PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR CONNECTION
September 2020
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Supporting Your Clients' Passions
Do your clients have a specific area they're passionate about supporting? At the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, we provide a wide range of charitable options customized to meet each donor's charitable goals. To learn more about how we can help you provide charitable services for your clients, visit our website.
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Pandemic Response: A Fund That Provides Local Solutions to a Global Problem
As COVID-19 continues to impact our Lowcountry community, your clients may be seeking advice and information on how they can provide help. A charitable gift to the Community Foundation’s Lowcountry Community COVID-19 Response Fund provides an easy option for your clients to make a difference now. Click here for the latest update on how needs continue to be addressed through the collective generosity of our community members, and how your clients can help keep the support going in response to the magnitude of the pandemic.
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Keep Clients Informed about Stress on the Social Sector
Peter Drucker once wrote “Only the social sector, that is, the nongovernmental, nonprofit organization, can create what we now need, communities for citizens.” Charitable giving is an important component of American society. In 2019, for example, total giving by individuals (including bequests), foundations and corporations reached nearly $450 billion, according to Giving USA 2020: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2019, released this summer.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 is taking its toll on nonprofit organizations and philanthropic institutions. In a report recently released by Deloitte's Monitor Institute, the writers offer their predictions for how charities will fare, depending on how the pandemic -
and our response to it - play out. Early evidence shows that total 2020 giving will decline significantly. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, giving declined six percent during the first quarter of 2020, which translates to $5 billion in lost revenue to nonprofit organizations.
One of the most important ways you can help your clients support the charities they care about is to do everything you can to keep clients informed about the increasing challenges faced by the social sector. We encourage you to reach out to the team at the Community Foundation to answer questions and provide resources to share with your clients to help them help the causes they love.
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IRS Ruling Helps Employers & Employees Help Pandemic Victims
In Notice 2020-46, the IRS said compensation treatment will not be triggered when an employer makes cash payments to a charitable organization based on employees’ forgoing vacation, personal or sick days. So-called “leave donation programs” are becoming popular ways for employees to make meaningful contributions to organizations in need. To qualify, an employer’s payments must benefit victims in that geographic area, and payments must be made in 2020. The foregone leave won’t be treated as gross income to employees. Furthermore, the employer may deduct the payments as a charitable contribution or business expense, if otherwise eligible.
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Weeding out Taxpayers Who Abuse Conservation Tools
As environmental consciousness continues to rise, so does the subject of conservation easements as a tax-savvy charitable giving tool. Perhaps your clients have even explored this vehicle, which involves the client giving up certain rights to the ability to alter a tract of land, with the intent to preserve the land indefinitely. The reason this transaction creates a charitable gift is because the easement typically results in a lower property value because the parcel's usefulness for commercial purposes is eliminated or drastically reduced.
Conservation easements are not new. A resource called the National Conservation Easement Database provides mapping and information related to all conservation easements in the United States, which as of 2018 totaled 130,000 in number and covered nearly 25 million acres of land.
Unfortunately, conservation easements can be the target of abuse by unscrupulous taxpayers seeking to undermine the Internal Revenue Service’s strict parameters for deductions and tax benefits generated from the grant of a conservation easement. This abuse has caught the attention of lawmakers. On August 25, 2020, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Ron Wyden released a report on the findings of investigations into a few “bad actors” who, they believe, are circumventing the rules and thereby reducing federal tax revenue to the tune of billions of dollars.
The report is a must-read if you have clients who are involved in conservation easements or are considering using this planning vehicle.
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In the early morning hours of April 13, 2020, an EF-4 tornado with winds topping out at 175 mph tore a 24-mile path through Hampton and Colleton Counties. This tornado was the strongest in Lowcountry history and the first recorded EF-4 tornado in South Carolina since 1995. Five people lost their lives and over 50 residents were injured. Fifty-eight homes were completely destroyed, displacing countless families. Some families have not yet returned to their homes that were damaged. In total, nearly 150 homes were damaged or destroyed and the expected cost to repair or replace these homes exceeds $5 million.
Two groups have worked with Community Foundation of the Lowcountry to create disaster recovery and relief funds for these two counties in our service area:
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The Hampton County Assistance Fund
This fund is a co-operative body of faith-based organizations, nonprofits, government agencies, businesses, and other organizations within the Hampton County community coming together to help those who are facing hardships related to this disaster.
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The Colleton Long-Term Recovery Fund
Through the Colleton Long-Term Recovery Fund, a collection of government agencies, businesses, and individual and group volunteers are working working together to assist the community in Colleton County in recovering from major disasters, like this one - helping those who were directly impacted.
Both funds can be donated to at the links above or by sending a check to:
Community Foundation of the Lowcountry
P.O. Box 23019
Hilton Head Island, SC 29925
*Notate on the memo line of your check the fund your donation should be directed toward.
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It was a busy summer at the Community Foundation. Here are a couple of the highlights:
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We announced the hiring of our incoming president & CEO, Scott Wierman. Scott, who comes to us from The Winston-Salem Foundation in North Carolina, will soon be moving to the Lowcountry and will be joining us at the Community Foundation in January 2021. You can learn more about Scott and his background here.
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Jim Allhusen
Chair
Sandra Benson
Geoff Block
Yvonne Curl
Arno Dimmling
Linda Fiore
Doug Fletcher
John Levy
Sheila Mahony
Michael J. Marks
Paul Moeri
Al Panu
Shirley Peterson
David Rosenblum
Allen Ward
David Wetmore
Michelle Wycoff
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Interim President and CEO
VP for Community Investment
VP for Finance and Administration
Program Associate
VP for Marketing and Communications
Donor Services Associate
Finance Associate
Communications Specialist
VP for Development and Donor Services
Administrative Assistant
Donor Services Associate
Program Associate
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