We see a significant uptick in our donors’ grants to charities during the winter holiday season, usually after Thanksgiving. It’s called “The Giving Season” for a reason. Nonprofits send out year-end reminders to make donations, and our donors respond generously. But…why wait? Because you made the smart decision to organize your giving using a donor-advised fund, you can make grants …
7 Tips for Maximizing Your Online Giving Experience
The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation’s work is centered in serving donors and our goal is to provide an easy and joyful giving experience. Our online donor portal is an important piece of that experience where donors can view their fund activity in a modern, user-friendly setting. For donors who utilize the online donor portal, here are seven ways to …
Naming Your Charitable Fund
When you’re ready to open a new donor-advised fund, scholarship fund, or any other kind of charitable fund at the Community Foundation, one of the first things you’ll be asked to do is come up with a name for your fund. For some, this is one of the most enjoyable aspects of setting up a fund. For others, it may …
How to Give Back as a Family: A Conversation with Senior Philanthropic Advisors Gwen Wurst and Whitney Hosty
In part two of a two-part series on year-end giving on the Grow Your Giving podcast, Senior Philanthropic Advisors Gwen Wurst and Whitney Hosty share some tips for families on how to incorporate charitable giving into their holiday plans in a year unlike any other. In part one of the series, Vice President and Corporate Counsel Corey Ziegler shared five …
How Much Should We Give?
How much should we give? For some, that question is a moral dilemma. For others, it’s a budget consideration or a strategic decision, or perhaps all three. Regardless of the frame, it’s a question that individual donors and private foundation trustees face every year – how much will they allocate for charitable contributions? Multiple studies, including the National Center for …
The Impact of COVID-19 on the Arts: A Conversation with Randy Cohen
On the most recent episode of the Grow Your Giving podcast, Whitney Hosty, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, hosts Randy Cohen, Vice President of Research at Americans for the Arts. Whitney and Randy discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected arts organizations and artists across the country. Listen to Whitney and Randy’s conversation online, in the iTunes store and on Google …
Trust-Based Philanthropy: A Conversation with Shaady Salehi and Philip Li
On the latest episode of the Grow Your Giving podcast, Gwen Wurst, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, sits down with Shaady Salehi and Philip Li to discuss the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project and how individual donors can implement this practice in their charitable giving. The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project is an initiative working to address the power imbalance found in philanthropy between funders or …
How to Support Systemic Change for Racial Equity
The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation’s leadership work centers on racial equity, specifically focusing on addressing systemic and institutional racism through philanthropic investments. If you are interested in donating to organizations that are working to advance systemic change, here are some options you can consider. Local Organizations ACLU of Kansas Foundation “We work in the state legislature, the courts, and …
CARES Act: Charitable Deduction Summary
The CARES Act, signed into law on March 27, includes provisions that affect both individual and corporate donors. Specifically: 60% of AGI Limit Suspended for 2020 For the 2020 tax year, individuals can deduct any cash contributions made to qualified charitable organizations, up to 100% of their adjusted gross income (AGI). Deductions for cash donations were previously limited to 60% …
Philanthropy’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
As individuals, companies, and government agencies around the globe try to grapple with the outbreak of COVID-19, private philanthropists have given more than $9.1 billion to response and relief efforts. Candid, a leading data and research hub on nonprofits, has been closely tracking the donations from leading philanthropists and the world’s largest companies. You can dig into that data online …