News and updates from the USM Office of Advancement Research
Letter from the Director
Happy Fall! Welcome to the September edition of Fundraising Talks. As the weather turns cooler and the leaves turn brighter, fundraisers across the USM are facing new challenges and adjusting to new norms, thanks to the pandemic. In addition to navigating all of this, we hope you are getting ready to achieve successful year-end fundraising goals. In June, the Biden administration announced a bipartisan deal on infrastructure with tax proposals and changes that may effect high-net-worth donors. With this in mind, fundraisers can encourage these donors to utilize the existing tax provisions and rates while they last, which may be a useful year-end fundraising strategy.
“Six charitable giving opportunities to present to donors before the Biden administration’s tax changes take effect,” a blog by GG&A outlines strategies that planned giving officers may use to increase year-end giving. The following are six steps mentioned in the article that you may find helpful when soliciting donors:
- Encourage donors to take advantage of the 100 percent charitable giving deduction for cash gifts in 2021. Donors are able to deduct 100 percent of cash donations to qualifying public charities.
- This is an ideal time to take advantage of potential tax savings on a stock gift, as capital gains tax rates are expected to rise.
- Approach donors of at least 60 years old to make a charitable gift annuity, since this is the final year that the AGI limit for cash contributions is 100 percent.
- Use charitable remainder unitrusts, which enable donors to make a gift to a trust and receive variable income for life, with the remainder of the income going to the nonprofit(s).
- Donors can bunch charitable giving this year to maximize benefits by consolidating tax-deductible donations that would be normally be made over many years.
- Donors can take advantage of low interest rates by creating a charitable lead annuity trust (CLAT).
In addition to these strategies, there is also a new report on
gender and crowdfunding, by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, about the impact of COVID-19 on giving by women. Although the pandemic negatively affected women and their overall giving, the study reveals that crowdfunding or collective giving was of particular appeal to women. The report provides some guidance to fundraisers on how to increase contributions from both men and women, especially in relation to crowdfunding. Even though women and men give to crowdfunding at similar rates, women tend to have different patterns of giving and opinions about crowdfunding. The data from this report validates that one-third of women, many of whom are younger and diverse, are already contributing to crowdfunding campaigns. When trying to connect with new potential donors, fundraisers may consider these key components of women’s philanthropy:
- Depth: Provide opportunities for donors to learn about fundraising campaigns before they are asked to donate. This is especially important for women, who like to learn and investigate about recipient organizations before making their donations.
- Trust: Fundraisers can utilize increased personalized communication with potential women donors to build understanding and trust for giving through crowdfunding sources.
- Community: Since women enjoy giving with others in their community, crowdfunding platforms should provide the feeling of connection, rather than just a financial transaction.
I hope that the information provided in this newsletter helps you in devising new end-of-year giving opportunities to maximize giving through the end of 2021. As always, feel free to reach out us with questions, comments or any assistance with prospect research!
