For those charitably minded, doubling your giving this year could maximize your tax benefits.

“Bunching” could be helpful if you find yourself on the margin between taking the standard deduction or itemizing your taxes.

It’s about concentrating charitable contributions and itemizing deductions in one year, then taking the increased standard deduction in other years.   

The Phoenix Zoo’s own Planned Giving Advisory Committee recommends this strategy called “bunching” when helping their clients create their annual charitable giving plan.

A Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) would enable you to easily execute such a strategy while providing ongoing annual support to the Phoenix Zoo.

By bunching your donations into one year, it’s possible to reduce your combined two-year income tax liability. The bunching strategy is all about maximizing the impact of your itemized deductions combined with the standard deduction over a two-year tax period.

You may worry that if you bunch this year the Zoo will miss out on your gift next year. No need to worry. By bunching your gifts into a DAF account, you can distribute those funds on an annual basis, and keep your Zoo donations consistent year after year.

Another smart strategy, for those who have appreciated stock owned for a year or more, is to donate it directly to the Zoo. If the stock were sold and proceeds given to the Zoo capital gains tax would have to be paid on the appreciation. This year is a great year to make a gift of stock and take advantage of a full fair market value deduction (if you itemize your taxes) and pay no capital gains.

If you’d like to learn more about how you, too, can “go bananas” and support the Phoenix Zoo with these special gift strategies, please contact Liz Toth at 602.286.3881.