A year-end question for the experts here

[Judge Roy Bean]

Professional curiosity on the part of a colleague who is involved in fund raising for non-profits brings me to ask this august body:

What percent of filers in the upper-income brackets take advantage of charitable donations to reduce their income tax exposure?

And is there a "bump" that occurs in December?

Thanks in advance.

[Demosthenes]

Tell your colleague to sign up for the Planned Giving email list at Yahoo. I moderate the group and it's made up of 900+ fundraising professionals.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/plannedgiving/

What percent of filers in the upper-income brackets take advantage of charitable donations to reduce their income tax exposure?

As of 2005 (the most recent stats published by the IRS), there are 134 million individual tax returns filed each year. Of these, there are an estimate 3.6 million returns filed each year with an adjusted gross income in excess of $200,000. Of these high income returns, 3.2 million returns included some form of charitable deduction.

And is there a "bump" that occurs in December?

Absolutely. December is considered high season in the charitable world.

[Judge Roy Bean]

I knew I came to the right place...will pass that on.