DECEMBER 26 • 2019 | 17

Tax-Smart
Charitable Giving
Michigan Hillel and Telemus team
up for educational webinar.
T

here’
s a reason they
call this the “giving
season.
” According
to the experts, more than 30
percent of all charitable giving
takes place during the month
of December with 10 percent
happening in the last three
days of the year.
With that in mind,
Michigan Hillel, the largest
Jewish student organization
at the University of Michigan,
teamed up with Southfield-
based financial advisory and
investment management firm,
Telemus, to provide a crash
course on year-end tax plan-
ning and charitable giving.
About 100 participants
locally and across the country
signed up online for the edu-
cational webinar.
“Telemus has always been
focused on giving back to our
community both monetari-
ly as well as with our time,
”
said Bob Stone,
a Telemus senior
financial life offi-
cer and immedi-
ate past chairman
of Michigan
Hillel’
s Board of
Trustees. “We
were approached by Michigan
Hillel to put on the webinar
and we were more than happy
to help.
”
Added Michigan Hillel’
s
Director of Advancement
Stacy Carroll,
“We have wanted
to creatively help
our supporters
make the most
of their phil-
anthropic and
financial interests
for some time now. This is the
first time we’
ve done some-

thing like this, and it was a
great success.
”
The webinar was led by
Andy Bass, chief wealth officer
at Telemus, who talked about
changes in the tax laws and
how charitable deductions can
figure into a year-end plan-
ning strategy.
“Charitable
deductions are
truly one of the
last discretion-
ary deductions
allowable under
the law,
” Bass
explained. “
Any excess con-
tributions that you’
ve given
are allowed to be carried for-
ward for up to five years and
deducted in the future.
”
Bass also described how
IRA distributions can be paid
directly to a charity for those
age 70 and a half and older.
Other ideas discussed includ-
ed:
• Contributing to a Donor
Advised Fund (DAF) that
enables you to donate money
in one year and use it in future
years to fund charitable needs.
• Donating appreciated
assets, like stock, instead of
cash, which is an after-tax
asset.
• “Bunching” — or making
at least two years’
worth of
donations in one.
“There are much more tax
efficient ways to make your
donations other than cash,
”
Bass said. “They’
re very pow-
erful tools and I hope you
consider these creative ways of
giving as you approach your
year-end giving this year.
”

To watch the full webinar free of
charge, visit telemus.com. For more
information about Michigan Hillel or
to donate, visit michiganhillel.org.

ROBIN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Bob Stone

Stacy Carroll

Andy Bass