Talking to Clients About Giving

Enabling your clients to make strategic philanthropic choices gives them the satisfaction of knowing their generosity will have a meaningful impact for years to come.

Starting the Conversation

A US Trust study focused on philanthropic conversations found that clients with a high net worth have a strong desire to talk openly with their professional advisors about their charitable giving intentions and options. The study found these clients wanted advisors to:

Better understand their personal motivations for charitable giving;
Have conversations about charitable giving that are meaningful and rooted in their personal values, rather than solely focused on the tax or financial advantages;
Bring the topic of charitable giving up early in the professional relationship; and
Discuss how to best include their children and grandchildren in their charitable giving.

The study is good proof that, while giving is a personal act, professional advisors can play an important role in suggesting options and identifying solutions. Our foundation would like to serve as a resource for you, in the same way that you serve a resource to your clients. We have extensive experience working with individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations on their philanthropic planning.

Conversations Where We Can Help

Here are some common client situations where professional advisors have called on us for our expertise:

A client wants to give strategically to a charity or cause that is meaningful to them.

There are lots of options here. We can walk you and your clients through the possibilities to help you identify the most effective, powerful way for your clients to make an impact. Read more about Giving Options for Your Clients

A client wants to leave a charitable legacy.

Together, we can help identify the best way for your client to contribute forever to the causes that are important to them, while maximizing the financial and tax benefits. Read more about Give Later: Leave a Legacy

A client wants to retire in comfort.

As you know, there are planned-giving options that enable clients to make a charitable gift that provides them with lifelong income. We are well versed in them and are here at your disposal to help you, should you desire assistance.

A client needs immediate help with charitable giving and year-end tax planning.

Say a client has just earned a large year-end bonus or realized exceptional year-end profits through a business and would like to share this good fortune with the community – but there’s little time available for decision making. We can help you establish a Donor-Advised Fund that offers an immediate tax deduction and gives you and your client time to determine how best to distribute grants to charity.

A client wants to make a gift of highly appreciated stock to a charity that isn’t equipped to accept it.

We can help you establish a charitable fund at our foundation that enables your client to help the designated charity, while realizing a tax deduction (for the full market value) and avoiding the capital gains tax that would otherwise arise from sale of the stock.

A client owns highly appreciated stock in a company that is about to be acquired.

We can suggest several ways of structuring a charitable gift to help your client reduce the capital gains tax while making a meaningful charitable impact in the community.

A client wants to leave an estate to heirs and the community that includes substantial IRA or 401k assets.

We can help you determine the most beneficial distribution of assets that minimizes taxes, provides for the family and still makes a meaningful charitable impact. It is often more advantageous, from a tax standpoint, for donors to give retirement assets to charity and other assets to heirs, as taxes can dilute the value of retirement assets left to heirs.

A client is considering a private foundation.

There are two very good options to explore here that are less complicated and costly. Read more about Alternatives to Private Foundations

We have great respect for the advisor-client relationship and are willing to provide assistance with as little or as much visibility as you prefer.

Please don’t hesitate to call on us if we can help you help your clients maximize the benefits and joys of thoughtful, responsible, long-term philanthropy. Contact Us