PG Calc Blog

As we approach the end of the year, it’s a great time to look ahead and anticipate the next big marketing trend for 2020. Technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, so of course, you might think next year’s big marketing trend would focus on new technology. You’d be wrong. While the use of technology in data-driven marketing will certainly continue to be important in 2020, your overarching focus should be on people. Specifically, spending time improving your donors’ digital experiences.

Why do donors care about the charitable deduction? The charitable deduction is valuable to many donors because it enables them to save taxes. The amount of taxes the donor can save with a given charitable deduction depends on several factors. Let’s consider a simple case first.

On November 22, 2019, the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) announced new suggested maximum gift annuity rates to replace the rates that became effective on July 1, 2018. The new rates will apply to gift annuities established on or after January 1, 2020, although a charity may follow the new rates immediately if it wishes.

On November 22, 2019, the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) announced new suggested maximum gift annuity rates to replace the rates that became effective on July 1, 2018. The new rates will apply to gift annuities established on or after January 1, 2020, although you may use the new rates immediately. These new rates are moderately lower than the ones they replace; you can read our complete analysis of the new rates here.

Remember when planned giving called the Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) the charitable IRA rollover? Remember when we didn’t know if we could ask donors to make such gifts until the last minute each year? The Internal Revenue Code defined the concept of a charitable IRA rollover as a QCD when the legislation passed all the way back to 2006. The QCD was part of a package of tax extenders that expired every December 31 unless reinstated by Congress. There were years of waiting and waiting for reinstatement of the extenders package. IRA administrators weren’t sure what to do with the QCD and planned givers kept referring to this as the charitable IRA rollover. All that changed in 2015 with the passage of the PATH Act. That legislation made the QCD permanent law and while the expression “charitable IRA rollover” still remains in some marketing materials as a synonym, it is used less often to avoid confusion.