Ways to Give
2025 Tax Changes Impacting Gift Timing
As you plan your giving to Hamilton for the 2025-26 fiscal year, you may want to consider several tax law changes that were adopted on July 4, 2025.
Ready to make a gift?
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Online: Quick and secure.
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Phone: Call Yvonne Brady at 315-859-4652 and use your credit card.
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Mail: Make checks payable to “Trustees of Hamilton College” and send to: Advancement Office, Hamilton College, 198 College Hill Rd., Clinton, NY 13323
Monthly Sustaining Gifts
Monthly sustaining gifts enable you to provide monthly support for Hamilton by credit card. Your gift is divided into manageable increments, which allows you to maximize the impact of your giving to the College while avoiding a large, one-time expense.
Donor Recognition Societies
Throughout its 200+ year history, Hamilton has been sustained by the generosity of its alumni, parents, and friends.
More Ways to Give
As with all gifts, you should consult your own tax advisors to confirm that it is advantageous for you to contribute appreciated securities.
If your broker (or bank) holds your shares, you may request that they be transferred directly to Hamilton via DTC (Depository Trust Company):
- Provide your broker with Hamilton’s DTC information below and ask them to include your name in the wiring instructions:
Merrill Lynch Account
DTC: 8862
Account Number: #814-04355
Account Name: The Trustees of Hamilton College
Broker: Claudine Zigmund (860-728-3984) - In order for Hamilton to promptly process and credit the gift to you, let Yvonne Brady know the name of the stock, and the number of shares or approximate dollar amount you will be transferring (315-859-4652 or ybrady@hamilton.edu).
- The effective date of your gift will be the date the security is transferred into Hamilton’s account, and the value of your gift will be the average of the high and low quotations for that day.
If you hold your shares in certificate form:
- Send the unendorsed certificate(s) by first-class mail to:
Yvonne Brady
Communications and Development
Hamilton College
198 College Hill Road
Clinton, NY 13323 - By separate first-class mail, send Yvonne Brady a stock power form signed exactly as your name appears on the security but left otherwise completely blank. Include a letter of instruction designating your gift to Hamilton.
- The valuation date will be the postmark date on the certificate and the stock power form (whichever is postmarked last), and the value of your gift will be the average of the high and low quotations for that day.
- If your gift is to be less than the total number of shares listed on the certificate, include your social security number so a new certificate for the remaining shares can be issued.
Please call 866-729-0316 for instructions.
For those who care deeply about Hamilton, their story — their legacy — includes planning for the College’s future. Everyone who makes a planned gift believes that the future of Hamilton matters and tells an everlasting story of who they are and what they value.
How can a planned gift — for a purpose of your choice — tell your story? You have many ways to plan a gift, each with benefits such as immediate income tax deductions, transfer tax savings, lifetime income — and some with all three. Hamilton can work with you and your trusted advisors to help you plan a gift that accomplishes your personal, financial, and philanthropic goals.
To learn more about your planned giving options, or to let us know that you have already included Hamilton in your estate plans, please visit our website, or contact Director of Gift Planning Julie Ross ’84 at jross3@hamilton.edu.
Hundreds of Hamilton alumni, parents, and friends have generously endowed funds that support our students, honor our faculty, establish new programs, and enhance the beauty of our campus. In so doing, they have established legacies that enrich Hamilton and honor their affection for the College.
Hamilton’s endowment consists of different types of funds. Each requires a minimum investment to ensure appropriate spending is available for the donor’s intended purpose.
When creating a new fund, Hamilton’s development staff members work closely with donors to ensure that both the donor’s intent and the College’s long-term needs are met. The capital necessary to establish an endowed fund at Hamilton may be provided through:
- outright contributions of cash,
- appreciated securities,
- real property,
- closely held stock,
- personal property, such as important works of art, rare books, manuscripts, or antiques.
Gifts to attain a specified fund minimum may be completed immediately or over time (up to five years), as well as through an estate plan.
For more information, please visit our website.
You may direct contributions to Hamilton from your Donor Advised Fund. Please contact Yvonne Brady, director of individual giving, at ybrady@hamilton.edu.
Tax Updates
Several tax law changes adopted on July 4, 2025 made permanent many of the provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including the current tax brackets ranging from 0% to 37%. It also made permanent a provision allowing deductions of certain charitable cash contributions up to 60% of adjusted gross income.
For some donors, particularly those who may be able to itemize their deductions, the tax savings from a charitable gift will be greater in 2025 than in 2026. Consult with your tax or financial advisor to make a giving plan that fits your goals while considering potential tax savings—especially if you are in a higher income bracket.
Key changes relating to charitable donations:
| 2025 | 2026 |
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| Cap on state & local tax (SALT) deductions raised from $10,000 to $40,000 | Cap on SALT increases to $40,400 (phases down for AGIs over $500,000) but only charitable cash gifts above 0.5% of AGI are deductible |
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Phases down for adjusted gross income (AGI) over $500,000 |
For those in the 37% bracket, charitable deductions are capped at 35% ($0.35 in tax benefit per dollar donated instead of $0.37) |
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Why does this matter? → More donors will be able to itemize deductions, with tax savings resulting from charitable donations |
Why does this matter? → Available charitable deduction decreases proportionately as AGI increases, potentially reducing tax savings for the same gift amount by more than 2% as compared to 2025 |
| New seniors’ deduction for eligible taxpayers over 65: Additional $6,000/person deduction on top of standard deduction |
New seniors’ deduction for eligible taxpayers over 65 remains in effect: Additional $6,000/person deduction on top of standard deduction |
| Available 2025 through 2028; phases out with increasing AGI | Available 2025 through 2028; phases out with increasing AGI |
To maximize tax savings from charitable giving in 2025 if you itemize deductions, you may want to consult your advisors about bunching multi-year donations into the 2025 tax year or making a 2025 addition to a family foundation or DAF (did you know that Hamilton has its own Donor Advised Fund?) that can then be used to make grants for contributions in future years.
For those who do not itemize, a 2026 gift may allow tax savings not available in 2025:
| 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|
| New seniors’ deduction for eligible taxpayers over 65: Additional $6,000/person deduction on top of standard deduction | Standard deduction filers can claim up to $1,000 (single) or $2,000 (joint) for outright gifts to Hamilton on top of standard deduction |
| Available 2025 through 2028; phases out with increasing AGI | Not eligible: gifts to donor advised funds (DAFs), supporting organizations, or most private foundations. |
| New seniors’ deduction for eligible taxpayers over 65 remains in effect: Additional $6,000/person deduction on top of standard deduction | |
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Available 2025 through 2028; phases out with increasing AGI |
If you do not itemize deductions, consider annual cash gifts up to your universal limit starting in 2026. If you are 65 or older, check eligibility for the temporary $6,000 deduction starting in 2025.
Please consult with your tax advisors about the timing that makes the most sense for your individual circumstances. Hamilton College does not provide tax or legal advice. The discussion above is general and summary in nature and not intended as individual tax, legal, or financial planning advice.
We welcome the opportunity to talk with you about making a gift to the College. Although tax laws may change over time, the impact of your giving to Hamilton remains meaningful both on the Hill and beyond; it changes lives.
Contact our Office of Gift Planning for information on gift strategies that can help you support Hamilton College and provide significant benefits to you and your family.
Julie Ross '84
Director of Gift Planning
315-859-4640
jross3@hamilton.edu
Allison Donahoe
Associate Director of Gift Planning
315-859-4207
adonahoe@hamilton.edu
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Contact
Contact Name
Shauna Hirshfield ’06
Director, Annual Giving
