The AGI percentage limits on charitable deductions run from 60% down to 20%, and which one applies depends on two things: what you’re giving and who’s receiving it. Cash to a public charity gets the top 60% cap. Appreciated stock or real estate held more than a year drops to 30% at the same charity. Gifts to private foundations sit lower still, at 30% for cash and 20% for long-term appreciated property. Anything you can’t deduct this year because you hit a cap carries forward for up to five years.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
The Limits at a Glance
Six caps cover most giving:
- Cash to public charities: 60% of AGI
- Other non-cash property (clothing, furniture, equipment) to public charities: 50% of AGI
- Long-term appreciated capital gain property to public charities: 30% of AGI
- Cash to private foundations, fraternal societies, veterans’ organizations: 30% of AGI
- Long-term appreciated capital gain property to private foundations: 20% of AGI
- Qualified conservation contributions: 50% of AGI (100% for qualified farmers and ranchers)
These are ceilings on a single year’s deduction, not on how much you can give. Anything above the cap carries into future years.
Cash to Public Charities: 60%
Cash gifts to public charities qualify for the highest cap. Cash, check, credit card, and electronic transfers are all deductible up to 60% of AGI when the recipient is what the IRS calls a “50 percent limit organization” — the category that includes churches, hospitals, schools, government entities, and organizations that draw broad public support.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526 – Charitable Contributions A payment app counts as cash for this purpose.
Contributions to donor-advised funds run through public charity sponsors, so cash into a donor-advised fund also gets the 60% treatment. That distinction matters if you’re weighing a family foundation against a donor-advised fund purely on tax mechanics.
Non-Cash and Appreciated Property to Public Charities
Once you donate something other than cash, the 60% cap no longer applies. Ordinary non-cash property, meaning items that aren’t long-term capital gain property (clothing, household goods, business equipment, inventory), is deductible up to 50% of AGI. That 50% isn’t on top of your cash gifts — it’s reduced by any 60%-limit cash you’ve already counted.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526 – Charitable Contributions If cash gifts already used up 45% of AGI, you have room for only 5% more in non-cash property under this bucket.
Long-term appreciated capital gain property — publicly traded stock, real estate, or other assets held longer than a year that have gone up in value — is capped at 30% of AGI when given to a public charity. In return for the lower cap, you generally deduct the full fair market value and never pay tax on the appreciation. Stock bought at $10,000 and now worth $50,000 produces a $50,000 deduction with no capital gains tax on the $40,000 gain.
The Basis Election
You can elect to deduct capital gain property at your cost basis rather than fair market value. Making that election moves the gift from the 30% cap into the 50% category.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526 – Charitable Contributions You give up the tax-free appreciation to get a higher percentage ceiling. It’s worth running the numbers when the appreciation is small or when the 30% cap would force a long carryover you’d rather avoid.
Private Foundations: 30% and 20%
Private foundations, typically funded by one family or a small group, sit in a less favorable tier. Cash to most private foundations is capped at 30% of AGI. Long-term appreciated capital gain property to a private foundation is capped at 20%. The same 30% cap applies to cash gifts to fraternal societies and veterans’ organizations.3Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Contribution Deductions
There is an exception. Private foundations that distribute contributions to public charities within two and a half months, or that pool funds and pay income to public charities, qualify for the 50% treatment.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526 – Charitable Contributions Most family foundations don’t meet those conditions.
Conservation Easements
A qualified conservation contribution — donating a permanent easement on land you own — is deductible up to 50% of AGI, reduced by all other charitable deductions for the year. A qualified farmer or rancher, defined as someone earning more than half of gross income from farming, can deduct these contributions up to 100% of AGI.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
How the Caps Stack When You Give in More Than One Category
If you make gifts across categories in the same year, the IRS applies them in a set order, working from the highest cap down: 60% cash first, then 50% non-cash to public charities, then 30% capital gain property to public charities, then 30% gifts to private foundations, then 20% capital gain property to private foundations.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526 – Charitable Contributions Each step eats into what’s left of the overall room. Your total charitable deduction in a single year cannot exceed 100% of AGI.
What Happens When You Exceed a Cap
Anything you can’t deduct because of a percentage limit carries forward for up to five years.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts The carryover keeps its original character. Excess 30%-limit property stays 30%-limit property in the following year; it does not convert to a higher category with the passage of time. In each future year, the carried amount is again subject to that year’s AGI and to the applicable percentage cap. Current-year contributions always come off first, so several strong giving years in a row can push older carryovers up against the five-year expiration.
New Rules Affecting the Limits in 2026
The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, signed in 2025, made the 60% cash limit permanent.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts The cap had been scheduled to drop back to 50% at the end of 2025.
The same law added a 0.5% AGI floor for itemizers. Only charitable contributions exceeding 0.5% of AGI count toward the deduction. At $200,000 of AGI, the first $1,000 of giving produces no deduction. For most donors the floor is minor, but it does trim the first slice of every itemizer’s gifts.
Taxpayers in the top 37% bracket also face a benefit cap: the tax value of the charitable deduction is limited to 35 cents per dollar rather than 37 cents. The dollar impact is modest per gift and larger for high-volume donors.
You Have to Itemize (With One New Exception)
The percentage caps only matter if you itemize. If your total itemized deductions don’t beat the standard deduction — $16,100 single, $24,150 head of household, $32,200 married filing jointly for 2026 — charitable giving produces no federal tax benefit through Schedule A.5Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One, Big, Beautiful Bill
Starting in 2026, non-itemizers get a separate above-the-line deduction of up to $1,000 in cash gifts ($2,000 married filing jointly). It applies only to cash given directly to qualifying public charities; donor-advised funds and private foundations don’t qualify. This deduction sits outside the AGI percentage limits described above and doesn’t interact with them.
If your giving fluctuates year to year, bunching two or three years of contributions into one tax year can push you over the standard deduction in that year while you take the standard deduction in the off years. The AGI caps still apply in the bunching year, so a very large one-time gift may run into the 60% or 30% ceiling and generate carryovers, which is worth modeling before you write the check.