Charitable Giving Strategies

With additional thoughtful, advanced planning you can extend your legacy of charitable giving beyond your lifetime, creating lasting benefits for the organizations you care about. Here are some ways to think about:

• Name a charity as a beneficiary of your will, revocable or irrevocable trust. This strategy minimizes administrative complexity and may give the charitable beneficiary more flexibility and discretion in how to best utilize the assets.
   
• Name a donor-advised fund or private foundation as a beneficiary. Because it enables family members to continue a tradition of philanthropy, this strategy may help extend your charitable legacy across multiple generations
   
• Consider Giving Retirement Assets. Because they can incur some of the highest taxes in an estate, retirement assets are often good candidates for charitable bequest after death. This type of charitable gift does not require the beneficiary to pay taxes on the value of the donation. It may also decrease the tax burden on your heirs, as your retirement assets pass directly to the charity and are generally fully deductible from estate taxes.

Now it’s time to think about if it’s right for you. There are more than 1.8 million non-profit organizations operating in the United States. How to decide? To help you focus and maximize your philanthropic efforts, consider these simple steps:

1. Uncover Your Mission. Consider your values, interests and close relationships to help you decide on and create a personal charitable giving mission statement.

2. Create an Action Plan. Decide how you can make an impact on the charitable causes you care about, specifically:

• Learn more about your target purpose and how you can bring benefits
• Map out how you want to use your time, talent and networks to help
• Allocate financial resources to achieve the greatest impact.

3. Decide Where To Give and Choose the Right Nonprofits. You want to be sure the organizations you support are trustworthy and effective. To determine if a nonprofit is well positioned to address the problems it’s trying to solve, consider asking these questions:

• Does it have a clear mission and purpose?
• Do strong practices, procedures and policies guide the nonprofit’s operations?
• Does the nonprofit have ability to mobilize/influence others?

If you’re interested in exploring the possibilities of adding charitable giving to your financial plans, please do not hesitate to reach out by filling out the form below or contacting our office.