Why do you give to charitable organizations? Do you prefer to determine who benefits from your bounty rather than letting the legislature decide? Do you prefer to donate rather than pay taxes? Or, is it simply because you're generous and motivated by others’ needs or causes promoted by a charitable organization?

Regardless of why you give, you should consider how you give. Efficient giving takes knowledge and a plan. When done well, it can leave you with more resources to give and, ultimately, increase the benefit received by a charity and the people or causes it serves.

Efficient giving follows a plan. While spontaneous donations — giving at a fundraiser or responding to a friend's request — are generous, true efficiency in giving requires a deliberate strategy rather than impulse.

Individuals can generally deduct charitable contributions up to $1,000 — $2,000 for married couples — without needing to itemize deductions on their taxes, according to the IRS. Notably, for a single individual, itemizing won’t make sense until deductions exceed $16,100. For a married couple, the number is $32,200. If you typically give enough to exceed the nonitemized deduction limit, but not enough to justify itemizing every year, consider making all your charitable contributions at one time each year. Choose a date — such as your birthday — to make your deductible contributions. This simplifies recordkeeping and allows you to support your favorite causes without tracking every small donation, fundraiser ticket, or charity breakfast and deciding how much of each payment is deductible.

If you own a pass-through business — such as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or S corporation whose income is taxed as the owner's personal income at the individual rate — charitable donations are generally treated as personal in nature. That said, you might work with your accountant to see if you can give in a manner that qualifies as advertising or some other deductible business expense.

For people who want to make larger gifts or leave a legacy, it's worth considering whether to make a gift during your lifetime or upon your death. In many cases, a lifetime gift may be more beneficial than a charitable bequest at death, for both the donor and the charity.

Lifetime gifts provide a form of “time value” that extends beyond investment returns. Just as money can compound over time, so can the results of charitable work. A gift that helps feed a family today, teach a child to read this year, or fund a smoking cessation program immediately, may create benefits that grow for years. In that sense, charitable impact can compound similar to financial assets.

For business owners who have fluctuating or nonrecurring income, or for anyone experiencing a particularly high-income year, a donor-advised fund may be especially useful. You can place substantial sums into a donor-advised fund, take the deduction in one year, but spread the gifts to charities over multiple years. The assets contributed to the donor-advised fund can continue to grow tax-free before they are ultimately distributed to charitable organizations.

For those who must take a required minimum distribution from an individual retirement account — and especially for those whose estates may be growing such that estate tax may become an issue or a bigger issue — making a qualified charitable distribution is a great strategy. This option can work for people who are otherwise considering leaving a legacy to a charity upon their passing.

For lifetime giving, a qualified charitable distribution is better than a deductible gift because it's not included as income in the first place. So, you can take the standard deduction and avoid any tax that would be due on a required minimum distribution. You can make up to $111,000 in qualified charitable distributions in 2026, according to information from the IRS. The amount is not limited by your required minimum distribution. You can also make qualified charitable distributions some years before you are required to take required minimum distributions, which may benefit you as part of a comprehensive estate tax planning strategy.

There are various other strategies that you can consider too. It's worth talking to your financial adviser, accountant, or attorney if you want to get ideas in that regard. Or, if you have a favorite charity, you might talk to their development professionals.

Ultimately, efficient giving starts with a plan. Whether your goal is simplifying recordkeeping, maximizing deductions even for small donations, or creating a charitable legacy, thoughtful planning can help ensure that more of your resources remain in your control and are available to accomplish the good you intend.

No charitable strategy will ever produce a financial benefit greater than the value of the gift itself. But if you're going to give, there's little reason not to give efficiently.

Shea Meehan is an attorney and the director of planning at Cornerstone Wealth Strategies, headquartered in Washington state and servicing clients nationwide.