A Note from Joe

Rapid Response Giving: How Advisors Can Help Fill Service Gaps Now

Your clients are likely aware that many families are struggling right now, and some clients may ask for your advice about how they can help. Whether increased community needs are triggered by a government shutdown that disrupts paychecks, services, and community programs, a natural disaster, or economic factors, Gulf Coast is committed to working alongside you and your clients to structure charitable giving plans that assist the lives of people in our region.

Here are a few examples of how our team can help:

Deep community knowledge. The team at the Gulf Coast has its finger on the pulse of which organizations are serving families in crisis. As federal employees and contractors grapple with missing income, and federal benefits become uncertain for families in need, charities in our community can be stretched thin attempting to meet the rising demand for food, rent, and utility assistance. Gulf Coast knows where dollars are most needed and how those dollars translate into immediate impact. For instance:

Local households helped by SNAP
- Nearly 6,000 households in Sarasota and DeSoto counties who visit All Faiths Food Bank (AFFB) and their partners for help currently receive SNAP. This does not include families who visit other food pantries that don't enter data into AFFB's system. 

- This represents more than 18% of neighbors who rely on AFFB's network.

Potential additional need
- According to the Department of Children and Families, up to 20,000 households in Sarasota and DeSoto counties are enrolled in SNAP.

- This means nearly 14,000 households who have never accessed All Faiths Food Bank and their partners' services may soon need help.

Local households with children receiving SNAP (served by AFFB network)
- Total: More than 1,900 households in Sarasota and DeSoto counties (about one-third of all SNAP households served in these counties)

Community Response
- All Faiths Food Bank and their partners are preparing for a significant increase in demand.

- All Faiths Food Bank and their partners have already seen a 24% rise in visits from January-September, compared to the same time last year.

Fast, flexible vehicles. Your clients who have already established donor advised funds at Gulf Coast can use those vehicles to provide support to charities on the front lines of emergency assistance in our community. Gulf Coast makes it fast and easy for grants to flow out of donor advised funds to qualified and vetted organizations that are doing the work on the ground.  

Window of opportunity. The urgency of community needs in late 2025 coincides with an important window of opportunity for your clients who itemize their income tax deductions. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), limits on charitable deductions will tighten beginning in 2026. That means some clients may want to “front-load” or “bunch” contributions—such as by giving more this year through establishing or adding to a donor advised fund—to maximize both their tax benefits and their impact.  

Build future resiliency. Unfortunately, community crises are not unusual. Gulf Coast can help your clients strengthen our community’s ability to respond to urgent needs, regardless of when and why they occur. For this reason, many people not only give to favorite charities through their donor advised funds, but they also give regularly to Gulf Coast’s dedicated response funds, such as the Rapid Response Fund, to ensure that dollars are in place to support people in need the moment the next crisis hits. This philanthropic approach might appeal to many of your clients.  

We invite you to reach out to learn how we can help you structure charitable giving plans that maximize tax benefits for your clients while creating lasting impact right here at home.

A TIME-TESTED STRATEGY: QCDs for Clients 70½ and Older

As the economic and legislative environment continues to evolve, advisors are sharpening every tool they have to help clients meet both their financial and charitable goals. Among the most powerful tools in this space for clients age 70½ and older is the Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD).

IRA assets in the United States total nearly $18 trillion, and the vast majority of your clients likely own at least one IRA. You’re likely very aware that traditional IRAs are among the most heavily taxed assets for retirees because withdrawals are generally treated as ordinary income, often pushing retirees into higher tax brackets when they begin taking required minimum distributions at age 73. In addition, IRAs are fully includable in the owner’s taxable estate, meaning heirs may face both estate taxes and income taxes when they inherit the account. This double layer of taxation can significantly erode the value of an IRA, making it one of the least tax-efficient assets to pass to beneficiaries compared to other holdings.  

Against this backdrop, the QCD can come in very handy. A QCD allows an individual aged 70½ and older to give up to $108,000 in 2025 directly from an IRA to an eligible charity. As a result, the QCD is a tax-savvy way for clients to fulfill charitable intentions while managing taxable income.

Here’s why QCDs are more important now than ever:
- Although the OBBBA doesn’t directly change QCD rules, it’s likely to make them even more relevant. The reason is that QCDs reduce adjusted gross income (AGI) rather than operating as an itemized deduction. That distinction is crucial because the OBBBA will continue to influence how many taxpayers itemize, particularly older adults.

- Because a QCD can count toward required minimum distributions (RMDs) without increasing taxable income, it provides a double benefit: supporting charitable organizations while helping to manage income-related Medicare surcharges (IRMAA) and preserving tax credits and deductions that phase out as AGI rises.

- Starting in 2026, under the OBBBA, the Internal Revenue Code will impose a 0.5 percent of AGI floor for deducting charitable contributions, and also limit the value of those deductions for high-income taxpayers by capping the benefit at 35 percent, even when the taxpayer’s top marginal rate is 37 percent. The practical impact is that your high-income-earning clients will experience reduced tax advantages from traditional itemized charitable deductions in the years ahead. 

The Value of QCDs

The team at Gulf Coast can help you structure a QCD that supports the causes your clients care about. While donor advised funds can’t receive QCDs, many families work with the Gulf Coast to maintain multiple types of funds side by side, often pairing the flexibility of a donor advised fund with a fund that can receive QCDs.  Your clients have the option of supporting the causes they care about with a QCD by establishing or adding to their field-of-interest or designated fund. What’s more, they can select to endow their fund or work with one of our philanthropic advisors to create a gifting plan over a period of time.

Now is the time to revisit these strategies with your clients. Together, we can help them give meaningfully, reduce tax exposure, and continue to make an impact in the community we all love.

RARE BUT POWERFUL "CHARITABLE EXITS:" Know It When You See It

If your client base includes business owners, you’re no doubt at least generally aware of the benefits of giving closely-held business interests to charity. Beyond that, though, the details may get fuzzy and understandably so. Most advisors encounter only a few of these opportunities over an entire career. The key is to be able to recognize the opportunity so you can reach out to the Gulf Coast team to help you make the most of it for your client.

Let’s take a look at how this plays out for a hypothetical client, Alex Smith, who may have a few things in common with your actual business owner clients.
- When Alex began considering selling his company, he mentioned it only casually to you. But you knew enough to listen carefully because you know Alex has given generous gifts to several favorite charities over the years. You re-familiarized yourself with Gulf Coast in anticipation of the ongoing conversation with Alex.

- You also know that the value of Alex’s company has grown substantially over the years, accumulating significant unrealized capital gains for Alex. If Alex sold now without additional planning, a large portion of the proceeds would go toward capital gains tax, potentially eroding the value he had worked so hard to build.

- Some business owners in Alex’s position would rush into the exit process with their advisors by putting feelers out to potential buyers, determining an asking price, jumping to establish a letter of intent with a leading suitor, and in the process, missing strategies that could improve their post-sale outcome.

- In Alex’s case, though, you suggest involving Gulf Coast early in the process. You shared with Alex that it’s worth considering giving a portion of the company’s shares to a donor advised fund at Gulf Coast before any formal sale activities begin.  In some cases, it might be an asset sale vs. stock.

- You explain to Alex that by making this charitable gift well in advance of the eventual sale, the shares / asset owned by the donor advised fund will not trigger capital gains for Alex. Instead, the donor advised fund will receive the proceeds free of capital gains tax and ready to deploy toward Alex’s philanthropic goals. What’s more, this technique delivers an estate tax advantage by removing the gifted portion of the business from Alex’s taxable estate.

Whether you encounter a situation like Alex’s once, twice, or dozens of times during your career, the most important tip to remember is to reach out to the Gulf Coast team during the very early stages of planning a client’s business exit. Transactions like this take time and also require navigating a few pitfalls. For example:

- Obtaining a qualified appraisal is crucial in order to comply with IRS rules for charitable deductions for gifts of non-cash assets. Failure to strictly comply with IRS rules could wipe out the tax deduction.

- For this type of transaction to avoid capital gains tax, it is important that no formal discussions about the sale, no shareholder vote approving a transaction, and no signed letter of intent are in place before the gift of shares. Otherwise, the IRS may disallow the charitable deduction.

- These transactions are typically much more effective when the stock is given to a public charity, such as Gulf Coast, rather than a private foundation. Unfortunately, some tax advisors are not aware of the significant differences in the tax benefits of giving closely-held business shares depending on the IRS status of the receiving entity. And of course, Gulf Coast reviews each potential gift carefully to ensure compliance and feasibility.

One of these days, whether it’s next week or six years from now, you’ll likely encounter a charitably-minded business owner who decides it is time to explore selling the business. In that situation–and in any other situation involving charitable giving–Gulf Coast is honored to be your first call.

Your Resource.

As you serve your philanthropic clients, we strive to be your resource and sounding board. Understanding the charitable side of the equation allows us to serve as a secondary source for you as you manage the primary relationship with your clients.

Connect with us anytime! It’s our pleasure to work with you in partnership as you help your clients achieve their charitable giving goals for this year and many years beyond tomorrow.