Advisors’ October Guide: Gifts, Estates, and DAFs

October offers plenty to celebrate, including National Estate Planning Week. This is a timely moment for advisors to engage clients in conversations about their estate plans and charitable giving.

For many attorneys, financial advisors, and CPAs, estate planning is a regular part of client discussions. You routinely remind clients to update their wills, trusts, and financial plans as circumstances change. Even so, estate planning often ends up at the bottom of clients’ to-do lists. National Estate Planning Week, which runs from October 20 to 26 this year, provides a helpful external reminder. It is an ideal time to review provisions for distributing assets to heirs and to revisit clients’ intentions for charitable gifts.

The Community Foundation is here to help. Here are three ways to make the most of National Estate Planning Week with your clients:

1. Use the OBBBA as a Conversation Starter
   Begin by discussing how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has changed the charitable deduction landscape. Clients who have been unsure whether they itemize deductions may now have new opportunities. High-income earners can front-load charitable contributions through a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation in 2025 before the new limits take effect next year.
2. Bridge the Conversation to Estate Gifts
   While on the topic of charitable giving, remind clients to check whether their wills, trusts, or beneficiary designations include gifts to charity. Clients will appreciate revisiting provisions they have already set. If a client has not yet arranged a legacy gift but gives to charity regularly, consider whether it makes sense to include an estate gift. Many clients who are philanthropic during their lifetimes have not considered this and will welcome the discussion.
3. Work With the Community Foundation
   The Community Foundation team can help clients build a full portfolio of charitable giving strategies that align with both their charitable intentions and their estate and financial goals. Our team can customize and coordinate a series of giving vehicles, including a donor-advised fund to organize contributions and leverage opportunities under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a designated fund to receive Qualified Charitable Distributions for clients over 70 ½, annual support for Community Foundation initiatives, and documentation of estate gifts.

DAF Day 2025

October also brings DAF Day on October 9, a national event celebrating donor-advised funds (DAFs) and their role in philanthropy. This is a timely opportunity to introduce clients to establishing a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation. Donor-advised funds help clients streamline giving, maximize deductions, and align charitable strategies with estate and tax planning.

Clients who establish a donor-advised fund with the Community Foundation gain access to a trusted local resource that understands community needs and monitors which charities are addressing them. Our team can help strengthen client relationships and ensure that philanthropy is both meaningful and strategically effective through donor-advised funds and other giving vehicles.

We look forward to working with you and your clients in October and throughout the year. Thank you for your partnership.