Welcome to Cultivating Generosity,

a Rad Philanthropy Newsletter

Welcome to Cultivating Generosity, the newsletter to help you create a values-driven, joyful, and intentional giving plan. Here you'll learn about ways to give, you'll receive prompts to help you hone in on your giving philosophy, I'll keep you up to date about news and trends in giving, and we'll have a fun time while we're at it.

Hey friends! I don't have an overarching theme today or a big spiel to get into in this introduction. So I'll keep it short and say, did you know just saying hello or thank you to passerby predicts higher life satisfaction? So, THANK YOU for reading this and I hope you are doing well - please enjoy today's issue!

- Perry Radford, Founder and Principal, Rad Philanthropy.

Learn Tax Benefits Beyond Itemized Deductions

Most people make donations for a variety of reasons, often including reducing their tax burden. If you are using the standard deduction you won't always see the tax reduction you're looking for. There are many other ways to approach this, although some of them are age-dependent. For a longer list of ideas, check out this post by Russell James. Here are the top options I'd recommend:

•  Donate appreciated assets such as stocks, crypto, and real estate directly (DON'T SELL FIRST!) to non-profits to avoid capital gains taxes. Usually large, complex organizations are best equipped to accept these, but that doesn't mean small non-profits won't be able to. You may need to work directly with them to make these gifts, either way.

• Get an immediate deduction for donating inheritance rights to property. A non-profit will receive it once you pass away but you get the deduction now when you need it.

• Once you've met the age requirement, giving from your IRA can help you increase the amount you can deduct and/or avoid income tax by donating some or all of your required minimum distribution.

• Last but not least, don't avoid the full tax bill. Just because you can deduct doesn't mean you have to - some people believe the best way to follow their charitable intent to is to pay the maximum taxes due and support government programs. As one proponent of this approach says, "it shouldn’t be the wealthy who get to decide which personal interests and passions deserve their inherited millions." You can read more about this in the article below.

   

Rad Reflections The Acts of Giving: Testimony

One of the best ways for people to think about how they want to give back is to start with the basics: the Acts of Giving. The Acts of Giving are the basic actions you can take to give. As you think about how you want to make an impact or influence with your giving, I encourage people to think about how each act may help them with different philanthropic goals.

Giving testimony is the act of sharing your story in order to advocate for a cause. Research shows that stories and their connection to emotions are one of the most compelling ways to get people to give. That means your experiences can be valuable to the causes you care about and incite all types of support. When it comes to giving away your testimony, here are some ideas to help you do it in the way that makes the most sense for you:

• Decide where you want to share your story. Your story can go on your social media to your followers and/or can be used by staff at an organization to be shared broadly with their followers. Both are valuable in different ways.

• Decide how much you want to share. Your testimony can be deeply personal and connected to trauma or other information that you don't want public. It's your choice how much or how little to reveal.

• Sharing your story is less resource-intensive than giving money or your time - consider it when you aren't able to use those resources.

• When you use your voice, it has social capital. People who know you or identify with you will likely resonate the most with your story. Consider this if you're supporting a specific campaign or asking your network to join you for a cause.

   

Playtime with Perry

If you're buying Hanukkah, Christmas, or year-end gifts for friends, family, or clients, you might be worrying about picking just the right thing. Here are some ideas to help you with your shopping:

• Give a typed or handwritten card with words from the heart.

• Here's a rad list of gifts that give back - from socks to goats to memberships.

• Practice the platinum rule - and give people what they want. Like incredibly fancy candy they choose themselves...

• Know someone's favorite cause? Make a gift to that organization in their honor.

• More and more people prefer gifts of experiences these days. Take someone out for a special experience, whether it's something you've never done before, something you haven't done in ages, or you make it up together as you go along.

Did this newsletter leave you with any burning questions about your giving? Drop me a line at perry@radphilanthropy.com and I'll help you out.

You can also find past issues here.