5 Must-Do Moves Smart Development Directors Are Making Right Now
September always has the sprinkle of the start of something new to me.
Maybe it is the start of school.
Maybe it’s that the weather starts to cool down and the leaves begin to fall.
Maybe it’s because this is when the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, usually takes place.
Maybe because it’s my birthday month – hint hint Sapphire = September.
But whether it’s buying new school supplies, or getting out the warmer clothes or thinking about what has happened in the past year, I’m always very reflective.
And what has been on mind a lot?
A NEW tax law.
We expected this.
Maybe you’ve seen the articles talking about the new law.
Maybe you’ve seen what almost was in it.
But now we’re here. Heading into the fourth quarter of 2025.
And that typically means it’s the busiest time for development professionals. This is when the most money is raised. This is when your donors think about giving. (Check out past articles here and here that talk about this more).
But again, we have something new. And we don’t fully know exactly how it will all pan out.
We don’t exactly know how it will influence donor behavior.
But you have to start making your end-of-year plan.
You have to get in front of your major donors.
You have to do all you can to hit your revenue goals.
So while I’m no tax or legal expert (seriously, don’t take this as either type of advice. Go talk to a qualified expert on such matters), I can help you do:
FIVE things to help you raise more money now, and prepare your nonprofit as the law impacts charitable giving in 2025, 2026 and beyond
1) Review all your fundraising emails, website pages and printed materials for two things:
One - Is your Tax ID (EIN) easily obtainable? More AND MORE donors are giving to Donor Advised Funds first instead of starting the charitable giving process directly to a nonprofit (see point 4).
And what is the most important thing they need in order to make that type of gift?
The Tax ID or EIN of your charity. So make sure yours is easy to find in multiple places.
Two - Stop saying tax deductible and start saying tax savings.
I know I know. This is such a huge change for nonprofits and the whole philanthropic sector. But here’s the thing – according to Fidelity Charitable, 90% of tax filers now take the standard deduction.
This means that most tax filers are not itemizing each charitable donation they make to get the “charitable deduction.” So change your language to reflect what is now actually true for your donors.
2) Talk to you biggest donors about their giving in 2025 NOW!
So 2025 is special (for so many reasons but focus on this one for now): this is the final year that your donors can deduct charitable contributions without having to meet a certain threshold.
HUH?
Starting in 2026, an individual or couple must donate at least .5% of their adjusted gross income (AGI) in order to receive any tax benefit for charitable giving if someone is itemizing.
Here’s an example: Let’s say your donor’s AGI is $250,000. In order to get a tax benefit for their charitable giving, they must give at least .5% = $1250 in order to get the tax benefits (when itemizing).
What else do your donors at the top of the tax bracket need to know?
That 2025 will be the final year for your donors in the 37% tax bracket to receive the full amount of their tax deduction (it will go down to 35% benefit, approximately).
Here’s an example: If your donor is in this tax bracket, then if they give $1000 to charity, they used to (and still in 2025) get a $370 tax deduction. Starting in 2026 they will only get $350.
This may make your donors nervous and therefore will bunch (see point 3) more of their giving so they can ensure they to get the full benefit.
3) Get comfortable talking about “bunching gifts”
Let’s talk more about bunching. As your donors might be advised to give more first to donor advised funds to ensure their tax savings, they may also consider if they can start giving to a nonprofit more at once and not every year (i.e. bunching their gifts)
What could your donors do now to maximize the tax benefits of 2025 through accelerated bunched gifts?
Pay off pledges early
Give multiyear gifts now for future years
Make an endowment gift
Fund a project that had a budget cut due to a government grant
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – make sure you’re talking to your database and accounting teams to ensure that any gifts that are received in one fiscal year are allocated exactly as your donor intended.
4) Include Donor Advised Funds and Other Non-Cash Gifts as opportunities for bigger gifts in every major gifts conversation
Look, DAFS aren’t going anywhere (check out past articles here and here to learn more). Given the changes and complexities, more and more donors will bunch large gifts to their DAF and then give from there to charities.
Your role in this?
Ask your donor if they have a DAF. Donors are forgetful. They might be working with their tax planner who says to them, hey, you’re charitable? Set up a DAF now and make all your contributions there first. Then make recommendations for allocations afterwards.
And then time goes by and your donor totally forgets they donated this money already because it’s out of their estate. They’re not seeing it grow each year.
So go remind them. Like now.
And those non-cash assets you keep hearing about (Qualified charitable distributions from IRAs, stock gifts, real estate, etc.)? Those gifts are more important than ever from a tax planning purpose.
Talk to your donors about these assets. Don’t just ask about making a gift today with a donation form – you’re missing out on the biggest gifts you could get.
Think about how you can ask for these types of gifts ALL the time.
5) Optimize corporate giving now before it radically changes
One other thing to note – corporations might also have set up a donor advised fund, and it makes more and more sense for them to do so.
Because guess what is also getting a new minimum threshold in order to be eligible for charitable deductions? That’s right – corporations. They now need to donate at least 1% of their taxable income in order to get their tax deduction.
So similar recommendations as with your majors donors – encourage them to give more now to pay for future years
Start talking to your corporate partners now. They are probably rapidly considering what this means for their business and may streamline their giving even more based on a few partnerships on a couple of issues.
Here’s the thing, just like this is all new to you, this is new to your donors too. They probably have also been watching the news on this new law and are very curious about how it will impact them. They are not as focused on the charitable elements.
It’s your role to educate them. And that might take a little time.
So with 14 weeks left for the year, now would be a great time to start.
Need some help devising a plan for your end-of-year fundraising or how to engage your major donors?
Please note this article is not intended as legal or tax advice. Please consult appropriate guidance.
This article was written in September 2025 with the support of the following articles: