Before the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), strategic charitable planning often focused on maximizing year-end tax deductions. Today, the conversation has shifted.
While the new charitable deduction floors under OBBBA add complexity, they also create an opportunity to be more purposeful. With these changes, we encourage you to view giving as a proactive leadership decision, not just a year-end transaction.
Understanding the New Thresholds
Let’s start by reframing charitable giving around intent, not just deduction strategy. Evaluate giving within the context of your whole wealth picture—goals, values, and cash-flow realities—before zeroing in on how the new thresholds affect you. Through our planning process, we:
- Model expected giving levels against the new adjusted gross income (AGI) floors so clients can estimate whether they will meet the thresholds for deductibility.
- Identify opportunities to “bunch” gifts or use vehicles like donor-advised funds or family foundations to maintain both consistency and efficiency in their philanthropy.
- Connect giving strategies to what matters most, so decisions are not purely about maximizing deductions but about activating wealth for purpose and impact.
In short, we translate tax changes into clarity to help you give with confidence.
Elevating Philanthropy for Business Owners
For many of our business owner clients, the changes prompt a more structured, proactive approach to philanthropy. Historically, charitable giving was often reactive, responding to requests or year-end tax considerations. Under the new rules, those ad-hoc gifts may no longer be deductible, which means giving needs to be planned with intention and timing in mind.
Our role is to help business owners align corporate giving with personal purpose and strategic goals. That might mean:
- Integrating charitable contributions into annual business planning and cash-flow forecasts.
- Coordinating business and personal philanthropy through a unified giving strategy to help maximize both impact and tax efficiency.
- Using corporate donor-advised funds or charitable trusts to meet giving floors in high-profit years and maintain flexibility when cash flow changes.
From Reactive to Strategic Legacy Planning
Before OBBBA, charitable planning often focused on timing gifts for year-end tax benefits. Post-OBBBA, the conversation has shifted to strategy and sustainability.
Here’s the strategic difference between pre-OBBBA and post-OBBBA charitable planning:
- Pre-OBBBA: Tax optimization was often the lead driver, with the goal of maximizing deductions in the current year.
- Post-OBBBA: The focus is broader and more holistic, structuring giving to create consistent impact over time, stay above the new deduction thresholds, and integrated philanthropy into strategic legacy planning and wealth transfer goals.
Our approach helps clients view giving as an extension of their NetWorthwhile®, not just how much they give, but why and to what end. We design charitable strategies that fit within the four wealth pillars—Grow, Protect, Give, Live—to help clients:
- Grow impact through smarter giving vehicles.
- Protect their wealth with intentional, tax-aware planning.
- Give in alignment with their values and communities.
- Live out their purpose through a legacy that outlasts them.The new law may have raised the floor, but it also raised the opportunity to make giving a more strategic, purpose-driven part of the wealth conversation.
If you believe your wealth should reflect your values, the shift in tax law is an invitation to elevate your giving. Contact us today to explore how the new era of giving fits into your financial picture.
