New Tax Guidelines, New Alternatives For Fundraising

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By Harry Lynch

Whether you suppose the One Big Beautiful Bill Act handed in July 2025 was lovely — or an unsightly legislative mistake — it’s in all probability not the most well liked subject at your nonprofit’s water cooler.

If you’re a fundraiser, possibly it must be. The adjustments to tax legal guidelines within the 2025 laws present fundraisers throughout the sector important alternatives to spice up income in the course of the all-important year-end giving season.

First and foremost: Donors who don’t itemize their taxes can obtain a federal tax deduction for charitable giving for the primary time in years.

Beginning in 2026, taxpayers who take the usual deduction could deduct as much as $1,000 in qualifying money charitable contributions for people and $2,000 for married {couples} submitting collectively. Contributions to donor-advised funds don’t qualify for this new deduction.

Because roughly 90% of taxpayers now take the usual deduction, this probably provides tens of millions of donors a tax profit for charitable items that they didn’t have earlier than — a big fundraising alternative that’s receiving far too little consideration. 

We all know that donors give as a result of they imagine in a mission, not due to tax advantages. But for a lot of donors, the brand new deduction supplies one further motive to provide, give extra, or act earlier than year-end.

The message to donors and potential donors doesn’t must be sophisticated. At its easiest:

For the primary time in years, your charitable reward could qualify for a federal tax deduction even for those who don’t itemize.

Or, retaining the mission extra outstanding:

Your reward makes a distinction for [MISSION] — and this yr it might do some extra for you, too. A brand new federal tax deduction means many individuals who don’t itemize can now deduct qualifying charitable items.

These are beginning factors — not prescribed copy. The language must be built-in into your group’s voice, viewers and bigger artistic technique.

Looking Beyond Annual Giving

The non-itemizer deduction could be probably the most simple alternative, but it surely actually isn’t the one one. Other adjustments within the tax legislation have an effect on individuals who itemize and higher-income donors and should create further alternatives in mid-level and main giving — together with conversations concerning the timing and construction of charitable items.

For occasion, starting in 2026, a brand new 0.5% of adjusted gross revenue flooring applies to charitable deductions for taxpayers who itemize. That may make methods similar to bunching a number of years of charitable contributions right into a single yr extra engaging for some donors. Donor-advised funds may be a technique of doing that whereas permitting donors to distribute their charitable assist over time. 

Other provisions have an effect on the worth of deductions for some higher-income taxpayers. And starting in 2025, a short lived improve within the cap on state and native tax (SALT) deductions may make itemizing extra related once more for some donors, notably in high-tax states. 

For mid-level and main donors, the altering tax setting additionally supplies a chance to speak extra broadly about tax-smart giving, together with donor-advised funds, bunching contributions and items of appreciated property similar to inventory. 

Most of those provisions don’t belong in broad annual-giving appeals. And fundraisers shouldn’t be meting out tax recommendation. But they need to perceive the adjustments nicely sufficient to acknowledge alternatives and start applicable conversations with donors.

What Should We Be Doing Now?

Every nonprofit workforce must be its fall and year-end fundraising now by way of a tax-strategy lens. That doesn’t imply merely including a “tax-deductible” message to each attraction.

* Don’t have one “tax message.” Match the tax alternative to the donor.

For the broad annual-giving viewers, the brand new deduction for non-itemizers could be the largest alternative. For donors who already itemize, the brand new 0.5% AGI flooring may make the timing and focus of items extra necessary. For mid-level and main donors, there could also be alternatives to debate bunching items, donor-advised funds, appreciated property and different tax-smart approaches. And in high-tax states, the expanded SALT deduction could make itemizing related to extra donors.

Right now each fundraiser ought to take into account:

* Reviewing upcoming fall and year-end campaigns. 

Look throughout junk mail, e-mail, web sites, donation varieties, paid and natural social, digital promoting and different communications for applicable alternatives to include tax messaging the place it could actually strengthen the fundraising case — not overwhelm it.

* Segmenting the message. 

The new non-itemizer deduction could be broadly related to annual-giving donors, whereas totally different tax concerns could be extra applicable for mid-level, main and higher-income donors. Don’t assume one message matches your complete donor file.

* Thinking past the attraction. 

A P.S., sidebar, buck slip, reply-slip callout, envelope message, e-mail callout or donation-form message could also be sufficient for some audiences. For others, a devoted e-mail, year-end tax-giving piece or extra individualized communication could make sense.

* Engaging mid-level and main donors in another way. Changes affecting itemizers create alternatives for conversations concerning the timing and construction of charitable items, together with bunching contributions, donor-advised funds and appreciated property. Fundraisers don’t have to turn out to be tax advisers, however they need to perceive the alternatives nicely sufficient to start out the dialog — and encourage donors to seek the advice of their very own tax professionals.

The necessary level is: Don’t wait.

The tax profit isn’t why donors care about our nonprofits’ missions. But in 2026, tens of millions of donors have a brand new monetary incentive to provide — and different donors have new causes to suppose strategically about how and once they give.

We must be profiting from all of these alternatives this fall and year-end.

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Harry Lynch is CEO of Sanky Communications in New York City. His e-mail is [email protected]