Why It’s Never Too Early to Think About Giving Season for your Clients

If you’ve ever talked to your clients about their charitable giving, you know that they give for many reasons. Some give to organizations that have helped them in the past, out of a feeling of obligation to give back; some feel it’s a moral principle to share their wealth; still others think of their giving as an investment in the future for their children and grandchildren.

Though the majority of charitable giving takes place within the last three months of the year, your clients are already thinking about how to support their favorite nonprofits. The first half of 2022 has been marked by a series of events that have motivated Americans to give: landmark SCOTUS decisions; a rash of gun violence; war in Ukraine; a troubling report on the effects of climate change and unchecked inflation making it more difficult for low-income families to make ends meet.

Rarely does a donor give just because of the tax benefits of giving to charity. However, your role as their financial advisor is a privileged one: by guiding them through the logistics and strategies of giving to charity in a tax-advantageous way, you can help them do even more for the causes that truly matter to them.

National Philanthropic Trust has just released our 2022 Contribution Deadlines, which provides guidance for contributions of various asset types to their donor-advised funds (DAFs). This is just the first resource in a series to come focused on Giving Season strategies.

You can use this resource in mid-year check-ins with your clients. When you think through the best assets in your clients’ portfolios for philanthropic giving—especially illiquid gifts like restricted stock or hedge fund interests—this will help you give yourself the time you need complete the gift by the end of the year.

Below is some guidance about how to plan ahead:

• Give Yourself Plenty of Time For:
  Mutual funds, special securities, real estate and stock certificates. These complex assets require the greatest degree of due diligence to ensure transferability to a donor-advised fund. The process for getting all approvals and managing the transfer can take upwards of 4-6 weeks, so it’s never too early to start the process if your client is interested in giving by the end of the year.
• Start Early in December For:
  Publicly traded stock, gifts of cryptocurrency and money wires. Because these kinds of assets are fairly easily traded, they don’t require quite as much due diligence as others. However, they can still experience delays in the transfer process—especially if you wait for the busy Giving Season. Cryptocurrency gifts also require their own due diligence process and test transfers. We recommend initiating transfer by mid-December: 12/21 for cryptocurrency, 12/22 for stock and 12/26 for money wires.
• You May Still be Able to Give by Late December:
  By check, or with a credit card. Checks shipped by the United States Postal Service will be considered 2022 gifts so long as they are postmarked by 12/31. For all other shipping services, like UPS or FedEx, we strongly recommend choosing a delivery option that will ensure the check is received by NPT’s offices by 3 p.m. ET on Friday, 12/30—the last business day of the year. And if all else fails, your client can use NPT GivingPoint to make a gift online with a credit card up until 11:59 p.m. ET on 12/31.

We hope this you a jumping-off point to start a conversation with your clients about their giving. These conversations are critical for deepening client relationships. By showing that you care about helping them accomplish their charitable goals, you can show initiative, build trust and increase loyalty.

If you have questions about strategies for Giving Season, stay tuned for further resources or reach out today at npt@nptrust.org.