As you prepare to gather with family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday, we invite you to reach out to the team at the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation for suggestions on how to incorporate charitable giving into the festivities.

For example:

  • Take this opportunity to brush up on the rich history of charitable giving in America.
  • Consider asking each family member to conduct quick research on a community need that they feel strongly about, such as homelessness, early childhood education, preserving the environment, medical research, and so on. Even just 15 minutes of online research on how the issue is playing out locally can be eye-opening!
  • When your family is together, each person can briefly share what they found in their research. If the group feels strongly about one or two issues, you might consider pooling donations – whether $5 per person or $50.
  • Contact the PACF to find out how you can make your donation, whether it's supporting a Foundation Initiative, donating to a nonprofit organization's endowment fund at the PACF, or making an outright gift to an agency in our community that most closely aligns with addressing the issues you’ve selected.

Thanksgiving is also a good time to start planning for year-end charitable giving to meet your philanthropic goals. For instance:

  • Making gifts of cash or appreciated stock to your Donor Advised Fund at the PACF can help you streamline your charitable giving recordkeeping and still allow you to support your favorite charities with year-end gifts. If you’ve not yet established a fund at the community foundation, we’d love to help you set that up. There is still plenty of time to put it in place to meet your year-end tax planning and charitable giving needs.
  • If you are over the age of 70 ½, consider making a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your IRA to one or more qualifying charities, which include an Unrestricted or Field of Interest Fund at the PACF. QCDs, available up to $100,000 annually per taxpayer, are an excellent way to bypass required minimum distributions and the corresponding income tax liability.
  • Many families update their estate plans around the holidays. If you’re planning to review your wills and trusts, it’s a great time to check in on any bequests and adjust those provisions, especially if you’ve recently established a fund at the PACF or intend for part of your estate to support the PACF's work in our region.

As always, please contact the PACF for charitable giving inspiration and insights. We are here to help!