Welcome to the EPAC Corner! We are pleased to bring you this content from the Estate Planning Advisory Committee (EPAC) of the DeKalb County Community Foundation. If you have any questions about the information below or the EPAC group, please contact Community Foundation Executive Director Dan Templin at 815-748-5383 or dan@dekalbccf.org. 

The EPAC Corner content aims to provide general information about estate planning and charitable giving. We hope it’s helpful and informative. Suggestions for monthly content topics are welcome. We’d love to hear from you.

Doubling Down: More Good in Your Retirement Years

If you’ve reached or are nearing retirement age, you may be evaluating how charitable giving fits into your life in a bigger way than it did during your working years. If you’ve found that you have more time, more money, or both, now that work and raising children are in the rear view mirror, be sure you’re familiar with the various charitable giving techniques that are most appealing to retirees and the various ways the community foundation can help.

Here are four signals that it may be time to update your philanthropy strategies with the help of the DeKalb County Community Foundation team:

1. You’re feeling more connected to local issues.
   Retirees often feel a greater connection to their community and favorite charities than people who are not retired. Whether it’s because annual income and corresponding giving capacity are more predictable, or because you have more time, getting involved with favorite charities can help you stay active and even avoid loneliness. The team at the community foundation stays in close contact with the many nonprofit organizations in our region, and we are happy to serve as a sounding board as you ramp up your involvement.
2. You may be less likely to itemize deductions.
   Many retirees apply the standard deduction on their income tax returns because they don’t have many expenses that qualify for itemization, such as business expenses and mortgage interest deductions. Now is a good time to evaluate with your tax advisor whether itemizing deductions in certain years could be beneficial. Through your Fund at the Community Foundation, you may be able to concentrate charitable contributions to your Donor-Advised Fund in particular tax years to trigger itemized deductions. This is called “bunching,” and a Donor-Advised Fund, for example, can help you take advantage of itemizing tax deductions while still allowing you to provide steady support to nonprofits out of that Fund in years that follow the itemizing year.
3. You are more interested in involving your children and grandchildren in your philanthropy.
   The Community Foundation is happy to help you fulfill your desire to stay connected with children and grandchildren, including formalizing roles for family members as advisors and successor advisors of your Donor-Advised Fund at the Community Foundation, or involving younger family members in site visits and other educational programs. The Community Foundation offers many ways to structure philanthropic priorities for generational wealth as well as create positive, authentic communication channels across an extended family.
4. You are ready to start making Qualified Charitable Distributions. If you are at least age 70 ½, you can direct a tax-free distribution (up to $105,000 per spouse in 2024 and $108,000 in 2025) from an IRA to a qualified charity such as a Field of Interest or Designated Fund at the Community Foundation. If you must take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), the Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) is especially beneficial. This is because the distribution to charity counts toward RMDs and therefore never lands in your taxable income.

If these ideas capture your attention, please reach out! The Community Foundation is here to help you make the most of your giving, no matter what causes you choose to support. We look forward to collaborating to make your retirement years fulfilling and rewarding for you and the people–and community–you love. 

– Matthew L. Brown, local attorney and member of the DeKalb County Estate Planning Advisory Committee

Established in 2020, the DeKalb County Estate Planning Advisory Committee (EPAC) comprises of local professionals providing estate planning services, including attorneys, trust officers, CPAs, wealth advisors, and insurance agents. The purpose of the EPAC is to raise awareness and understanding of the Community Foundation as a resource for professional advisors and their clients, assist with efforts to deliver effective estate planning education to the general public and notify estate planning professionals on topics relevant to the intersection of estate planning and philanthropy.

Matthew L. Brown