Sharpe Insights Articles

With the recent tax law changes, many people have questions about the impact this new law will have on their charitable giving in 2018. They should be pleased to hear that the charitable income tax deduction was preserved and enhanced in many cases, and there are still many smart ways to make tax-advantaged gifts whether …Read More

SHARPE newkirk is pleased to welcome our new Senior Consultant, Laura Knitt, J.D. Previously, Laura worked for 13 years with a large national nonprofit, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where she served in progressive roles as Associate Director for Planned Giving, Director for Legal and Regulatory Compliance and Assistant General Counsel. She brings valuable …Read More

Your marketing efforts have worked, and eligible donors are beginning to make qualified charitable distributions from their IRAs to your organization. Early next year these donors will receive Form 1099-R from their custodians showing their total distributions, even though some or all of that amount was sent to charity. To avoid frantic phone calls, explain …Read More

IRS reports provide key information about charitable giving. The way in which donors report their charitable giving to the IRS has evolved through the years. Prior to 1969, donors used IRS Form 1040 to itemize their gifts. Starting that year, taxpayers transitioned to a separate Schedule A to detail charitable gifts. In 1985, the IRS introduced …Read More

A planned giving pipeline is like a gold mine. It is important to measure not only the value of what is coming out but also the value of the time and other resources being devoted to the mining process. Nonprofit organizations measure the effectiveness of their gift planning efforts in many different ways. Some place …Read More

By Kathy Sperlak, Executive Vice President The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 doubled the standard deduction, which will mean fewer taxpayers will be itemizing their deductions for 2018. Many experts believe this will have a significant impact on charitable giving this year. In addition to the options mentioned in other articles in this …Read More

By Robert F. Sharpe, Jr., Chief Consultant As the dust settles and the many implications of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the Act) on income and estate tax planning become increasingly clear, a number of new and different uses for familiar charitable planning tools are beginning to emerge. Take charitable lead trusts …Read More

This July, we undertook a poll to see how respondents were doing through the first half of the year. Slightly more than half (51%) of the respondents reported an increase in current charitable gifts through the end of June, while the remainder of respondents indicated their gifts were flat (29%) or down (20%). Given the …Read More

There are many reasons people make charitable gifts. Tax considerations are not among the most cited. By most accounts, 2017 was a record year for charitable giving (see “Trends in Giving: New Reports on U.S. Philanthropy” in the July 2018 Give & Take). However, a number of well-researched studies are predicting that overall charitable giving …Read More

A number of recently released reports provide different perspectives on trends currently affecting charitable giving in the United States. Two of the most broadly followed reports, Giving USA 2018: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2017 and the 2017 Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey, both revealed record levels of charitable giving for …Read More