BLUE RIDGE SUMMIT, Pa. — Emily Bivona, Edward Jones financial adviser from the Waynesboro branch, held a recent seminar at the Blue Ridge Summit Public Library to discuss charitable options that the institution offers. The event was called “Charitable Giving and Your Financial Strategy.”
Bivona started the event by asking a question: “Has charitable giving in the United States gone up or down since the COVID-19 pandemic?” While nearly everyone in attendance thought the number had gone down, the answer was that it has steadily increased, despite rising costs.
According to Giving USA, charitable giving in the United States reached a record $617.2 billion in 2025, an increase of 5.7% from the previous year. Giving also rose 6.3% in 2024, when donations totaled $592.5 billion.
These growth numbers indicate that despite inflation, citizens are still willing to make donations to charitable organizations, and companies like Edward Jones provide programs to help make the process of giving even easier.
Charitable giving tool
One of the programs provided by Edward Jones is their Charitable Gift Fund. The donor-advised fund is a “charitable-giving tool that allows you to make an irrevocable contribution to the fund, for which you can gain an immediate tax deduction.”
How the fund works is the donor makes the initial minimal fund of $10,000, which can be done through making cash donations, marketable securities and unique assets, such as business interests, tangible personal property or collectibles, that must reach the value of at least $500,000.
From there, your Edward Jones adviser will make charitable investments based on your preferences, giving potential tax-free growth and expanding charitable impact. This gives the donor the opportunity to choose the charity of their choice and how much they would like to donate.
What the donor-advised fund provides through Edward Jones is the opportunity to increase tax free donations, streamline tax reporting and the opportunity to pass along charitable giving to family members thus leaving a legacy in your name. Edward Jones will also evaluate the charitable organizations’ financial accountability, providing the donor with the opportunity to monitor where their donation is going and making sure that it is being used as they had intended.
Single vs. ongoing donations
The big decision for most donors is whether to make a one-time donation or ongoing charitable contributions. One-time donations offer more flexibility, tax planning, lower retention of profits and the ability to make larger single amounts.
Ongoing donations provide a more predictable cash flow with automatic timed contributions, easier budgeting that allow contributions to be spread over time, making it simpler to achieve goals with higher retention and lifetime value.
Edward Jones advisers can help with creating an “overall financial strategy that may yield greater benefits for the charity (in the form of more money) and to you — as a tax deduction.”
The adviser will also help provide an understanding of how donations will affect taxes and create an effective strategy for the donor while providing support to the charitable organization.
