Ren | Blog

If you have ever worked for or with a philanthropic organization, you are well aware that the calendar from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve should just say, “BUSY.” And for good reason. According to the M+R 2018 Benchmark Study, 31% of annual giving is made in December with 12% of all annual giving happening in the last three days of the year. With all that charitable giving, there are a lot of financial advisors, fundraisers and gift processors burning the midnight oil to get every penny counted before January 1.

Read More »Year-End Giving Deadlines Loom

Giving Tuesday began in 2012 as a chance to step back from the commercial consumerism that claims so much of the focus this time of year and turn attention to philanthropic opportunities. According to GivingTuesday.org 37 million Americans participated in 2022 with gifts to charities hitting a record $3.1 billion—a 15% year-over-year increase and a 25% increase since 2020. Every indication shows that 2023 should be another record-breaking year. 

Read More »Take Giving Tuesday to the next level with a donor-advised fund

Hurricane season is upon us and it’s a terrible reminder that Mother Nature can destroy property, communities and lives in an instant. The country recently watched in horror as Hurricane Florence tore through the Eastern Seaboard. Ranked just behind Hurricane Harvey in the level of rainfall, Florence has left many families in the Carolinas, Maryland and along the Northeastern Seaboard reeling.

Read More »Using Your Donor-Advised Fund for Aid in Disaster Relief

An often-cited philanthropic goal among charitable-minded individuals is to develop a lasting impact that will live on after they are gone. Whether that means instilling in your children and grandchildren a tradition of giving, or developing a means of perpetual giving to continue your charitable habits after your time on Earth has passed, having the ability to make a financial difference and creating a legacy of giving can easily be accomplished by starting a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF).

Read More »Building a Charitable Legacy

Sifting through the new tax laws to find potential deductions can be tricky. While the standard deduction has increased for individuals, deductions for qualified business owners can be a little more complicated because of the new Qualified Business Income Deduction (QBID) introduced at the beginning of 2018.

Read More »Own a Business? You May Still Benefit from a Qualified Business Income Deduction

Now that your taxes are filed or you’ve filed an extension, the thought has probably crossed your mind about how you could ease the pain of that tax bill next year. Ren has several philanthropic tools to help take some of the teeth out of the tax bite. Here, we will share with you the different gift types we can help you to establish and how they may help you cut your tax burden as well as reach your philanthropic goals.

Read More »Taxed from Tax Season? We may have a tool to help.

Recently, I attended the Alliance for Charitable Reform Summit for Leaders in Washington, D.C. and I came away with many thoughts for the near future of philanthropy. While there is still a lot to unravel from the recent passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the shift in charitable giving is already being felt in the industry. I’ve been reading a lot of articles that have both positive and negative impacts on donors and charities and wanted to summarize my thoughts here.

Read More »Unpacking the Future of Philanthropy

It’s no secret, if your business is not growing, it will soon be extinct. In a recent Forbes Magazine study of 803 financial advisors, 91% of them cited their number one concern as how to grow their asset base. It makes sense, we all know what happens to our client’s portfolios when they pass away, or when clients need cash flow at retirement, or one of the myriad reasons assets go out the door. What makes pursuing new assets more challenging is that 88% of those surveyed reported there is intense competition for wealthy clients. There is not only the efficiency of more assets per individual, but there are more options to generate revenue from non-investment solutions.

Read More »Looking for New Ways to Attract New Assets?

Investment savvy individuals are taking note of the skyrocketing prices of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin over the past several months. Many may still not know much about this virtual asset or how it works, but several who have it are calling Ren to open Donor-Advised Funds with it and alleviating some of their tax burdens.

Read More »Open a Donor-Advised Fund with Bitcoin

Rarely does a week pass without some shakeup in Washington D.C. making the headlines. Most recently, the debate over tax reform has taken center stage and on this Giving Tuesday, it is a pertinent time to examine how the proposed changes are sure to influence charitable giving practices. Investors across the country are taking note and have been making serious moves to benefit from the existing tax laws before any changes go into effect.

Read More »Uncertainty over Tax Reform Drives Investors to Charitable Gifts