Ukraine, Covid-19 crises spark increase in giving, says Schwab Charitable

Schwab Charitable said Tuesday that its donors granted $4.7 billion to charity in the past 12 months, a 27% jump, supporting 117,000 organizations through nearly 1 million grants.

“The remarkable charitable impact our donors made over the past fiscal year is truly inspiring,” Sam Kang, president of Schwab Charitable, said in a statement. “We are grateful for the opportunity to provide tools, resources, and education for our donor community as they continue to increase giving to meet rising needs in their communities and around the world.”

Schwab Charitable added that its donors granted an average of 13 times in its fiscal year ending June 30, recommending more than half a million grants within their own states and supporting 11% more charities than the previous fiscal year.

According to Schwab Charitable, donors have boosted their philanthropy in the last year as a result of acute crises at home and abroad, in particular the war in Ukraine, which received more than $50 million in grants. Schwab Charitable donors also recommended more than 50,000 grants totaling more than $200 million to date to charities that are combatting the effects of Covid-19, the company said.

Schwab Charitable donors also increased the proportion of grants not designated for a specific purpose. Such unrestricted grants have reached 72% of the total, according to the organization.

One important consideration in charitable planning is evaluating which assets to give, including non-cash assets, a decision often made by advisers. Donating appreciated non-cash assets to charity potentially increases the amount available for charity by up to 20% by allowing donors to potentially eliminate capital gains tax they would otherwise incur if they sold the assets first and donated the proceeds.

“Another popular strategy with owners of appreciated assets, even private stock or private companies that are looking to exit eventually, is to use charitable remainder trusts or charitable lead annuity trusts," said Hatem Dhiab, managing partner at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management. "These trusts, when properly designed and drafted, can shelter some of the future capital appreciations, getting a substantial tax benefit while planning to have some funds for current or future charitable endeavors. These strategies tend to be highly complex but a real opportunity for the right situations.”

Schwab Charitable, an independent 501(c)(3) public charity, has seen its donors grant more than $24 billion to more than 216,000 charities since our founding in 1999.

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