Charles Feeney made his fortune in duty-free shops and spent most of his life trying to give it away without anyone noticing. For years his gifts were anonymous. He flew coach, lived in a rented apartment, and wore an inexpensive plastic watch. By the time his foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, closed in 2020, he had given away roughly $8 billion, nearly all of it while he was alive to see what it did. He called the idea giving while living.
Most of us aren't working with billions. But a smaller version of Feeney's instinct shows up in our office all the time. Many of our clients don't start giving in earnest until a few years into retirement. Once the plan has proven itself and they trust the money will last, giving stops feeling like a risk and starts feeling like the fun part. Cole talks about that shift in the short video above.
When you get there, the question moves from whether to give to how. At year end, how matters, because the same gift can land very differently on your tax return depending on what you give and when it arrives.
Giving cash
Cash is the simplest gift, and it works for almost everyone. If you itemize, gifts to qualified charities are generally deductible up to 60 percent of your adjusted gross income. Two changes take effect in 2026. People who take the standard deduction can now deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts ($2,000 for married couples filing jointly), if the money goes directly to a charity rather than to a donor advised fund. And people who itemize can deduct only the part of their charitable gifts that's above 0.5 percent of their adjusted gross income.
Giving appreciated stock
If you own shares worth more than you paid and you've held them for more than a year, giving the shares directly is often more efficient than selling them and giving cash. You can generally deduct the full market value if you itemize, and neither you nor the charity pays capital gains tax on the growth. The deduction for gifts of appreciated stock to a public charity is generally capped at 30 percent of adjusted gross income, and anything over the cap can be carried forward for up to five years.
The shares must be transferred to the charity, not sold first. And if a position has lost value, flip the approach. Sell it, keep the loss for your return, and give the cash.
Using a donor advised fund
A donor advised fund is an account held at a sponsoring charity. You contribute cash or appreciated stock, take the deduction in the year you contribute, and recommend grants to the charities you choose over the following months or years. It tends to fit two situations. One is an unusually high income year, from a bonus, a business sale, or a large Roth conversion, when you'd like the deduction now but haven't decided where the money should go. The other is bunching, where you give two or three years' worth of gifts at once, so your itemized deductions clear the standard deduction, which is $32,200 for married couples filing jointly in 2026, and then take the standard deduction in the years between. A contribution to a donor advised fund can't be taken back, and it doesn't count toward the new deduction for people who don't itemize.
Which fits which
If you're giving a modest amount and take the standard deduction, cash given directly to the charity is usually the cleanest choice. If you hold appreciated shares, especially a position you've been meaning to trim, giving shares often does more with the same gift. If this is a high income year, or you want to give several years' worth at once, a donor advised fund lets you line up the deduction with the year you need it. (If you're 70 and a half or older, there's a fourth option, giving directly from your IRA. We'll cover that in December.)
Timing
A check counts in the year it's mailed, and a gift charged to a credit card counts in the year it's charged. A gift of stock counts when the shares reach the charity's account, and transfers between firms can take longer than you'd expect in late December. If stock is part of the plan, November is the time to start.
Where the gift goes
The tax rules decide what a gift costs. They don't decide where it goes, or why. That part belongs to you, and it's worth settling before the December rush, while there's still time to talk it over as a family.
Feeney's approach was simple. He wanted to see what his money did while he was still around to see it. You don't need a foundation to give that way. You need a plan that tells you it's safe to start.
If you'd like help sorting out which way to give this year, Let's Talk.
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