The full menu of charitable giving solutions

It’s common for a client to get started with the Community Foundation to fulfill an imminent tax planning goal, help meet a specific and urgent community need like disaster relief, or simply become more intentional and organized with charitable giving using a donor-advised fund. 

Whatever brought your client in the door, our team wants you to know that it doesn’t stop there! We can make every part of your client’s philanthropic life easier and more rewarding. Consider a few examples of how they can enjoy the full menu: 

• A donor-advised fund at the Foundation is often the cornerstone of a client’s overall charitable giving portfolio. It offers the convenience of a one-stop shop: A client makes a tax-deductible contribution of cash (or, ideally, appreciated assets) to the fund, and then recommends grants to favorite charities. Encourage clients to leverage donor-advised funds to execute the full range of charitable giving each year. They’ll find it so much easier to keep track over time of where they are giving, and how much. 

• We can help your client establish a designated or field-of-interest fund to complement a donor-advised fund. A designated fund allows a client to support a specific charity over the long term, while a field-of-interest fund focuses support on a particular area of community need by leveraging the Community Foundation’s expertise. If a client is over the age of 70½ and owns one or more IRAs, a designated fund or field-of-interest fund can receive Qualified Charitable Distributions up to $105,000 per year per spouse, bypassing taxable income.

• We can work with you and your client to establish a bequest in a client’s estate plan to support favorite causes beyond a client’s lifetime. Many fund holders at the Community Foundation name their donor-advised funds, field-of-interest funds, designated funds, or even the Community Foundation itself, as beneficiaries in their wills and trusts, and especially as beneficiaries of IRAs and other qualified plans because doing so delivers significant tax benefits. What’s more, we offer opportunities for legacy donors to get together and learn from each other, magnifying their impact in the community.

• We can help clients and their families learn more about their favorite nonprofit organizations and the issues they are addressing so that clients can become more informed and effective philanthropists in our community. Our team’s unparalleled, deep knowledge of local issues and organizations is a real advantage for clients. When clients better understand the needs of the community and how favorite nonprofits are addressing those needs, clients will be better equipped to structure giving so that it makes a difference in measurable ways.   

We hope you’ll look to the Community Foundation as the primary resource for your clients’ philanthropy. Our team is here to help your clients make the most of their charitable giving strategies so that they are not only putting money to work to improve the quality of life in our community, but they’re also achieving financial and philanthropic goals. 

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.

Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash