Bunch Your Giving

Two separate rules now punish steady annual giving, and they compound. The standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 joint in 2026) means small annual gifts are absorbed entirely if you would not otherwise itemize — you get no benefit at all. And from 2026 the 0.5%-of-AGI floor takes a bite out of every year you give, so a donor who gives the same amount annually pays the floor over and over.

Bunching defeats both. Concentrate several years of intended giving into one year, itemize that year, take the standard deduction in the others, and pay the floor once instead of five times. Pair it with a DAF (section “Use Donor Advised Funds (DAF)”) and the charities never notice: you fund the account in the bunch year and grant at your usual pace.

The strategy is only worth running if bunching actually gets you over the standard deduction. A household already itemizing on state taxes, property taxes, and mortgage interest is over the line regardless, and for them the floor — not the standard deduction — is the thing bunching solves. Run both tests before choosing a cadence.

Donated Stock Price is Intra-Day Average

The charitable value of donated stock is the average of that day’s lowest and highest selling prices, not the price at the time of donation. Mutual funds price once daily, so the rule is moot for them.