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President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” added trillions of dollars of tax breaks, some of which could impact your deduction for charitable giving.
U.S. individual giving grew to $392.45 billion in 2024, up by about 5%, including inflation, from the previous year, according to Giving USA’s annual report released in June.
But as the calendar winds down, your 2025 year-end giving strategy could look different than that of previous years, financial experts say.
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When planning for charitable giving, investors should consider a “multi-year approach,” especially after the latest tax law changes, according to Dianne Mehany, who leads the private tax group of EY’s national tax department in Washington, D.C.
Here is a breakdown of some of the key changes — and how they could impact your year-end donations.
This is a ‘no-brainer’ for smaller gifts
When filing taxes, you claim the greater of your itemized tax breaks or the standard deduction. For 2025, the standard deduction is now $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married couples filing jointly.
But 90% of filers don’t itemize, according to the latest IRS data, which prevents most filers from claiming the charitable deduction.
This will soon change thanks to Trump’s legislation. Starting in 2026, there’s a new charitable tax break for non-itemizers, worth up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for married couples filing jointly.
With the change happening in 2026, it could make sense to delay smaller, year-end gifts if you typically don’t itemize deductions, experts say.
“It seems like a no-brainer to just do it in January and capture a little benefit that you wouldn’t otherwise achieve,” certified financial planner Edward Jastrem, chief planning officer at Heritage Financial Services in Westwood, Massachusetts, previously told CNBC.
There’s a ‘double hit’ for top earners
Trump’s legislation could also shrink the charitable deduction for some higher earners in 2026, experts say.
Starting in 2026, there’s an itemized charitable deduction “floor,” which only permits the tax break once it exceeds 0.5% of your adjusted gross income. Plus, the new law caps the benefit for filers in the top 37% income tax bracket, also beginning in 2026.
“You’re essentially reducing your benefit to 35% instead of 37%,” which “feels like a double hit,” when combined with the 0.5% deduction floor, said Mehany from EY.
With the charitable deduction reductions for 2026, “there’s some benefit to accelerating [donations] this year,” said certified public accountant Sheneya Wilson, founder and CEO of Fola Financial in New York.
One option to frontload gifts in 2025 could be using a so-called donor-advised fund, which works like a charitable checkbook.
You receive an upfront charitable deduction on transferred assets by “bunching” multiple years of gifts into a single year. Then, you can invest and potentially grow the balance while choosing grants for public charities later.
Sharon Epperson contributed to reporting for this story.
