Half of Donors Have Changed Giving Strategy Since Tax Reform: Fidelity

Tax reform has prompted many taxpayers to change the way in which they make charitable donations, Fidelity Charitable reported Tuesday.

Half of taxpayers in a survey reported that they had made at least one change in their charitable giving strategy since the new tax law went into effect, such as donating appreciated stock, “bunching” several years of charitable gifts into a single year or contributing to a donor-advised fund.

This was in line with previous Fidelity Charitable research that found 47% of advisors said their clients had adjusted their giving strategy in response to tax reform.

At the same time, 76% of taxpayers in the new survey said they had donated about the same amount to charity in 2018 as they had the previous year, and 15% gave more.

“It is encouraging to see that those with the most to give plan to continue to give generously in the years to come,” Tony Oommen, charitable planning consultant at Fidelity Charitable, said in a statement.

“While recent reports show that individual giving as a whole may have been slightly reduced by recent tax reform, we are glad to see the commitment to giving staying strong.”

W5, an independent research firm, surveyed 475 affluent and high-net-worth charitable donors who itemized tax deductions two of the last three years.

Twenty-two percent of surveyed millennials increased their charitable giving in 2018, compared with 16% of Gen Xers and 9% of baby boomers. Fidelity Charitable said millennials likely had reasons other than tax reform for increasing their charity, such as income growth or life stage.