News and Notes – As of December 1, 2019

December is here, and it’s a good time to think about year-end giving, legacy/planned gifts, and many kinds of celebrations. On that note, here is a news item by a leading planned giving expert, Dr. Russell James, who was recently featured in a podcast of The Fund Raising School (you can subscribe to those, free of charge and they appear every Monday). Dr. James commented: “Childlessness is the number-one predictor of both the frequency and size of bequests or planned gifts. It’s more significant than any other factor. And even if you’re working with donors who are not childless, we have found in experiments (as well as in actual practice) that one of the best approaches is to suggest gifts in honor of family members as memorial gifts.”
Along those same lines, here is some information sent to us by Tom Evans, recently retired treasurer of the NAD, which is valuable for us to know during these complicated times. Final regulations confirm: Making large gifts now won’t harm estates after 2025, IR-2019-189, WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service today issued final regulations confirming that individuals taking advantage of the increased gift and estate tax exclusion amounts in effect from 2018 to 2025 will not be adversely impacted after 2025 when the exclusion amount is scheduled to drop to pre-2018 levels. Treasury Decision 9884, available today in the Federal Register, implements changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the tax reform legislation enacted in December 2017. Though the final regulations largely adopt the proposed regulations published last November, they also include clarifying technical language addressing concerns raised in several public comments as well as four examples which, among other things, illustrate the impact of inflation adjustments. As a result, individuals planning to make large gifts between 2018 and 2025 can do so without concern that they will lose the tax benefit of the higher exclusion level once it decreases after 2025.
Important update—PSI has recently updated its list of available software for donor databases. Please write us if you would like this information and are looking to purchase software for your donor records.

Do your donors trust you and your organization? According to an article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy Daily Update, NOVEMBER 14, 2019 “Trust Gap Persists for Charities, and It Hurts Giving, Study Says,” by Michael Theis. Please consider what you can do to improve or maintain trust in YOUR organization. Steps to take would include thanking the donor immediately and reporting on use of their donation, transparency in financial matters, sharing information regularly on use of donations, personal contact, and more. If you need this article, please write me.
Also congruent with the concept of trust is the matter of tainted money. Although this article addresses mainly universities and possible problems (given some of the headlines we’re seeing today regarding bribery at universities) the suggestions and analyses are relevant for all of us. In The Chronicle of Higher Education, OCTOBER 31, 2019, Universities Are Facing Criticism for Taking Dirty Money. Do Their Donor Policies Protect Them?, by Francie Diep.
Perhaps summing up the above information is this article which contains wise giving advice for this special time of the year— You want to give to charity. How to do it smartly and not be scammed?
“Donating to a charity can be fraught with fraud. The key is research. A smart donor, experts say, scrutinizes the intended recipient as carefully as studying vacation venues or 401(k) investment possibilities.” Read in Miami Herald: Click here
But since this is the season for giving and for remembering where our gifts come from, let’s end on a happy note! I have much more information along these lines, if you need it. “Giving to Charity Creates Sustained Happiness, by Dan Parks, The Chronicle of Philanthropy Daily Update, November 5, 2019.
We at PSI wish you a productive end of the year, a happy holiday season, and a blessed new year to come!
