The gift route is one idea. Though this comes with some complexity as you mention.
You could invest the money and wait for longer than one year to be able to deduct the appreciation and the original investment.
If you have a match through your employer, this is a great route.
If you do clump your donations together, it’s worth shooting an email to the charity you’re giving to so they have a heads up. Make sure to let them know you’re just considering this option and that you’re not promising anything. This does two things: (1) it doesn’t bind you to a gift if you change your mind for some reason and (2) it lets their philanthropy department know that you haven’t dropped off in odd years. They may (or should) worry otherwise.
Other recommendations:
A donor advised fund makes giving much easier once you start talking in the thousands and you’re using stocks or other non-cash assets.
In some states and municipalities the tax rate is higher due to local taxes. For example, in California the maximum marginal rate is 37% + 13.5% = 50.5%.
Hi Katie!
This is a bit of a more complicated question with a number of options. If you like, you can contact me. aaron@electionscience.org. I write a lot in this space: https://www.aaronhamlin.com/articles/#philanthropy
Some options:
The gift route is one idea. Though this comes with some complexity as you mention.
You could invest the money and wait for longer than one year to be able to deduct the appreciation and the original investment.
If you have a match through your employer, this is a great route.
If you do clump your donations together, it’s worth shooting an email to the charity you’re giving to so they have a heads up. Make sure to let them know you’re just considering this option and that you’re not promising anything. This does two things: (1) it doesn’t bind you to a gift if you change your mind for some reason and (2) it lets their philanthropy department know that you haven’t dropped off in odd years. They may (or should) worry otherwise.
Other recommendations:
A donor advised fund makes giving much easier once you start talking in the thousands and you’re using stocks or other non-cash assets.
Also, the highest tax bracket is 37%. https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/taxes/federal-income-tax-brackets/ [Note that this is only Federal. I should assume that you’re talking state and Federal as Gordon pointed out.]
And congrats on your charitable giving plans!
In some states and municipalities the tax rate is higher due to local taxes. For example, in California the maximum marginal rate is 37% + 13.5% = 50.5%.
This is a good point! Katie very likely was considering that and right on target.
Yes, that’s exactly correct.