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Visionary Voices

Visionary Voices is philanthropy.org’s editorial forum for serious ideas, hard-earned lessons, and informed perspectives shaping the future of philanthropy. It is a place for practitioners, leaders, and thinkers to examine what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Contributions explore strategy, governance, donor engagement, ethics, and the structural forces influencing philanthropy today. Articles are grounded in experience, analysis, and reflection—not promotion.

If you’ve developed insight through practice, research, or leadership, we welcome thoughtful submissions that advance credible dialogue and long-term thinking in the field.

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2026: Year-End Deadlines for Charitable Giving: What Donors, Advisors, and Fundraisers Need to Know

Viken Mikaelian October 15, 2026

2026 is the first year for several major changes to the charitable deduction, and the rules are different from last year’s. Non-itemizers can now deduct cash gifts, itemizers face a new 0.5% floor, and top-bracket donors see a 35% cap. Here are the year-end deadlines for every gift type, from stock and wires to QCDs and donor-advised funds, plus the planning moves that matter most before December 31. Miss a deadline, and you may miss a deduction for 2026.

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Your Heirs Will Get the Money. Will They Get Your Values?

Viken Mikaelian October 14, 2026

Your donors have attorneys for the money. Who’s handling the meaning? As $124 trillion passes to U.S. heirs, Cliff Thomas, CAP®, lays out three ways families can pass on their values. The gift officers who start that conversation will be the ones the next generation calls. Everyone else will hear about the gift from the estate attorney.

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Hand signing a Form 990 with a fountain pen, illustrating nonprofit board liability and accountability

Nonprofit Board Liability: What Protects You and What Puts You at Risk

Eric Werner October 14, 2026

Volunteering on a nonprofit board can protect you. It does not excuse you. State attorneys general, the IRS, fellow directors and even the nonprofit itself can hold board members accountable. Here is who enforces the rules, what really protects you, and the four situations that create personal liability: self-dealing, overpaid insiders, ignored red flags and unpaid payroll taxes.

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Form 990 on a boardroom table as nonprofit board members review documents

Nonprofit Board Fiduciary Duties: What You Actually Signed Up For

Eric Werner October 14, 2026

Most nonprofit board members approve a Form 990 they never read and ignore the largest gifts their organization will ever receive. That’s attendance, not governance. This guide explains what your fiduciary duties of care, loyalty and obedience require, from financial oversight and conflicts of interest to major gifts, planned giving and endowment management, plus 12 questions every board should ask.

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Major Gifts vs. Planned Gifts

Viken Mikaelian October 7, 2026

Donors are reading your Form 990, and most of them never call. What they want to know is whether your nonprofit is planning for the next 50 years. Major gifts matter, but planned giving belongs at the start of your fundraising strategy because it shows you are planning for the future. Here’s why wealthy donors, foundations and government funders all judge you the same way, and how to show them your future.

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Stop Cleaning Your Email List of “Unengaged” Subscribers

Todd Hiestand September 29, 2026

Whether you’re a community foundation sharing grant outcomes, a nonprofit reporting program results, or a university connecting scholarship donors to students, the moment your donor hears from or about the person their money reached is rarely given the strategic attention it deserves.

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