'Tis the Season for Year-End Giving

'Tis the season to count your blessings and help those around you. Year-end also happens to be the busiest time of year at the Community Foundation and nonprofits all around the community. Listen in as we dive into year-end giving and the importance of investing in the community with OCCF's Vice President of Development Joe Carter and Ron Ward of Ward Construction on this month's podcast. 

Visit occf.org to learn more!

Transcript

Dan 0:29

You know, when I moved to this part of the country, I was told that the people living here in Oklahoma were truly the salt of the earth. They were generous, they were giving, and I have to tell you that after being here for 25 plus years, I still find that to be quite true even today. And that's what our podcast is about today. It's giving back to our community and to the causes that we all love. 

Hi, I'm Dan Martel, and I want to welcome you back to our monthly podcast, Creating Impact Through Giving, which is brought to you by the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. Well, it's that time of year again when our emails, our mailboxes at home and our texts light up from organizations looking for a little help.

It's the season of giving, and what better time than now to look around you, count your blessings and consider donating to your favorite charity or nonprofit? You know, many of us have a cause that we are passionate about, and the Oklahoma City Community Foundation has been helping donors for years with their year-end giving gifts, and they can help you too.

Today we're going to be talking with Joe Carter, the vice president of development with the Foundation, and Joe will give us some perspective on how the Community Foundation can help guide individuals just like you when it comes to your year-end charitable giving. We'll also be speaking to Ron Ward. Ron owns Ward Construction in Oklahoma, a full service commercial general contractor and construction management company. Ron has been serving Oklahoma City in the surrounding areas for 40 years. We'll ask Ron about his connection to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation and what his thoughts are on giving back to the community. So let's bring our first guest in, Joe Carter. Joe, welcome back to Creating Impact and Giving. 

Joe 2:02

Thanks, Dan. Happy to be here. 

Dan 2:04

Joe, it's that time of year when many of the people that you all work with here at the Foundation work directly with you and they’re thinking about year-end giving. I want to talk a little bit about how folks are, are giving and why it's important.

So, we know that Giving Tuesday has come and gone. It started back in 2012 and it's become quite a phenomenon. And although we've kind of got past that, I know that there's still plenty of time to consider making year-end gifts. Are there tools that you all work with here at the Foundation when it comes to year-end giving and other methods like that?

Joe 2:37

Sure. I mean, the thing about charitable giving is, it is the season right now, usually beginning Thanksgiving to December when a lot of the charities are doing appeal letters asking for year-end giving. And a lot of times it's on the top of mind. It's just become a custom, if you will, people thinking about charitable deductions and tax deductions at year-end.

And so what we do a lot here at the Foundation is, oftentimes especially some of those that have tax situations or what have you, we do donor-advised funds, and so their accountant, their tax attorney, or some of their advisors may have told them it's that time of year. You've got a lot of capital gains and appreciated stocks. You've got, you know, opportunities that are out there and it's such a short period of time that they're like, well, yeah, I'd like to do something charitable, but I just don't know what charity to give it to right now. So a donor-advised fund is actually a fantastic tool, and that's what we work with a lot of donors here this time of the year especially, is people that come in and make a year-end gift to a donor-advised fund, get their immediate charitable deduction and then that gives the, allows them or affords them an opportunity to make gifts or grants to charities…

Dan 3:56

Sure. 

Joe 3:57

Into the future at some point in time. 

Dan 3:59

So, with a donor-advised fund, I know you guys call them DAFs, so we'll, we'll refer to it as a DAF. So, with one of these DAFs, can you bundle several years of giving, let's say, into maybe a single tax year?

Joe 4:10

And that's exactly the strategy. I mean, once the standardized deduction went to, you know, $12,000 per person and it took a lot of people out of the itemizing, then there were several people that would do charitable giving. But unfortunately, if they weren't itemizing, you know, they may have given away $15,000 a year traditionally, but they didn't have any other things to itemize, and now all of a sudden, they don't really get any charitable deduction for that. So, using a DAF to put maybe two or three or four years of gifts into one year, then they can get a large charitable deduction that year. And then, in subsequent years, they can make the grants out to charity, but they can go back to using the standardized deduction. And then, once the donor-advised fund gets low enough, they can just re-ante or take advantage of itemizing again, and then going back to the standard deduction for the next few years. 

Dan 5:03

I know this time of year, you know, people tend to get a little bit creative and I know that we sort of can help them here at the Foundation get really creative as well. So, I want to know, you know, we know that folks can also perhaps use an IRA o of sorts to make a charitable distribution. Is that correct? And how does that actually work? 

Joe 5:22

Yeah, so, prior to the SECURE Act, uh, the rules were when somebody has a traditional IRA, they're required to take a minimum distribution out of that at age 70 and a half. So back in 2006, a law was changed that allowed you to gift up to a hundred thousand dollars per person in a household to give money directly from your IRA to charity, and you would not have to include that on your taxable income. So, it was a great opportunity to use retirement dollars for charitable purposes. Otherwise, if you took ownership of that distribution, you would've to pay tax on it. The SECURE Act that passed a couple of years ago raised the level of RMD up to 72. However, they left the IRA rule or the charitable rollover rule intact. So at 70 and a half, you can still make gifts out of your IRA at 70 and a half, even though you're not required to take a minimum distribution until 72.

Dan 6:21

Ah, interesting. That's fascinating. I know right now, you know, if you think about the economy, we've really been experiencing some of the worst inflation in more than 40 years. A lot of people are having a hard time releasing their cash. So, if somebody comes to you, Joe, and they say, hey, I want to make a gift through stocks, or something in that realm, is that all doable?

Joe 6:41 

Absolutely. And I think one of the big things we're seeing right now, in fact, I just talked to a donor about this a few minutes ago, is, you know, we've had a tremendous run in the market for the last three or four years, and this year, in the last year, year and a half or so, it's not been quite as good. And so, from a psychology standpoint, we see that we don't have as much left in our stock account today as we did a year ago. But then if you look at it on paper, we may still have a hundred or 150% gain in that particular stock. So, it's still worth it to look at your overall portfolio, including cash, to determine, are there some stocks that it might be a nice time to exit, and if so, maybe that's what I give to charity and hang on to my cash. And if you got your cash, you can always buy back into the stock market. But always consider it appreciated property first and foremost. 

Dan 7:33

I wanna stay on that topic, Joe. Um, you know, as you just mentioned, the last year and a half, people have kind of looked at their portfolios with some raised eyebrows to say the least. Uh, if this is the case, how do you see donors here in the community responding to, you know, something like year-end giving? 

Joe 7:52

Well, that's a great question, and I think, um, from most donors, if they're very loyal to the mission, very loyal to the charity, that's not going to stop them from giving. I mean, we see that traditionally, and the pandemic was a great example of that. When the pandemic hit, it was a, you know, basically a foregone conclusion that, oh my gosh, every charity is going to struggle during the pandemic. Nobody's going to give, can't go to the rubber chicken dinner. You can't go play in a golf tournament. But yet what we saw during the pandemic is many charities actually had rrecord-breaking years, year over year.

And, it's because they had good stewardship, they had a good mission statement, they were able to tell the donor exactly how their money was being spent, and were also able to express that even though the pandemic hit and doors were closed, services were still going, especially in social services and hospital environments and things like that. So the doors may have been closed to the rubber chicken dinner, but it was still having to support the clientele, so…

Dan 8:52

Absolutely. Okay, so couple a things. Um, what are some of the reasons people do wait? You know, you have donors that contribute certain times of the year and things like that, but when it comes to this, oh my gosh, I gotta do something now. What is, what's the biggest factor in why, why people do wait toward the end of the year and it seems to be a good time when, as you mentioned, a lot of nonprofit charitable organizations out there are aware of it. 

Joe 9:17

Well, yeah. And I think that's the biggest thing. I think one of the things that the Community Foundation does and we do well is try to help donors think differently. So, to your point of why do people wait? Well, oftentimes because it's very transactional. They've gotten a letter in the mail, they get the checkbook out and they write a check to charity. Charity, they were willing to do it, and they were probably are not going to think about that again until next year.

Dan 9:45

Right. 

Joe 9:46

When they get that letter and they get the checkbook out. 

Dan 9:47

That's, yep. 

Joe 9:48

And one of the things that we do as a Foundation here is we try to get people to think more along the line as an investor rather than a donor. And so, a lot of the times what that means is breaking the cycle of that transactional gift and being a little bit more aware of the impact that you can have as a donor. And so, many people that we work with here utilize their donor-advised funds to have that impact from January to December versus just that November 25-December 31.

Dan 

Right. Right. 

Joe 10:17

Nothing wrong with being transactional. Nothing wrong with being a donor, but I think the majority of the people are just accustomed, that's our society.

Dan 10:25

Well, I like what you just said too. I think you said something that's I've not heard here, and it makes total sense, and I think our listeners will agree too. When you do become a donor here, if you think of it more as an investor, I think that that's kind of a neat way to look at things. So Joe, I know you have many donors affiliated with the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. You've been here for a long time. What's the best way to encourage donors to consider year-end giving to be a good time to make a charitable gift if they don't think of themselves as an investor throughout the year? 
 
 

Joe 10:56

Well, I think one of the things is, we talked about, obviously, we can help you on the transactional portion as far as what type of gift to make whether that's cash, non-cash, real estate, oil and gas. I mean, we can help you with a variety of different gifts. But I think two, we really want to be there and walk alongside you and help you understand, hey, when you make a grant to charity, let's look to see what kind of impact that you want to have on that particular charity.

And, it could be where they've got a program or something that's happening in April that we can reach back out and say, hey, did you know there's a such and such event going on? Or, you know, there's a new dog shelter being provided right now, or being built, or there's a capital campaign for this. So, there's many times throughout the year where organizations need funding. But, organizations and donors have just gotten accustomed to that year-end piece. 

Dan 11:52

I know that, you know, the reputation here of you and your team are pretty stellar throughout the community, and I know that you guys get very, very busy this time of year at the foundation. Um, easiest way for somebody to reach out. What's the best way for them to give you a call or go online? What's the best way? 

Joe 12:13

Well, I think if you're not familiar with the Community Foundation and you want to have a little bit better understanding of who we are and what we do, certainly go to our website, www.occf.org, Oscar-Charlie-Charlie-Frank.org.

That will give you a lot of insight as far as who we are as a community foundation, meaning the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. And maybe after you've gone on and seen some of the ways in which the Foundation interacts with the community and our donors and our professional advisors, maybe then you can either send us an email, you can email me directly at j.carter@occf.org. Or certainly we're more than happy to have a phone conversation with you. My direct number is 405-606-2914. That's 405-606-2914. Or certainly called the main number at 405-235-5603. 405-235-5603, that's our main line, and just ask for anybody on the development team. But, I think the biggest thing is we're getting down to crunch time, and so depending on what you're trying to accomplish through your philanthropy, give us a call sooner than later. 

Dan 13:24

Sounds good, Joe. Um, always great having you on this podcast. Your knowledge of working with donors throughout our community has been unprecedented and we appreciate all you do for the Foundation and our community. So, thanks for being with us on the podcast. We look forward to many more lively discussions on a variety of different topics down the road. So, thank you again. 

Joe 13:46

Well, Dan, I want to add one last thing. 

Dan 13:47

Please. 

Joe 13:48

Uh, because we do service a lot of donors on their DAFs and what have you, but I would encourage people to go onto our website. We have lots of matching opportunities for our charitable organization endowment fund holders. So you could, you could very well easily double your gift or at least get a one to three match. They have several organizations right now, currently in a match. And so, I would certainly encourage you to go on and see how you can have double the impact on your, your current giving here at year-end.

Dan 14:19

Outstanding. Thanks for that last little bit of advice. Thanks, Joe. 

Joe 14:22

You bet.

Dan 14:25 

Now we want to bring in Ron Ward of Ward Construction. Ron was referred to the Community Foundation by his good friend, Bill Trammel, who is an Edward Jones advisor. Ron and his family support a wide range of nonprofits here locally and some nationally. Ron, thanks for agreeing to be our guest today on Creating Impact Through Giving. We are glad you are here sir. 

Ron 14:44

Thank you. 

Dan 14:45

So Ron, I'm going to jump into just a handful of questions. You know, this whole thing as we talk about giving, and especially this time of year, year-end giving. I know that you know, donors like you to the Foundation, this is sort of an important time of year. So, first question before we get into some of that, how are things going in the world of construction today? And has the economy affected your business in any way? 

Ron 15:05

Well, it has affected our business. Surprisingly, the construction business is reasonably strong. Obviously, interest rates and the overall economy is going to affect our business going forward, I think. We've kind of fought through things like supply chain issues and, you know, getting projects manufactured and shipped to the job and those kinds of things. So, it's got its difficulties. 

Dan 15:34

Absolutely. Well, hopefully, things will turn around one of these days soon and things will keep going in the right direction. So, how long have you been a donor with the Oklahoma City Community Foundation? And tell us about your financial advisor and how you first were introduced to the Foundation. 

Ron 15:50

Well of course, we've been in, you know, the donor business, I guess you call it that, for a number of years. But we didn't have a, what I would say, an organized donor system, let's call it.

Dan 16:04

Sure. 

Ron 16:05

And in, I think it was 2015, we had a kind of a real estate project where we sold some real estate and there was a good, it was a good opportunity to take some funds and put into a long-term endowed type of situation. 

Dan 16:27

Absolutely. 

Ron 16:28

And I think that's when I sat down with Bill and said, who does this? How do we, how would we do this? We obviously manage, between Bill and I, we manage our portfolio of stuff, but we, when you, when you put it into, for instance, the donor-advised fund, which we have, somebody else manages it. So, I sat down with Bill and Bill started talking and we, then we talked to Joe, and we had several things we were looking at, but the Oklahoma City Community Foundation turned out to be a really good, let's call it a conduit to do what we wanted to do.

Dan 17:07

Absolutely. Yeah. 

Ron 17:08

They had the ability to manage our funds. Give us some, some say into that, you know, most of that is kind of defined by, okay, what's the length of time your money's going to be here? If we're talking about a large fund that is, I say a large fund, a fund of money that's going to stay for a, you know, generations.

Dan 17:31

Sure. 

Ron 17:32

Then, then you want to set it up in terms of investments that you don't worry about short-term market fluctuations. So Bill and I and Joe talked about it, and we kind of arrived at what's called the donor-advised fund, which gives us some, a lot of say in both the donation side of it and the money management side of it, and that seemed to be a really good way to do it. So, we transferred the money in and it has done quite well. 

Dan 18:05

Excellent. Well, I know that, you know, working with Joe and his team of experts here at the Foundation have been, is probably pretty beneficial in helping guide you with… 

Ron 18:16

Yes. I can't say enough good things about the, the way it's, they take care of all the things that, you know, that drives our accountants crazy.

Dan 18:24

Right. Right. Exactly. 

Ron 18:26

And that's, that in itself is worth it to all of us. And, their management, you know, you don't worry about what they're, you know, how they're managing the money. 

Dan 18:36

Sure, sure. Well, you know, Joe was telling us that you have been supporting the El Reno Public School Foundation by offering matches to them to increase scholarship support. Tell us a little bit about how that came about and what you do. 

Ron 18:45

Okay, that's, yeah, it's one of my passions. Of course, I, you know, everybody that, that kind of donates money, they always have passions.

Dan 18:55

Oh, absolutely. 

Ron 15:56

You know what they wanted to see it, you know, happen. Education is kind of mine. You know, from Oklahoma State University, down to the little town that I've lived in for years was in El Reno. And, I was, I served on the initial board of that public school foundation, so I knew kind of what they were doing, and one of the things that we were able, kind of been able to do is to find those little niches where you can take what money you donate and leverage that into significantly more money, a larger pool of money, for instance, matching funds.

Dan 19:37

Absolutely. 

Ron 19:38

Or people that say, okay, I'll pool my money with your money and we'll make a bigger pile or a big, you know, make a bigger impact. And so that was fun. We got started with it. I just said, what if I do this? What if we do this over a three-year period? Do you have people that would buy into the match, and they did.

And, not only, and to bring Joe into it, Joe and the community fund, you know, helped the foundation in, the El Reno Foundation, in kind of best practices, you know, things that they had seen that worked in other places. 

Dan 20:20

Absolutely, yeah. 

Ron 20:21

And those were those, that was pretty exciting because it was a, it was a great success. Still going basically. 

Dan 20:28

What are some of the other charitable causes that you like to support and why do you feel that this time of year, year-end, plays an important role when it comes to people making charitable gifts? 

Ron 20:39

Well, some of the, some of the things in the year-end have to do with tax planning, but…

Dan 20:43

Absolutely. Sure. No, that's a totally legit answer. 

Ron 20:45

And it's just a fact, and it is what a lot of people do, and we're not unlike that. But I think, you know, I kind look at the overall project and say, okay, how can, how can I, I use the term move the needle. Because you can give, I mean, if I said, okay, I'm going to give $20,000 to United Fund, well, I don't move the needle any more than anybody else to that large of fund. But, if I can say, all right I can leverage a certain amount of money with other people, other projects, help them in the expertise of getting things either built or projects off the ground. For instance, like the, you know, the foundation's fund. Um, then you, you've moved the needle, so to speak, and got and moved it much further than you would've t normally if it was just you doing it by yourself. And those are, those to me are real exciting and I've been able to be a part of several of those and really enjoyable. 

Dan 21:58

What are some of the other causes you like to support? You mentioned education is your big one, obviously, that's your baby.

Ron 22:03

Well, what I've tried to do every time I, uh, institutions like OSU or El Reno, they always have projects that are structures, you know, like a building or a, you know, the Spears School of Business, let's say at OSU. I don't mind, you know, putting in bricks and mortar, but what I did was, half of those donations were to scholarship endowment. 

Dan 22:35

All right. So I know that, you know, you talked a little bit about… You said some good things about working with the team here at the Foundation when you work with these, with Joe and a lot of his staff. Tell me a little bit about the experience and how, how that all works. 

Ron 22:51

Well, I can't say enough good things about it. If I called Joe today and I said, Joe, here's my issue, or whatever. It'll be taken care of, or we might collaborate on something. I mean, he was very involved in the project with the El Reno Foundation. And the thing that the Oklahoma City Community Foundation has been able to do is they see a whole variety of different things that ordinarily I wouldn't, I would never see. They can give you a lot of best practices, you know, how did this entity do it? How's that entity do it?

And so, you get to see some things that are, that's saying these are really working in the marketplace. And they have gotten large enough throughout the community to be able to do that. And that's, I think that's huge. That's a big, big… 

Dan 23:48

Outstanding. Well, we have been talking with Ron Ward today of Ward Construction talking about the importance of giving back to the community, especially this time of year during what's known as sort of the year-end giving. Boy, and many donors have a lot of reasons for waiting till the end of the year. But Ron, we appreciate you being with us today. 

Ron 24:09

You're welcome. 

Dan 24:11

Well, that about wraps it up for us today, and I want to thank all of you for listening and tuning in. And remember, there's still plenty of time to consider making a charitable contribution to your favorite cause or nonprofit.

Remember, one person can make a difference. Imagine what we can all do together. The Oklahoma City Community Foundation is here to assist you and answer any questions you may have if you are thinking about giving back to your community. Join us again next month. We're going to be talking about endowments and the solutions the Oklahoma City Community Foundation can provide for nonprofits through matching dollars. Our guests will be Jennifer Meckling, the director of Charitable Organization Endowment Program here at the Foundation, and Liz Charles, senior program officer with the Kirkpatrick Family Fund. We’ll also have Dr. Joe Leonard on the podcast, who has been a longtime donor to the Community Foundation, to get his thoughts on matching gifts.

This should be an informative discussion that every nonprofit will want to tune in for. We look forward to having you back with us again next month. Until then, I'm Dan Martel. We'll see you again on Creating Impact Through Giving.