giving reminders, SDF is here to help. Reminders are especially important this year because new charitable deduction rules took effect in 2026, and markets may have created opportunities for clients to give appreciated assets. That’s on top of the usual changes in families, businesses and finances that happen every year.

SDF’s 2026 year-end giving deadlines

To help your clients’ gifts count toward the 2026 tax year, please share these deadlines with them:

  • Mutual funds: Donations must be received by Monday, November 23.
  • Grants from an SDF fund: To be guaranteed a postmark before December 31, grant recommendations must be received by Thursday, December 17, at noon.
  • Stock: Donations must arrive in SDF brokerage accounts by Wednesday, December 30, at noon.
  • EFTs and wires: Funds must be received by Thursday, December 31.
  • Checks: Mailed checks must be postmarked by December 31. Hand-delivered checks must arrive by noon on December 31.
  • Credit cards: Online donations can be made until midnight on December 31. Phone or in-person donations must be processed by noon on December 31.
  • IRA gifts, including QCDs: Deadlines and required steps depend on the type of IRA distribution and the custodian, so encourage clients to start early.

Beyond those deadlines, here’s a checklist of five items to include in your client conversations as they prepare for December 31.

Client 70½ or older? Ask about QCDs. Always.

For clients age 70½ and older, a Qualified Charitable Distribution from an IRA can be an excellent way to support favorite charities. For 2026, the QCD limit is $111,000 per taxpayer. For clients also subject to required minimum distributions, a QCD can count toward the RMD while generally excluding the qualifying amount from taxable income. Remember, under current law, QCDs cannot be made to donor-advised funds, although other types of funds at SDF may qualify.

Much ado about bunching.

For clients who regularly support favorite charities, it’s worth revisiting a technique called “bunching.” The higher standard deduction means many clients won’t itemize every year, and the new 0.5%-of-AGI floor on itemized charitable contribution deductions adds another consideration in 2026. A client who normally gives similar amounts each year might benefit from concentrating several years of giving into a single tax year and taking the standard deduction in the years in between. A donor-advised fund at SDF can be especially useful here, since the client can make the larger contribution now and recommend grants to favorite charities over time.

Cash is not king.

Before a client writes a check to their fund at SDF or to other charities, encourage them to check with you first. Highly appreciated stock held for more than one year is often a particularly attractive asset to give to charity, since donating the shares directly can generally allow the client to avoid recognizing unrealized capital gains while qualifying for a deduction based on fair market value, subject to applicable limitations. SDF can accept the stock and sell it so proceeds can be put to use in the client’s donor-advised or other type of fund.

Stock isn’t the only asset worth considering, either. Closely held business interests, real estate and other appreciated property may offer charitable planning opportunities depending on a client’s circumstances. These gifts require more advance planning than writing a check, which is precisely why October is a good time to start the conversation. SDF can help determine whether a proposed asset is appropriate to accept, and will keep you informed every step of the way, without stepping into your role with the client.

Non-itemizers, raise your hands.

Don’t overlook the new deduction for clients who don’t itemize. Beginning with the 2026 tax year, a client who takes the standard deduction can still deduct up to $1,000 in qualifying cash charitable contributions, or $2,000 for married couples filing jointly, subject to limitations (only cash gifts count, and gifts to donor-advised funds are excluded). For clients who assumed there was “no tax benefit” to their charitable gifts because they don’t itemize, this is worth mentioning.

Think long-term.

Your focus during the last quarter of the year is likely on helping clients meet the December 31 deadline for various strategies. But don’t stop there. This is also a great time for a quick check-in on your clients’ long-term charitable plans. Has the client already provided for a charity, such as SDF or a fund at SDF, in a will or trust? Have IRA beneficiary designations been reviewed recently to determine whether a charitable gift makes sense as part of the account’s ultimate disposition? Your clients are in a “get it done” mode anyway, so now is a good opportunity to make sure their charitable intentions are accurately reflected in an estate plan.

As you address year-end planning priorities with your clients, please reach out to SDF. We’re honored to serve as your clients’ home for charitable giving, and grateful to be your first call when matters of philanthropy arise in your work.

Apples and oranges: lifetime and legacy giving with IRAs

Retirement assets are becoming an increasingly important part of charitable planning. Americans hold more than $50 trillion in retirement accounts, nearly $20 trillion of which are held in IRAs. Meanwhile, the Great Wealth Transfer is underway, with more than $120 trillion expected to change hands over the coming decades.

In light of these trends, it’s especially important for estate planning attorneys, CPAs and financial advisors to remind clients that IRAs offer two distinct charitable planning opportunities. Clients may blur the two together, know about one but not the other, or simply not realize retirement assets can play a role in their charitable plans at all.

So what are these opportunities, in plain language you can use with your clients?

Lifetime giving opportunities for clients age 70½ and older

A client age 70½ or older may make a Qualified Charitable Distribution directly from an IRA to a qualified charity, including some types of funds at SDF (but not a donor-advised fund, although pending legislation could change that). In 2026, the inflation-adjusted QCD limit is $111,000 per taxpayer.

QCDs become particularly relevant once required minimum distributions begin, currently at age 73. A QCD can count toward a client’s RMD while still excluding the distributed amount from taxable income, assuming applicable requirements are met. But there’s no need to wait until RMD age to begin the conversation. The QCD opportunity begins at 70½.

Under current law, QCDs generally must come from IRAs; distributions directly from employer-sponsored retirement plans such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s do not qualify.

Legacy giving opportunity for clients of all ages

A client can name a charity, including a donor-advised fund at SDF, as the beneficiary of an IRA or other eligible retirement plan, allowing some or all of the remaining assets to pass to charity at death. The designation itself is relatively simple and can be incorporated into a client’s overall estate and charitable plan without necessarily changing their current lifetime giving.

This technique is especially useful because retirement plan assets passing to a charitable beneficiary typically aren’t subject to the income tax that generally applies when heirs receive taxable distributions from inherited IRAs and retirement plans.

So what’s the issue?

Clients sometimes don’t realize these opportunities are independent of one another. One client might use QCDs to support favorite charities throughout retirement and also name a charity as beneficiary of a retirement account. Another may have little interest in lifetime IRA giving but find the beneficiary designation compelling as part of a legacy plan.

That’s why this shouldn’t be a one-and-done conversation. Retirement balances change. Charitable interests evolve. Clients reach new ages and life stages. Estate plans get updated. A client who wasn’t ready to consider one of these strategies last time you discussed charitable giving may be ready now.

As retirement assets continue to grow and the Great Wealth Transfer accelerates, consider making two questions a regular part of conversations with charitably inclined clients: If you’re 70½ or older, could your IRA help support the causes you care about during your lifetime? And could your retirement assets play a role in the legacy you ultimately leave behind?

Keep an eye on pending legislation that might expand how your clients can use QCDs. Congress continues to consider two bipartisan proposals: the Charity Parity Act, 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, which would extend QCD eligibility to donor-advised funds. Neither has advanced beyond committee, but both remain pending and could be useful additions if enacted.

As always, please reach out to SDF anytime you encounter the topic of QCDs, retirement plan legacy gifts to charity, or any other charitable giving issue.

Gotcha! This missing sentence can cost your clients a lot of money

If you advise charitable clients, you’re no stranger to the IRS’s requirements for substantiating charitable deductions.

In some cases, however, tax advisors and their clients are so focused on valuing the gift and filing the Form 8283 that they overlook the requirement for a “contemporaneous written acknowledgment.” Missing it can derail a deduction entirely, as a U.S. Tax Court case involving charitable deduction carryovers from a gift of real estate to a nonprofit recently showed.

In that case, there was plenty of documentation surrounding the gift: an appraisal, a deed, a thank-you letter from the charity’s president referencing the appraised value, and a filed Form 8283.

So what went wrong?

The charity’s acknowledgment letter didn’t state whether the organization had provided any goods or services in exchange for the contribution. The rule is clear: a donor claiming a deduction of $250 or more must obtain and keep a contemporaneous written acknowledgment, generally no later than the date the donor files the return for the year of the contribution, and that acknowledgment must state whether the donee provided any goods or services in consideration.

Specifically, Internal Revenue Code Section 170(f)(8)(C) requires the donor to obtain the acknowledgment by the earlier of the date the return is actually filed or the return’s due date, including extensions.

In this case, the acknowledgment was missing that critical statement. Although the taxpayers argued that their various documents, taken together, were enough to substantiate the contribution, the Tax Court disagreed. The statutory requirement hadn’t been satisfied, and the charitable deduction carryovers were disallowed.

For advisors, this is a valuable reminder that the mechanics of charitable giving deserve as much attention as the strategy, especially when clients are giving real estate, closely held business interests or other noncash assets where deductions can be substantial and additional substantiation requirements may apply.

When you’re helping a client make a significant charitable gift, don’t assume a deed, appraisal, Form 8283 or friendly thank-you letter necessarily checks every box. Make sure the client is paying close attention to the specific documentation requirements, and involve the charitable organization early enough to correct any problems before the applicable deadline.

The defect in this case was fixable, but only if someone had caught it in time. If the client’s tax advisors had reviewed the charitable-gift file while preparing the return and noticed the nonprofit’s letter didn’t say whether goods or services had been provided, the fix may have been straightforward: contact the nonprofit for a corrected or supplemental acknowledgment before filing.

As always, SDF is happy to flag tax rulings and updates that offer insight into charitable planning techniques, and to serve as a sounding board as you work with clients on giving strategies, including gifts of complex assets into a donor-advised or other type of fund at SDF.

You know your clients. We know philanthropy.

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].

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