Planned giving skepticism | Big and small donors | Gifts beyond cash and stock

Greetings from DCCF! 

We certainly appreciated the opportunity to work with so many nonprofit partners during the flurry of 2025 year-end activity. 2026 is here, and we look forward to another productive year serving our community through increasing charitable giving, connecting donors to causes they care about, and leading on critical community issues. Working alongside our community’s nonprofits is crucial to DCCF’s ability to carry out its mission.

As always, we are happy to share what’s trending as we look out across the charitable giving landscape. Perhaps one–or all–of these topics is on your mind! Remember, we are here to help.

• Planned giving can feel intimidating to nonprofit boards, especially when members worry their organization isn’t “ready” to handle complex or legacy gifts. DCCF is happy to address common sources of board skepticism and offer insights into why planned giving is more important than ever in a changing tax and donor landscape. 
• As 2026 fundraising efforts begin, nonprofits must thoughtfully engage both affluent donors and those just starting their giving journey. Our team is happy to help you explore why distinct—but connected—strategies for major and entry-level donors are especially important under new tax laws. 
• Although cash and publicly traded stock remain popular giving options, many of your donors hold other assets that can significantly enhance their charitable impact. We are happy to help you wrap your arms around underutilized opportunities for charitable giving—from closely held business interests to real estate, QCDs, and life insurance. We want our nonprofit partners to be able to confidently accept these gifts with DCCF’s support. 

Thank you for all you do to improve the quality of life in our community. We are honored to work together and look forward to a productive year ahead. 

Happy New Year! 

Lori Trenholm, 
Director of Community Investment

Planned giving: Overcoming board members’ skepticism 

“Our board members tell us that they are very skeptical that planned giving is something our team can just ‘run with.’ They are concerned that we’re simply ‘not ready.’”

Does this sound familiar? We suspect so! It’s understandable that a volunteer board of directors, few of whom have even a basic level of experience with charitable gift planning, would find it daunting or even seemingly unwise to encourage donors’ complex and legacy gifts.

But don’t let that skepticism stop you. Instead, focus on educating your board on the importance of a planned giving strategy to your organization’s future—especially right now in this environment of changing tax laws and evolving patterns of donor behavior.

Against this backdrop, DCCF stands ready to serve as a sounding board and partner. Here are a few ways we can help:

We’re happy to join a board meeting.
Our team would be happy to drop by one of your board meetings to deliver a brief, informal presentation. During our remarks, we will demystify planned giving and review the many benefits it offers. Through tangible examples such as gifts in a donor’s will or through a retirement plan beneficiary designation, we’re able to help connect the dots from opaque legal concepts to concrete outcomes that your organization has likely already experienced. 

We’re happy to share research and resources.
We know it can be hard to articulate the return on an investment in a planned giving program. Even though planned gifts don’t always result in immediate dollars, their long-term value can be substantial, and that’s a key point that DCCF, as a trusted resource, can clarify for your board members. We’ll also share research on planned giving trends, especially studies illustrating that donors who make planned giving commitments actually tend to increase their annual giving—creating a true win-win. 

We’re happy to serve as your planned giving back office when opportunities arise. 
Your board may be concerned that your organization will be faced with the prospect of receiving a large, complex gift or bequest and won’t know what to do. Many board members are reassured to learn that DCCF offers expertise, infrastructure, and administrative support needed to accept and steward complex charitable gifts. Furthermore, if your board of directors would like to allocate planned gifts, such as bequests, for instance, to an endowment or reserve fund, remember that DCCF can professionally invest and manage endowment and reserve funds with a long-term perspective, ensuring prudent oversight, spending discipline, and transparent reporting. 

We’re happy to recommend educational resources and implementation tools.
DCCF is happy to recommend resources that offer practical tools and talking points that board members can use when engaging prospective legacy donors. Even beyond engaging board members, our team can point you in the right direction for bequest language, checklists of types of planned gifts, and simple messaging that emphasizes legacy and impact (rather than legal or financial jargon). Knowing your organization has tools and resources often can make board members more comfortable with your organization undertaking planned giving as a priority. 

The bottom line is that DCCF is here to help! We look forward to hearing how we can assist with your planned giving program, whether you’ve recently launched a program, know you need to get a program started, or have a longstanding program in place that needs a little dusting off. By partnering with DCCF, your board members can feel more confident in making planned giving a priority for your organization. 

Big and small, there is something for every giver

As your 2026 fundraising and donor stewardship efforts begin in earnest, it’s worth focusing on developing specific strategies for high-income and affluent donors on one hand, and entry-level donors on the other end.
Here is why this is wise and what you can do to get started.

Tailor outreach to affluent donors 
A recent study conducted by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy reveals important shifts in how affluent Americans give. Affluent households continue to donate at high levels, with 81 percent giving and an average of more than $33,000 annually, even as overall participation has declined over the past decade. The study also shows affluent donors are giving more strategically and intentionally, often supporting multiple organizations and causes close to home while combining financial gifts with active engagement like volunteering.

What this means is that your fundraising and stewardship strategies for major donors should focus on personalization, meaningful connections, and demonstrating impact. This is especially important as tax incentives for donors who itemize deductions are now subject to new limitations through a 0.5% AGI “floor” and a 35% “cap.” It’s vital to communicate impact as tax deductibility becomes less of a motivator.

Adopt broad strategies for entry-level donors
As cultivation priorities for affluent donors are shifting, entry-level donors are becoming increasingly important under tax law changes effective for the 2026 tax year. The new above-the-line charitable deduction for non-itemizers (up to $1,000 for individuals or $2,000 for married couples) will expand the tax incentive for modest giving. Today’s entry-level donors are tomorrow's major donors; be sure your fundraising and stewardship strategies are designed to grow and engage a broad base of everyday supporters who may now find giving more financially feasible. For example, consider communications strategies such as email campaigns and social media to explain the new incentive and offer simple ways for donors to give cash or small gifts early in the year. Educational content throughout the year about the impact of even modest giving can help encourage participation from a wider segment of the community. 

Integrate your efforts to achieve optimal “coverage”
A smart fundraising strategy bridges both donor segments through diversified engagement and stewardship. Consider investing in donor education that speaks to the motivations of affluent philanthropists while also demystifying giving for newcomers encouraged by new tax incentives. Creating layered communication plans that address impact, community needs, and donor value—from small gifts to transformational commitments—will help you sustain support across economic levels. 

As always, please reach out to the team at DCCF to discover more ways you can build a culture of giving that honors the preferences of a wide range of donors. This is one of the best ways to strengthen your fundraising resilience in a changing philanthropic landscape. 

Reminders to donors: There’s more to give than just cash and stock

You’re likely very consistent about reminding your donors about the benefits of giving long-term, publicly traded securities to support your organization’s mission—and that’s great. Please don’t ever stop. It’s easy for donors to default to writing a check, not realizing they could give more tax-efficiently by contributing appreciated assets and potentially avoiding capital gains tax. These reminders make a real difference in helping donors maximize both their charitable impact and their tax benefits.

At the same time, it’s important to remember that non-cash gifts go well beyond publicly traded stock. Many donors hold assets that can be powerful tools for charitable giving but may feel complicated for a nonprofit to accept directly. This is where DCCF can help. By working with the foundation, your organization can receive gifts to your endowment fund made with a wide range of assets, while DCCF provides the expertise and administrative support needed to handle them properly. Examples include:

• Closely held business interests. With thoughtful planning and coordination, a donor may be able to transfer shares of a privately held business to your organization’s endowment fund at DCCF. The foundation can assist with due diligence, valuation considerations, and the eventual liquidation or management of the asset.
• Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from IRAs. For donors age 70 ½ or older, a QCD can be an especially effective way to support your endowment fund. A donor can direct up to $111,000 per year (2026 limit) from an IRA to charity, and married couples can each take advantage of this opportunity. The amount distributed is excluded from the donor’s taxable income, which can be particularly valuable for donors who do not itemize deductions.
• Real estate. Gifts of real estate—such as farmland, rental property, or commercial buildings—can be contributed to your endowment fund at DCCF. These gifts may provide the donor with a charitable deduction, help avoid capital gains tax, and reduce the value of the donor’s taxable estate, while the foundation manages the complexities of acceptance and sale.
• Life insurance. For some donors, naming your organization’s endowment fund at DCCF as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy is a meaningful way to make a future gift. In certain cases, particularly with whole life policies, a donor may choose to transfer ownership of the policy to DCCF and make annual, tax-deductible contributions to help cover premium payments.

And that’s not all. Assets such as oil and gas interests, cryptocurrency, and collectibles can also be used to support charitable goals with the right planning. If you’re working with a donor who is considering a non-cash or non-marketable gift, please reach out to the team at DCCF. We’re always happy to serve as a resource and partner, helping you expand the giving options you can confidently offer to your supporters while strengthening your organization’s endowment for the future.