September tends to turn attention toward generosity. Nonprofits across the Triangle open their year-end campaigns, and families begin deciding what their giving should look like before December arrives. The head start matters more this year, because new federal rules took effect in January that change how charitable deductions work. The charitable giving strategies you choose now shape both your tax picture and the reach of every dollar you give.
At RHA Wealth, generosity belongs inside your financial plan rather than tacked on in December. Here are three of the most useful giving structures and what changed for 2026.
What Changed for 2026
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act rewrote several charitable rules beginning with the 2026 tax year. Four changes are important to note:
1. Non-itemizers gained a deduction. If you take the standard deduction, you can now deduct up to $1,000 in cash gifts as a single filer or $2,000 as a married couple filing jointly. Gifts to donor-advised funds and certain private foundations are excluded.
2. Itemizers face a new floor. Deductions now count only above 0.5 percent of adjusted gross income, the income figure the IRS calculates after certain adjustments. As a hypothetical example, a couple with $300,000 of adjusted gross income would see no deduction on their first $1,500 of giving.
3. Top earners see a cap. Taxpayers in the 37 percent bracket now have the value of a charitable deduction limited to 35 percent, so a $1,000 gift that once trimmed $370 from a tax bill trims $350.
4. The 60 percent limit became permanent. Deducting cash gifts of up to 60 percent of adjusted gross income to public charities is now written into law.
Together, these rules reward households that plan their gifts deliberately instead of writing checks in a late-December rush.
Donor-Advised Funds: Flexibility Without the Paperwork
A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is often the simplest way to give with a plan behind it. You contribute cash or appreciated investments to an account sponsored by a public charity, take the deduction that year, then recommend grants to the charities you care about on your own timeline.
Cash contributions are deductible up to 60 percent of adjusted gross income, and investments held longer than a year up to 30 percent of their full market value. There are no startup costs, no required annual payout, and grants can be made anonymously.
The new floor makes one classic DAF approach more relevant: bunching. Combining two or three years of planned gifts into a single contribution clears the 0.5 percent floor once and captures a larger deduction in a high-income year, while the organizations you support still receive steady funding through grants. Contributing long-held investments rather than cash can also help you avoid capital gains tax on those shares while deducting their full market value.
Family Foundations: Control and Governance
A private family foundation is a larger commitment. A DAF is an account, while a foundation is an institution with its own legal identity, a board, bylaws, and annual filings. Setting one up can take weeks or months and carries significant legal and administrative costs.
What it offers in return is control. Your family decides how assets are invested and which organizations receive grants, and you shape how the next generation participates. For some families the foundation becomes part of the legacy itself, a working table where children and grandchildren learn stewardship firsthand.
The tradeoffs are real. Deduction limits run lower than a DAF’s, at 30 percent of adjusted gross income for cash and 20 percent for long-held investments. Foundations must distribute 5 percent of net asset value annually, pay a 1.39 percent excise tax on net investment income, and file public returns disclosing grants, trustees, and salaries. Families making substantial multigenerational commitments often find that worth the overhead, while many others find a DAF delivers most of the impact with far less work.
QCDs: Tax-Smart Giving From Your IRA
If you are 70½ or older, a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD, calls for a close look. A QCD sends money directly from your IRA to a qualified charity. For 2026, the limit is $111,000 per person, or $222,000 for a married couple giving from separate IRAs.
Two features stand out under the new rules. The distribution counts toward your required minimum distribution, the amount the IRS requires you to withdraw from retirement accounts each year once you reach a certain age. The gift is also excluded from your income entirely, so it never enters adjusted gross income and never faces the 0.5 percent floor or the 35 percent cap. Because the savings come through that exclusion, you can keep the standard deduction and still give in a tax-smart way.
One caution: a QCD cannot go to a donor-advised fund, private foundation, or supporting organization. The gift must go directly to an operating charity.
Giving That Reflects Your Values
Before choosing a structure, decide what you want your generosity to say. Some families organize their giving around a place, often the Triangle communities where they built their careers. Others focus on a cause, a school, or a faith community. Once that purpose is clear, choosing among a DAF, a foundation, and a QCD gets easier, because each one supports a different level of involvement.
Our team builds charitable goals into your plan alongside retirement, education, and estate priorities, then coordinates them with your CPA and estate attorney. Because we reach out through the year rather than waiting on an annual review, giving decisions can happen when the timing is right.
Start Planning Your Charitable Giving Strategies
Charitable giving strategies have the most impact where taxes, investments, and family priorities meet, and it’s where careful planning shows its value. Would you like help structuring your giving before year-end? Our financial advisors in Raleigh, NC, would be glad to talk it through. Schedule a conversation with the RHA Wealth team, and let’s map out an approach that fits your goals and the causes you care about.
It’s worth planning for.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between a donor-advised fund and a family foundation?
A DAF is an account at a sponsoring public charity, while a family foundation is a separate legal entity your family controls. The DAF is simpler and cheaper to open, allows cash deductions up to 60 percent of adjusted gross income, and keeps your giving private if you want it that way. A foundation offers governance and family involvement, but comes with lower deduction limits, a required 5 percent annual distribution, an excise tax, and public filings. Many families weigh this choice alongside the rest of their estate plan.
How does charitable giving fit alongside saving for a child’s education?
Both goals compete for the same dollars, so sequencing matters. Education funding usually carries a fixed deadline, while charitable gifts can often be timed around a high-income year through bunching or a QCD. Mapping the two together, rather than treating them separately, usually produces a clearer answer about what to fund first. Our article on college funding beyond the 529 covers the account options in more detail.
When should I start planning year-end charitable gifts?
Earlier than December. Gifts of appreciated investments, QCDs, and DAF contributions each involve transfers that take time to process, and a decision like bunching works best when it is made against your full tax year. Early fall is a reasonable window. This is also a good moment for a broader look at whether your plan still matches your life, which we walk through in our article on course-correcting your financial plan.
RHA Wealth | It’s Worth Planning For
RHA Wealth is an independent wealth advisory firm in Raleigh, NC, serving high-earning professionals, business owners, and families throughout the Research Triangle and beyond. With credentials spanning CFP®, CEPA®, CPWA®, and CRPC®, the team specializes in liquidity and exit planning, investment management, and tax-efficient strategies—delivering detailed, unbiased planning in close coordination with clients’ CPAs and attorneys.
