DAYTON — If you want to donate to charity before the end of the year, you have a few days left.
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According to The Dayton Foundation, many nonprofits in the Miami Valley have faced a challenging 2025. They’ve dealt with things like lost federal funding to an increase in the need for the help they provide.
News Center 7’s John Bedell looked into ways you can help and dug into upcoming tax code changes that will impact your charitable giving.
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Inside the kitchen at its Dayton facility is where Miami Valley Meals starts the work of fighting hunger in our community.
“We take surplus and rescued, donated food, and we’ll make fully prepared meals for food pantries and service organizations,” Taylor Naragon with Miami Valley Meals said.
Naragon says Miami Valley Meals has been “busier than ever” in 2025. She told News Center 7 that the government shutdown and the lapse in SNAP benefits that came with it contributed. “The need was already high, and it’s just continued to increase,” Naragon said.
“We make about 4,000 meals per week,” Naragon said. “We’ve been trying to increase ever since the SNAP cuts in November, so we’re trying to go into 2026 with a little bit more than 4,000 meals per week, as much as we can handle in our little building.”
The organization also lost one of its federal grants this year.
“Earlier this year we did have one federal grant that has been frozen since the spring from FEMA and we’re not sure if that will ever be unfrozen or available,” Naragon said. “We usually rely on that to give us about $40,000 per year, so that is a significant funding source. We’ve also found that many of our partners who really rely on federal funding are doing more with less as they’ve lost their funding. So they’re, they’re needing more meals, they’re feeding more people at the pantry with fewer resources. So we’re trying to support as many partners as we can and then also helping figure out how we can fund that on our side as well.”
Just a few minutes down the road from Miami Valley Meals are The Dayton Foundation’s main offices. The Dayton Foundation helps others through philanthropy and community leadership.
The Dayton Foundation told News Center 7 that Miami Valley Meals is far from alone in what they’ve experienced in 2025. The organization says many local nonprofits have seen a decrease in some of their federal funding while they’ve simultaneously dealt with an increase in the need for their services.
“We are seeing a lot of donors who want to help support them, and we’re happy to help connect them to things they care about,” Michelle Lovely, Senior Vice President of Development and Donor Services at the Dayton Foundation, said.
And The Dayton Foundation says they’ve been staying busy because the 2025 Tax Act, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), is changing the tax code for charitable giving in 2026.
“There are a lot of changes, and that it is impacting all levels of donors,” Lovely said.
The Dayton Foundation told News Center 7 that some of the organization’s 2025 year-end tips include the following:
- Talk to your tax advisor about whether you should itemize or take the standard deduction.
- Consider accelerating your giving in 2025 to avoid the deduction floor of 0.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) that goes into place in 2026.
- Utilize the new tax changes to help impact the causes you care about now, but also think about how you can help them long term. The 2025 Tax Act (also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill) made permanent the 60% Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limit for cash gifts. This allows donors greater flexibility to give big this year and carry forward any unused deduction for the next 5 tax years.
Bottom line, Lovely says, if you want to get a tax advantage with your charitable giving at the end of this year: do your research or talk to a tax advisor.
“Talk to someone that has that knowledge that you can make sure you’re giving in the smartest way you can,” Lovely said.
And there’s one more thing that both The Dayton Foundation and Miami Valley Meals said to keep in mind as you think about helping your favorite nonprofit in our community:
“Please don’t forget after the holidays,” Naragon said. “Nonprofits need your help all year round. In February and June, any time of the year is always a good time to help.”
Miami Valley Meals has told News Center 7 its two biggest needs are cash donations and volunteers.
Lovely says you can ask a non-profit what their greatest needs are as you’re thinking about donating.
“Some nonprofits need volunteer help,” Lovely said. “Don’t forget that if you can’t give financially, just reach out to the nonprofits. Once you’ve researched what you’re interested in, found a nonprofit you think is great, just reach out and see what they need. (Some) need (volunteer) help, others do need funding. So don’t forget, throughout the year, there’s still going to be that need.”
As you’re decorating, shopping, and donating to charity before the end of the year, unfortunately, scammers are looking to take advantage of your giving spirit. You can research charities that are registered and in good standing here in Ohio on the Ohio Attorney General’s Office website.
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