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Worth a look: Charitable gifts of real estate
If your client base includes philanthropic individuals and families, you’re likely aware that gifts of real estate are an option to fund charitable giving. Real estate is the largest asset class in the world, yet various industry sources suggest that only 3% of charitable giving involves gifts of real estate. Still, it’s understandable that charitable real estate donations are often overlooked; the rules and process are complex. What’s more, many clients struggle emotionally when they start to think about parting with their real estate.
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Postmarks, rule changes, and remedies for clients’ 2025 charitable gifts
If you were surprised to read about the ripple effect of a seemingly small change in the U.S. Postal Service regulations late last year, you were not alone! Here’s what you need to know, including potential remedies for your clients whose 2025 charitable deductions may be impacted by the rule change.
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Sudden life changes: Charitable giving can help clients get through it
As an attorney, CPA, or financial advisor, you are no stranger to witnessing the ripple effects of life’s unexpected curveballs. If you represent a client over many years, you’re very likely at some point to help the client through a serious illness, a loved one’s death, business challenges, marital dissolution, strained relationships with children, or all of the above.
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Professional Advisors: Last call for current tax rules
As you counsel clients through year-end tax planning, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham encourages you to remind them that 2025 presents a critical window of opportunity for charitable giving before major provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. The new law could significantly reshape the tax treatment of charitable contributions in ways that may reduce the tax value of gifts made after this year.
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Meet Outstanding Professional Advisor Leigh A. Kaylor
Leigh Kaylor, 2025 Outstanding Professional Advisor Throughout her career, Leigh A. Kaylor has provided legal counsel to numerous family foundations and has played a key role in establishing nonprofits and helping organizations obtain necessary tax exemptions — including her contributions during Super Bowl XXX in Arizona. There was a time when Kaylor thought she’d always work in the world of corporate tax. But eventually, estate planning and estate administration would win her over. Today, Kaylor is Of Counsel in Dentons Sirote’s Trusts, Estates and Wealth Preservation practice, based in Birmingham. A key strength of Kaylor’s practice is her ability to integrate charitable giving into estate plans, and doing so has become her passion.
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Three clients. Three solutions. One common theme.
As the calendar year draws to a close, you’re likely well aware that charitable giving is not only important to your clients first and foremost as an act of generosity, but also as a powerful tool in tax planning.
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Inherited IRAs: A charitable solution?
Remember the good old days when your clients could withdraw the money they inherited in their parents’ IRAs over the course of their lifetimes, thereby deferring the income tax for as long as possible? This so-called “stretch IRA” was largely eliminated by the SECURE Act of 2019, requiring most non-spouse beneficiaries to withdraw the entire inherited IRA within 10 years, rather than stretching withdrawals over their lifetime.
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The Quiet Type: Help clients who prefer to give anonymously
At the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, we’re dedicated to helping your clients achieve their charitable goals. We’re honored to serve as your trusted resource for tax-efficient giving strategies, help your clients maximize their charitable impact, and support your clients as they build lasting philanthropic legacies. As you continue (or begin) conversations about charitable giving with your clients, one important question often arises: How would your clients like their giving to be acknowledged and recognized?
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The Art of Giving: Help your clients give gifts of artwork
If you’ve noticed a surprising uptick in recent years among your younger clients investing in artwork, it is not your imagination! A survey of 1,007 U.S. high net worth individuals (each with at least $3 million in investable assets) found that 83% of respondents aged 43 and under said they currently own or would like to own art — compared with only 34% of those older than 43.