Philanthropic giving through Schwab Charitable, a national provider of donor-advised funds and other philanthropic services, increased dramatically in 2016 compared with the year before, partially because of uncertainty over President Trump’s tax policies, according to the year end report released Tuesday.
Donors gave $1.5 billion in grants to charities in 2016, a 41 percent increase. Schwab Charitable donors supported 61,000 charities and recommended approximately 273,000 grants, up from 233,000 grants in 2015.
Individuals mobilized support around a range of domestic and international causes in 2016, including relief efforts for Hurricane Matthew, flooding in Louisiana, and the global refugee crisis, says Schwab. Donors were particularly active during the last three months of the year when they recommended 128,000 charitable grants totaling nearly $672 million. The amount granted in the fourth quarter is an increase of 75 percent from the same time period in 2015 and represents 45 percent of the givng for the year, Schwab says.
“Many investors turned to charitable giving to offset higher capital gains and income taxes associated with earnings from a strong economy and high-performing stock market,” says Kim Laughton, president of Schwab Charitable. “Uncertainty over the new administration’s tax policy also encouraged donors to maximize the significant benefits of charitable giving under the existing tax code.”
Sixty-eight percent of the contributions into Schwab Charitable donor-advised fund accounts were non-cash assets, which usually allows donors to eliminate capital gains tax on the sale of the assets.