July 2021 Short Bits

INCREASED DONATIONS FROM DONOR-ADVISED FUNDS

According to the National Philanthropic Trust, charitable giving through donor-advised funds increased in 2020. The first half of 2020 saw a 78% increase in giving to human services organizations compared to 2019. And international charities, environmental and animal welfare groups, and educational institutions saw increases of 42 percent, 31 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

CLOSING TIME

The IRS is closing ten lockbox addresses in San Francisco, CA and Hartford, CT that taxpayers use to make payments. The ten boxes are all associated with Bank of America and will cease operations on January 1, 2022. The post office will forward mail to new addresses in Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH through 2021. Starting January 1, 2022, payments sent to the closed addresses will be returned to the sender.

WHO’S ONLINE?

In a Pew Research Center study, 7% of US adults say they don’t use the internet. Nearly 25% of all adults ages 65 and older say they never go online and 14% of adults with a high school education or less never use the internet. There was no statistical difference between gender, race or community type.

PANDEMIC RELOCATIONS

According to data from the U.S. Postal Service, relocations accelerated during 2020, with affordability being a driving factor. With the median home price in California reaching $700,000 in August 2020, moves from San Francisco to various cities in Texas increased 32.1%, and Miami saw a 49.4% increase in San Francisco transplants. About 135,000 more people left California in 2020 than moved in, with just 21,200 people moving to California between July 2019 and July 2020.