Bunching donations
Give the same amount. Change the year you give it.
Most people who give generously get nothing back on their return
Not because their giving does not count, but because of arithmetic. You deduct either the standard deduction or your itemized deductions, whichever is larger. The standard deduction is high enough that most households never clear it, so their charitable giving sits underneath it doing no work at all on the tax side.
Bunching is the response. Instead of giving a steady amount every year and never crossing the line, you concentrate two or three years of giving into a single tax year, clear the standard deduction that year by a wide margin, and take the standard deduction in the quiet years in between.
The charity receives the same total. You give away the same total. The only thing that changes is the calendar, and in most cases the calendar is worth real money.
When bunching is worth considering
- Your itemized deductions land just short of the standard deduction most years.
- You give roughly the same amount each year out of habit rather than necessity.
- You have one unusually high‑income year coming — a bonus, a business sale, an inheritance.
- You are holding an asset — a property, a vehicle, a collection — you intend to donate anyway.
That last one matters here. A single significant non‑cash donation often does the bunching for you, with no change to your cash giving at all.
Same giving, same generosity, $6,500 more in deductions
A married couple filing jointly. They have $20,000 of other itemized deductions — mortgage interest, state and local taxes — and they give $9,000 to charity every year. Their standard deduction is $31,500, the figure for a married couple filing jointly in the 2025 tax year.
$9,000 a year, two years running
Two‑year total deducted
$63,000
They gave $18,000 to charity and it changed their tax bill by nothing whatsoever.
$18,000 in year one, nothing in year two
Two‑year total deducted
$69,500
$6,500 more in deductions. At a 24% marginal rate, roughly $1,560 that stays with them — for giving away exactly the same amount.
An illustration, not a projection. The standard deduction is adjusted upward most years, so check the current figure for the year you are planning — your own deductions and marginal rate are your own, and whether bunching helps you at all depends on where your numbers fall relative to that line. This is a conversation for whoever prepares your return.
Three ways to bunch
The strategy is the same in each case. What differs is where the money sits between the deduction and the giving.
Give it all at once
The simplest version. Two or three years of intended giving goes to the charity in one year, and they put it to work immediately. Nothing to administer, no accounts to open.
Best when you already know where you want the money to go, and the organization can use a larger sum well.
Use a donor advised fund
Contribute the bunched amount to a donor advised fund and take the deduction in that year, then recommend grants out of it over the following years. Your giving to charities stays even while the deduction is concentrated.
More on how these work, and how to grant to us from one, on our donor advised funds page.
Donate an asset instead
One property, one vehicle, one collection is often larger than several years of cash giving combined — so it bunches by itself. And appreciated property held over a year generally comes with no capital gains tax on the way out.
This is most of what we handle. Real estate, vehicles, equipment, art, collections and intellectual property.
December is later than it sounds
A bunched year only works if the gift actually completes inside it. Cash and checks are straightforward. Property is not: titles have to transfer, liens have to clear, deeds have to record, and a vehicle collected on January 3rd belongs to next year’s return no matter when you decided to give it.
If a year‑end asset donation is part of your plan, start it in October or early November. We will tell you honestly whether there is time.
You can bunch past the ceiling
Charitable deductions are capped as a percentage of your adjusted gross income — broadly 60% for cash and 30% for appreciated property claimed at fair market value. Concentrating several years of giving into one year makes hitting that ceiling much more likely.
Anything over the cap carries forward for up to five years, so it is not lost — but it does blunt the point of bunching. Worth modeling before you commit. See our tax deduction page for the detail.
Questions about bunching
Is bunching legal?
Entirely. You are choosing when to make a gift, which has always been yours to decide. There is no rule requiring charitable giving to be spread evenly across years, and nothing about the timing is aggressive or unusual. It became common advice after the standard deduction rose sharply and left millions of ordinary donors unable to itemize.
Does the charity lose out in the off years?
Over the full cycle, no — we receive the same total. Honestly, a larger single gift is often easier for us to use well than the same money in installments, because it can fund something whole rather than part of something. If steady support matters to you, a donor advised fund gives you the concentrated deduction and the even giving at the same time.
How many years should I bunch together?
Enough to clear the standard deduction comfortably in the bunched year, and no more than you can absorb under the income ceilings. Two years is the usual answer; three makes sense when your other deductions are small. The right number falls out of your own figures rather than a rule of thumb.
Can I bunch a non‑cash donation?
That is often the cleanest way to do it. A vehicle, a property, a collection or a lot of equipment tends to be worth more than a year of cash giving, so donating one in a year you intend to itemize does the work by itself. Above $5,000 you will need a qualified independent appraisal, which is the donor’s responsibility and takes time — another reason to start early in the year rather than late.
What if my income is unusually high one year?
That is the best year to bunch into. A deduction is worth more against income taxed at a higher marginal rate, and a higher adjusted gross income also lifts the ceiling on how much you can deduct. If you know a bonus, a business sale or a large distribution is coming, it is worth planning the giving around it rather than the other way around.
Do you need to know I am bunching?
Not for the paperwork — your acknowledgment looks the same either way. But it helps us if a larger gift is coming, and it helps you if the gift is property and the year matters. Tell us the deadline you are working to and we will tell you plainly whether it is achievable.
The underlying rules, thresholds and paperwork are on our tax deduction page. More general questions in our donor FAQs.
Planning a larger gift than usual?
Tell us what you are thinking of giving and the year you need it to land in. We will tell you what the process involves, how long it realistically takes, and what paperwork you will end up with.
We cannot tell you whether bunching is right for your return — that is your tax professional’s call, and it depends on numbers we have no business seeing.