Greetings!
Charitable giving is at the heart of Watercolor Financial Group. One of the many things we love about our clients is their generosity and thoughtfulness. We have been privileged to help many of them with their charitable giving strategies, which have been transformative for clients and the charities they support.
There are several tools available to make your charitable contributions go farther. Tax-efficient yet simple ways we have helped clients enhance their charitable giving include:
A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is a charitable account to which you can contribute a wide variety of assets, including appreciated mutual funds or stocks. Once funds are in the DAF, you can easily recommend grants to virtually any IRS-qualified public charity. Used effectively, a DAF can be very tax efficient.
IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) allow anyone who owns an IRA and is at least 70 ½ to donate money directly from the IRA to a charity without paying taxes on the distribution. If you are taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), the QCD counts toward your RMD.
Beneficiary designations for your IRA or 401(k) are an easy way to leave a bequest to your favorite charity. You can leave the bulk of your IRA to your current beneficiary but designate a percentage of the account to go to your favorite charity(ies). You can change your mind about the charity or the amount at any time.
Please reach out to us if we can answer any of your questions! Cass, Bleckley and Megan each have personal experience with a variety of giving strategies and serving non-profits. We would be honored to work with you to develop and implement your charitable giving strategy
Sincerely,
Cass, Megan and Bleckley
