By Jennifer O'Flannery Anderson, Ph.D.

Community Foundation of Broward President/CEO

This is the time of year when many of us count our blessings and look for ways we can help others with our charitable giving.

What better way to know you are making a real difference than to give where you live?

Whether you are a longtime resident or new to Broward, this vibrant community is where you decided to make your home. You experience both the wonderful quality of life here and see our community’s pressing needs.

To give where you live is a powerful opportunity to make your community a better place for everyone to call home. It’s a chance to help tackle big challenges, invest in innovation and offer a hand up to neighbors in need.

Volunteering during the holidays is a wonderful way to use your time and talents to help make Broward the best it can be. Collecting food for food banks, wrapping gifts for a toy drive, visiting isolated seniors and participating in park cleanups are just a few of the local volunteering opportunities to consider. Hopefully, getting involved during the holidays inspires us all to volunteer our time throughout the year. For volunteering ideas, you can visit www.broward.org/volunteer.

Of course, making charitable donations during the holidays is also an important way to lift up our community – and make the most of end-of-year-giving tax benefits.

Many nonprofit organizations that provide the critical, front-line community services that make life better in Broward rely on holiday giving to sustain them throughout the year. Our charitable contributions support mental health, art and culture, cancer research, the environment, college and career readiness, animal rescue, education, overcoming senior isolation and so much more.

Making donations to your favorite local charitable organizations during the holidays is a wonderful way to give back and say thank you to the community you love. You can do it by giving cash to a holiday fundraiser or making online contributions through the websites of local charitable organizations.

Here are a few other ways you may not have considered to make a lasting impact with your holiday giving:

• Give with your IRA distribution: Making a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your IRA is an easy way to donate to a charitable organization. A QCD is an above-the-line tax deduction that can satisfy your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD).
• Donate closely-held stock, real estate, art and other assets: These types of gifts can be excellent ways to fuel your charitable giving. Many charitable organizations, including my team at the Community Foundation of Broward, can work with you and your professional advisor to facilitate a gift of an “alternative” or “complex” asset. This is a great opportunity to maximize tax benefits as well as maximize the dollars available for your charitable giving.
• Gift bundling through a donor-advised fund: You can “bundle” several years’ worth of support for your favorite causes or organizations through a single, year-end gift to a donor-advised fund. Gift bundling enables you to lock in support to achieve your long-term charitable goals, while you get the full tax benefit this year.
• Include a charity in your will: If now isn’t the best time to donate, naming a charitable organization as one of your beneficiaries is a wonderful way to know that your future gift will help others.

I encourage you to contact your professional advisors to discuss the assets and giving strategies that work best for you.

Also, I welcome you to contact my team at the Community Foundation to discuss how our extensive local knowledge and philanthropic expertise can help you make the most of your charitable giving. Visit www.cfbroward.org to learn more about how we partner with local philanthropists who want to be more strategic and impactful when they give where they live.

The holidays are a wonderful time to give back as a thank you to the community that gives us so much. With our time, talent and treasure we can all find a way to make life better in Broward.

The Community Foundation is ready to help you make the most of your holiday giving. To find out how we can amplify your impact, contact Kelly Marmol, Vice President of Philanthropic Services, at kmarmol@cfbroward.org or 954-761-9503.

‍