Your Giving Connection:
Planning Your Gifts for 2025
It’s more important than ever to stay informed about how changes in the tax law may affect your charitable giving. The recently-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) creates challenges as well as opportunities for structuring your philanthropy. We encourage you to reach out to your attorney, CPA and financial advisor to evaluate how the changes in the law impact your own situation.
As always, the Oklahoma City Community Foundation is happy to work side-by-side
OCCF’s Jennifer Stewart meets with the Hefner family.
with you and your tax advisors to build a plan for 2025 and beyond that not only supports your plans to make a difference in the community, but also addresses the rule changes under the OBBBA.
To help you along this journey, we’ve put together some potential topics to discuss with your advisors.
What is Bunching?
Charitable bunching, also known as donation bunching, is a tax strategy that involves consolidating multiple years’ worth of charitable donations into a single year. Depending on your giving, bunching could strategically be used in 2025 to meet the standard deduction before it increases in 2026.
“Bunching” – Is It Right For You?
The OBBBA increases the 2025 standard deduction to $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married couples filing jointly. The higher standard deduction will likely impact tax-motivated charitable giving, even with the expected uptick in the number of itemizers thanks to the OBBBA’s state and local tax deduction allowances. There are important exceptions and nuances to consider, which you’ll want to discuss with your advisors. For example, if you are 65 or older, you’re eligible to receive an additional $6,000 “bonus” deduction—but it begins to phase out if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) exceeds $75,000.
Based on the increases to the standard deduction, you may want to talk with your tax advisors about “bunching” charitable gifts for 2025 using a donor-advised fund at OCCF. Through this technique, you can make several years’ worth of charitable contributions for
2025 to exceed the standard deduction threshold, thereby maximizing tax benefits in that year. Over the following years, your donor-advised fund can distribute grants to charities over time according to your wishes.
There are more reasons you might want to talk with your advisors about front-loading charitable contributions in 2025. In 2026, a new provision under the OBBBA takes effect that allows you to take a deduction for charitable gifts only to the extent that your giving exceeds 0.5% of your AGI. What’s more, if you’re in the highest tax bracket in 2026, you can only deduct charitable contributions at the 35% rate.
The upshot here is that you and your tax advisors may decide that 2025 is the year to bunch charitable contributions to maximize tax savings.
Coming in 2026 – A New Tax Deduction for Non-Itemizers
If you don’t itemize your deductions, you’ll be glad to know that starting in the 2026 tax year, you can claim a deduction of up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for married couples filing jointly for cash gifts to qualifying public charities. While these gifts cannot be made to a donor-advised fund or using non-cash gifts, they can be made to a scholarship, nonprofit endowment or community grant fund at OCCF. This deduction could be just the thing to get young people involved in philanthropy.
New Deductions for Non-Itemizers
$1,000 for individuals
$2,000 for joint-filers
What is a QCD?
A Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) enables individuals aged 70 ½ or older to donate up to $108,000 per year directly from an IRA to eligible charities, and exclude the donated amount from taxable income. This strategic tool can help fulfill a Required Minimum Distribution from your IRA and reduce your adjusted gross income.
Benefits of Qualified Charitable Distributions
A Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) enables individuals aged 70 ½ or older to donate up to $108,000 per year (as of 2025) directly from an IRA to eligible charities, and in the process exclude the donated amount from taxable income altogether–rather than relying on an itemized deduction. QCDs may be especially advantageous after the OBBBA’s significant increase to the standard deduction because QCDs provide a direct tax benefit regardless of whether you itemize or take the standard deduction. Indeed, using a QCD to fulfill Required Minimum Distributions can lower your adjusted gross income, potentially reducing taxes on Social Security income and Medicare surtaxes and helping you sidestep the new floors and caps on itemized charitable deductions imposed by the OBBBA starting in 2026.
NOTE: A QCD cannot be directed to your donor-advised fund, but it can support a nonprofit endowment fund, scholarship or community grant at OCCF.
We look forward to collaborating with you and your tax advisor as you explore ways to achieve your philanthropic goals under the new laws.