Give Now
Give Now

Many people approach a new year with a genuine desire to be more intentional about their charitable giving.

They know they want to make a difference, align their generosity with their values, and perhaps even involve their families—but they are often unsure where to begin. The combination of busy lives, changing tax laws, and an ever-growing number of worthy causes can make getting started feel overwhelming. The good news is that taking a few simple, thoughtful actions at the beginning of the year can bring clarity and confidence to your giving. 

Here are three first steps to inspire you:

  1. Consider reviewing your 2025 charitable contributions with the team at the Community Foundation. Looking back at last year’s giving can be surprisingly helpful, especially when guided by professionals who understand both philanthropy and the local community. The Community Foundation can help you see the real-world impact of your gifts, identify patterns in your giving, and highlight opportunities you may not have considered. This review also creates a natural bridge to planning your 2026 support, whether that means refining your focus, adjusting gift amounts, or exploring new charitable vehicles. Just as important, it allows you to begin thinking strategically about future years, helping ensure that your generosity grows in a way that is both meaningful and sustainable.
  2. Talk with your tax advisors as soon as possible about whether and how the new tax laws might impact your situation. Charitable giving is closely connected to tax and estate planning, and early conversations can help you make informed decisions before the year gets too far along. This is also an ideal time to revisit your estate plan and beneficiary designations. Many donors choose to include a gift to their fund at the Community Foundation in their wills, trusts, or beneficiary designations on retirement accounts or life insurance policies, creating a lasting legacy that reflects their values. Coordinating these updates with your tax advisor and the foundation can ensure your charitable intentions are clearly documented, tax-efficient, and aligned with your overall financial and estate planning goals.
  3. Set goals for your charitable involvement in 2026. Rather than giving reactively, goal setting allows you to be proactive and intentional about how you engage with the causes you care about. Berks County Community Foundation can help you explore new and emerging charities, learn more about pressing needs in the community, and connect with organizations that align with your interests. Together, you and our team can create a plan for timing gifts throughout the year, whether through recurring contributions, single large gifts early in the year to help a favorite charity leap ahead, or strategic gifts of highly appreciated or complex assets. This approach not only makes giving more manageable but also helps ensure your generosity has the greatest possible impact.

As you look ahead, remember that you do not have to navigate charitable planning on your own. The Community Foundation is here to serve as a trusted partner—whether you are just getting started, refining an existing plan, or thinking about the legacy you want to leave for future generations. We invite you to reach out anytime to ask questions, explore ideas, or take the next step in your giving journey. We are honored to help you turn your charitable intentions into meaningful, lasting impact.

Please reach out to Molly McCullough Robbins, Vice President for Philanthropic Services, by calling 610-685-2223 or emailing mollyr@bccf.org.

Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC) of Reading collected two awards at this year’s National YVC Summit and presented a workshop on youth mental health. YVC of Reading is a program of VOiCEup Berks, a fund of Berks County Community Foundation that was established in 2016.

Berks County Community Foundation would like to formally congratulate the Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading on their impressive appearance at this year’s National YVC Summit in Kansas City.  

YVC of Reading is a program of VOiCEup Berks, engaging youth ages 11-18 in meaningful service projects that address community needs while fostering teamwork, leadership, and compassion.  

Three of the corps’ Youth Mental Health Ambassadors led a powerful workshop at Summit focused on mental health education, bridging gaps, and fostering connection. The session was both highly attended and rated among the workshop participants.  

YVC of Reading leader and Oley Valley High School alum, EliAnna Bermudez, was named the Youth Volunteer Corps 2025 Distinguished Alumni of the Year, an honor awarded across YVC’s international network. EliAnna was celebrated for her commitment to service, justice, and global citizenship. EliAnna is a co-founder of Stand Together Against Racism (STAR), a collective of VOiCEup Berks and YVC volunteers focused on raising awareness and sharing anti-racist resources for Berks youth. Now, EliAnna is a nursing student serving communities globally; she continues to mentor local youth and volunteer with VOiCEup’s Generation Impact initiative. Read more about EliAnna here.  

YVC of Reading was also named International Affiliate of the Year, the top honor among more than 30 YVC programs across the U.S., Canada, and Uganda.  

VOiCEup Berks was founded in 2016 as a fund of Berks County Community Foundation. In less than a decade, the YVC of Reading has accomplished more than we could have initially hoped. The foundation looks forward, in confidence, to the future its young changemakers are creating in Berks County.  

Congratulations to the Youth Volunteer Corps of Reading on this well-deserved recognition.

At Berks County Community Foundation, we are honored to work with you and so many other families, individuals, and businesses to help organize your charitable giving and support favorite charities that make a difference in our community.  

As the year winds down, here are 10 giving tips to keep in mind: 

  1. Remember that 2025 is a pivotal year for charitable planning. With more stringent charitable deduction limitations taking effect in 2026 under new tax laws, this year may offer a favorable tax environment for your giving depending on your personal situation. Talk with your tax advisors as soon as possible. 
  2. Work with your tax advisors to evaluate the benefits of “bunching” multiple years of charitable gifts into 2025. By front-loading contributions, you may be able to exceed the standard deduction this year and maximize your tax benefits. 
  3. Use a donor-advised fund to simplify year-end giving. You can make one tax-deductible contribution now, receive the deduction in 2025, and recommend grants to nonprofits over time, throughout 2026 and beyond. 
  4. Give appreciated stock instead of cash. Donating long-term appreciated securities may eliminate capital gains tax and in turn increase your charitable impact. Talk with our team and your tax advisors as soon as possible so these gifts can be processed well before the end of the year. 
  5. Explore giving from your IRA if you’re 70½ or older. A Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) can reduce taxable income and, if applicable, satisfy required minimum distributions—to the tune of $108,000 per taxpayer in 2025. IRS rules allow you to make QCDs to a wide variety of funds at the Community Foundation (but not to your donor-advised fund). 
  6. Check to see whether you’ve met your charitable goals for 2025. Don’t wait until late December to review your plan. Our team can help you think through options for this year and begin to coordinate more complex gifts for next year. 
  7. Support the community overall by making gifts to existing funds at Berks County Community Foundation. 2025 has been a tough year for many people in our community, and our team can help you support families in crisis both now and in the future.  
  8. Review your beneficiary designations. Naming your fund as a beneficiary of an IRA or other retirement account can create meaningful future gifts while reducing the tax burden on heirs. 
  9. Avoid last-minute surprises. Gifts of complex assets—such as real estate or closely-held stock—require additional steps and a lot of lead time, so contact us early if you’re considering these options. Even if it is too late to complete these gifts in 2025, start working with our team on options for 2026 gifts. 
  10. Above all, lean on the team at the Community Foundation! We are here to help you explore the most tax-efficient ways to meet your charitable goals, whether you’re planning year-end gifts, updating a legacy plan, or thinking ahead to the changes coming in 2026. 

Thank you for the opportunity to work with you. We look forward to supporting your charitable goals this year and for many years to come.  

This solicitation is valid only for residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

You are likely aware that many families, organizations, and agencies in our community are struggling, and you may be wondering how you can help most effectively. Whether increased community needs are triggered by a budget impasse, government shutdown, or other economic factors, the Community Foundation is committed to helping you structure charitable giving plans that make a real difference in the lives of people in Berks County. 

Here are a few examples of how our team can help: 

Real-time identification of needs.  

The program team at the Community Foundation has its finger on the pulse of which organizations are helping families in crisis, and which organizations are hurting the most due to state and federal funding gaps. Nonprofits in our community can be stretched thin by attempting to meet the rising demand for support. The foundation knows where dollars are most needed and how those dollars translate into immediate impact. 

Offering fast and flexible charitable solutions.  

If you have already established a fund at the Community Foundation, or if you are considering doing so, you can use it to support charities on the front lines in our community.  

Leverage important timing.  

The urgency of community needs in late 2025 coincides with an important window of opportunity for people who itemize their income tax deductions. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), limits on charitable deductions will tighten in early 2026. That means it may be advantageous for certain donors to give more this year-by establishing or adding to a fund—to maximize both tax benefits and impact. 

Plan for the future.  

The Community Foundation works with you and other donors and fund holders to strengthen our community’s ability to respond to urgent needs, regardless of when and why they occur. 

We encourage you to reach out anytime.

At this moment, when urgent needs and tax opportunities are occurring simultaneously, we encourage you to reach out as soon as possible. It is our honor to work with our community members who care so deeply about Berks County. 

Let us help you help others.

What are your plans? What do you need to get started? We’d love to have a one-on-one conversation with you anytime you want to talk.

Discuss your plans

It is our honor to work with so many families and businesses to structure and implement your charitable giving plans.

What’s perhaps most rewarding to the team at the Community Foundation is the overwhelming sentiment among our donors that, despite changes in the tax laws over the years, you are committed to making a difference by supporting the causes you love. Although tax benefits of charitable giving ebb and flow, showing your support for our community and the charities you love through estate planning remains steadfast.  

August is National Make-A-Will Month, which means it’s the perfect time to review your estate plans with your attorney and our team at the foundation to ensure your philanthropic intentions are up to date. Even a quick check-in now can maximize the impact of your legacy and help ensure that your wishes are clearly carried out to support the causes you care about for generations to come. 

If you are a business owner, the concept of succession/estate planning is nothing new. But succession planning isn’t just for business owners–it’s also important for leaving a charitable legacy. The team at the Community Foundation can help capture your intentions, and we make it easy to involve your family members so that the causes you care about are supported for generations to come.  

We look forward to talking with you soon about how you can deepen your involvement with your favorite charities. Our team is here to help. 

Ed Lombardo has a connection to Berks County Community Foundation that goes back many years. A lifelong Berks resident, high school football coach, community volunteer and investment advisor, Ed recognizes the importance of philanthropy.  

Earlier this year, Ed reflected on his history of giving, which includes the Lombardo Family Scholarship Fund and the Lombardo Family Memorial Fund. To learn more about Ed’s connections to Muhlenburg, read his feature in this year’s edition of our annual magazine, 237 Court. Click here to view the magazine; Ed’s story begins on page 3. 

To learn more about establishing a fund at Berks County Community Foundation, click here or email mollyr@bccf.org.  

Tax Law Changes – Time to study up?

Spark Notes is a monthly blog post, providing relevant information to current and future donors and fundholders.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025, after the House of Representatives approved the Senate’s changes to H.R. 1, which passed the House by a narrow margin in May.

The OBBBA, with nearly 900 pages of provisions, reshapes policy across major sectors of the U.S. economy. Included in the OBBBA are several provisions that impact philanthropy. Three major insights are of particular importance to the Community Foundation. We help donors, fund holders, nonprofits, attorneys, CPAs and financial advisors navigate charitable planning opportunities.

(Notably, the OBBBA omits several provisions that appeared in previous versions of the legislation. These provisions include a proposed increase to the net investment income tax on private foundations.)

Insight #1: Standard deduction goes higher

What’s in the OBBBA?

The new law makes permanent the standard deduction increases under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), increasing the standard deduction for 2025 to $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 to taxpayers who are married and filing jointly. The new law also expands the “bonus” deduction for taxpayers 65 and older through 2028.

Under the new law, individuals who itemize may take charitable deductions only to the extent the charitable deductions exceed 0.5% of adjusted gross income. Furthermore, taxpayers in the top bracket can only claim a 35% tax deduction for charitable gifts instead of the full 37& that would otherwise apply to their income tax rate. Note also that the final bill extended the 60% of adjusted gross income contribution limitation for cash gifts made to certain qualifying charities.

What does this mean for charitable giving?

With even fewer taxpayers eligible to itemize and deductions capped for high-income earners, it’s likely we’ll see the continuing, chilling effect on charitable giving that occurred through TCJA.

What can you do?

If you regularly support charities, continue to do so whether or not you’re benefiting from a tax deduction. Our community needs you, now more than ever. If you’re a nonprofit, attorney, CPA or financial advisor, remember–people do not give to charity solely for tax deductions. Keep in mind that many other factors motivate charitable giving, and philanthropy is an important priority for many families. (This article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review has stood the test of time.)

Insight #2: Deduction for non-itemizers

What’s in the OBBBA?

The new law includes a provision, effective after 2025, allowing non-itemizers to take a charitable deduction of $1,000 for single filers. Charitable deductions for taxpayers who are married and filing jointly are $2,000. As has been the case in the past, gifts to donor-advised funds are not eligible. Unlike a previous (but smaller) similar provision, though, this law is not set to sunset.

What does this mean for charitable giving?

After the TCJA went into effect, households that itemize deductions dropped to under 10%. Parallel to this trend, the number of U.S. adults who give to charity in any given year has dropped over the last 20 years from nearly two-thirds to less than half. Against this backdrop, the OBBBA’s deduction for non-itemizers has the potential to re-motivate charitable giving among a significant number of households.

What can you do?

Now is the time to review your charitable giving plans and support the causes you love. This is especially important if you are early in your career and not yet itemizing deductions. If you’ve already established a fund or already working with the Community Foundation, please reach out. We can help you make the most of the new tax laws, and even get your children and grandchildren involved. If you’re a nonprofit, now is the time to attract and engage brand new donors. If you’re an attorney, CPA, or financial advisor, talk about charitable giving with your clients who don’t itemize. A $1000 or $2000 deduction could be just the motivation they need to begin a journey of philanthropy.

Insight #3: No sunsetting estate tax exemption

What’s in the OBBBA?

For affluent taxpayers and the attorneys, CPAs, and wealth managers advising them, the last couple of years have been turbulent. The looming possibility that TCJA’s increase to the estate tax exemption would sunset by 2026 created a lot of stress. Finally, there is clarity: Under the OBBBA, the sunset will not happen. The new law makes permanent the increase in the unified credit and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption threshold. The 2025 exemption is $13.99 million for single filers and $27.98 million married filing jointly. In 2026, these numbers increase to $15 million and $30 million respectively.

What does this mean for charitable giving?

Purely estate tax-based incentives to give to charity continue to apply only to the ultra-wealthy. This behavior likely resulted in a continuation of the taxpayer behavior triggered by the TCJA. In other words, most people will give to charity for reasons other than a tax deduction.

What can you do?

There is no guarantee that the estate tax exemption will stay high forever. As families work with their financial advisors, the next two years are an important window to plan ahead. The upshot of the new law is that high net-worth taxpayers now have more time to thoughtfully consider estate planning strategies, including charitable giving. For nonprofit organizations, this means continuing to focus on long-term planned giving strategies is wise.  

The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.

Maggie Lewis does not currently live in Berks County, but her connections to home run deep. Maggie grew up here and now returns regularly to participate as a member of the Power of the Purse (POP) women’s giving circle.  As a working mother living outside Philadelphia who is busy with her husband and twin toddlers, Maggie makes time to come to Berks County regularly for POP meetings and events, because she believes the mission of POP and the grantmaking facilitated by the Community Foundation is a meaningful way to give back to the community in which she was raised. While she lives in Aston, PA with her family, her connections to her home stay strong.

The Power of the Purse (POP) Fund of Berks County Community Foundation was established in 2012 and currently boasts over 60 members. POP members meet four times per year and attend optional site visits to determine recipients of grant funding through an application and review process. The Community Foundations manages the application and review process.

To read more about Maggie, click here to view the 2025 edition of 237 Court, the official magazine of Berks County Community Foundation. Her donor highlight story is on page 14. 

To learn more about the Power of the Purse Fund of Berks County Community Foundation, please click here. 

Power of the Purse in Berks County Fund Awards over $70,000 in Grants 

Reading, PA – May 15, 2025 – The Power of the Purse in Berks County Fund of Berks County Community Foundation recently awarded $70,899 in grants to seven organizations. The Power of the Purse Fund supports programs that help break the cycle of poverty by eliminating or addressing barriers for Berks County girls and/or women who want to enter or re-enter the workforce or seek the education to do so.  

The following grants were awarded: 

“From an outsider’s perspective, you think that there are these big mountains that you have to go over, but sometimes it’s a small amount of money or just a small gesture that can make the difference for someone being successful and getting out of poverty or getting a job,” said Chiara Renninger, founder of Power of the Purse. “I learned that small things can really make a huge difference to people.” 

“Being able to engage the collective giving of the Power of the Purse (POP) is really empowering for the women in our community,” said Cindy Milian, health and human services program officer. “POP funding for these organizations supports the belief that woman play a pivotal role in driving change and shaping the future of Berks County.” 

Power of the Purse Fund was created in 2012 as a women’s giving circle. For more information, visit https://bccf.org/funds/power-of-the-purse-in-berks-county-fund/ or email Molly McCullough Robbins, Vice President for Philanthropic Services, at mollyr@bccf.org. 

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Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation serving as a civic leader for our region by developing, managing, and distributing charitable funds to improve the quality of life in Berks County, PA. More information is available at www.bccf.org. 

READING, PA (April 9, 2025) – Berks County Community Foundation is pleased to announce the conclusion of its 1st quarter grant cycle for calendar year 2025, which has successfully distributed vital funding to local nonprofits and initiatives dedicated to improving our community.   

 In this quarter, the Foundation awarded grants to a diverse range of projects focusing in areas of environment and energy, education, health and human services, arts and culture, and neighborhoods and economic development; supporting the impactful work of local organizations that improve the lives of Berks County residents.    

These numbers are a testament to the Foundation’s commitment to its mission to promote philanthropy and improve the quality of life for the residents of Berks County.   

  

“Grants awarded are made possible by generous donors who give back to the community they love,” stated Molly McCullough Robbins, Vice President for Philanthropic Services.   

  

Moving forward, community members are invited to join the Community Foundation in sparking change. Here are two ways to get involved:   

  

  1. Give to an Existing Fund: Your contributions can help sustain the important work of established funds addressing specific needs within Berks County.   
  1. Create Your Own Fund: Whether you want to honor a loved one or support a particular cause or organization, the Foundation can help you to create a fund that reflects your passions and philanthropic goals.   

  

For more information on how to give or create a fund, please visit www.bccf.org, email Molly McCullough Robbins at mollyr@bccf.org, or call (610) 685-2223.   

  

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Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation serving as a civic leader for our region by developing, managing, and distributing charitable funds to improve the quality of life in Berks County, PA. More information is available at www.bccf.org.