Timeless topics: Giving advice for the new year

We talk with attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors frequently, and a few topics come up over and over again. Here are a few topics especially relevant to advisors who regularly help their clients with charitable giving plans. If you haven’t done so before, make a resolution to work with the Community Foundation to fulfill one of your clients’ philanthropic goals in 2024.

Whether you are new to charitable gift planning or you’ve been doing it for years, here are a few topics you are likely to encounter in your work this year. Nothing here counts as “rocket science!” These are old ideas that are worth sharing because good ideas never go out of style.

Charitable giving is personal.

It sounds simple, but to best giving plans are personalized to reflect the values and priorities of your client. Many advisors took note of the news that Charlie Munger, former vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, not only had strong personal or family ties to organizations he supported, but also in many cases was involved in how the dollars would be used. Does that sound like something your client would like to do? The Community Foundation frequently works with individuals, families, and their advisors to structure both the tax aspects of a charitable gift and provide helpful guidance about how that gift could be deployed to achieve the greatest impact while carrying out the client’s intentions. We work with you to discover their goals and craft a plan that will get them there, with flexibility to change the plan when their goals change.

Starting a new charity is not the only option.

Advisors of all kinds continue to tell us that their clients are asking about how to start their own charities. We are so happy when you loop us in! In some cases, starting a new charity can make sense for a client. In many instances, though, the client is most interested in achieving a particular result and simply needs help figuring out how to do that. The team at the Community Foundation can work with you to help your client identify organizations and programs in the community that are already making progress in the client’s area of interest. By connecting the dots and helping educate your clients about what’s already out there, we can help set and meet your clients’ expectations for their involvement and desired results.

Future disaster giving is worthy of preparation.

Each year, humanitarian tragedies and natural disasters are high on the list of causes your clients want to support, and 2023 was no exception. Many of you said you appreciate the Community Foundation’s ability to help clients establish charitable giving vehicles to address immediate needs in the wake of current disasters, as well as address disasters that will no doubt occur in future years. The Community Foundation is uniquely structured to help your clients carry out their charitable intentions in a world where no one can predict the exact nature of the needs–only that there will be needs.

Field-of-interest funds and unrestricted funds at the Community Foundation are very useful vehicles for this type of giving. Plus, for your clients who’ve reached the age of 70 ½, these types of funds can receive Qualified Charitable Distributions from a client’s IRA, offering the client useful tax advantages.

Proposed regulations are on the radar.

Proposed regulations issued by the IRS are not binding, and often they are revised – or even shelved or canceled entirely – before they go into effect. Nonetheless, we are always keeping an eye out for these and other forms of IRS rulemaking that could potentially affect your work with your charitable clients. Recently, the IRS proposed regulations concerning donor-advised funds. After the public comment period ends in mid-January 2024, the IRS will take time to review the comments, so we won’t know anything definitive for quite some time. Rest assured, you’ll hear from us when (and if) the proposed regulations go into effect and what it means.

The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. We understand the charitable side of the equation and are happy to serve as a secondary source as you manage the primary relationship with your clients. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice.