If I have been advised to take the standard deduction, why should I bother itemizing my charitable donations?

[xmasbaby0]

If you are going to use the standard deduction you do not have to enter your donations.  They will not change anything on your federal return.  Not sure if your state return would be affected.

[BMcCalpin]

As xmasbaby0 suspects, there is at least one state in which charitable contributions can be deducted on the state return, even though the federal return used the Standard Deduction.

Minnesota will allow you to deduct charitable contributions when in excess of $500 (see screenshot below). The gross amount will carry over from the federal return, even if you took the standard deduction.

I haven't tested it, but it's likely that you could just enter the amount directly on the Minnesota return, but the federal amount will carry and pre-fill in the box.

[BMcCalpin]

While I am thinking about it, Georgia has a considerably lower standard deduction ($3,000 MFJ) than the federal ($12,000 MFJ), so you may be able to itemize in Georgia even if you didn't on the federal.