Asking a client about philanthropy is an important part of providing complete financial planning and professional advice to your clients. Here’s why:

• Many clients are already in the habit of supporting charity, so incorporating giving into the planning process is a natural reflection of most clients’ existing habits and values.
• For clients with substantial estates, minimizing or eliminating estate taxes is difficult to do without some charitable planning. Regardless of the status of the estate tax, charitable planning offers tax advantages such as in the sale of highly appreciated stock, business succession planning, income tax planning, and dispositions of retirement accounts on death.
• Philanthropy can help resolve many personal issues that are deeply important to clients.
• Studies by the Philanthropic Initiative of Boston have shown that clients want help with integrating philanthropy into their planning process.

Good charitable advice strengthens the client relationship by providing better service to the client and generating greater client loyalty. Clients expect referrals to experts in charity just as they would with other specialties like accounting or law. Responsive, impact-driven charitable planning can meet multiple goals, and result in a larger benefit to family members.

Donor-advised funds offer a range of advantages. Consider the following differences between philanthropic giving by way of a donor-advised fund as opposed to setting up a private foundation:

Download a comparison chart

When incorporating charitable giving into your practice, consider the following: Do you have clients who care deeply about their local community?

• Do they give to more than one charitable cause?
• Are they interested in creating a personal or family legacy?
• Would they like to stay personally involved in the use of their gift dollars?
• Do they want to receive maximum tax benefit for their charitable contributions?
• Are they considering the creation of a private foundation, but interested in exploring other options?
• Do they place a priority on sound financial management of their contributions?

Take the next step:

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your clients would benefit from knowing more about the Princeton Area Community Foundation.

We’d be pleased to send them information about Community Foundation services and benefits. Contact our Chief Philanthropy Officer, Marcia Shackelford, to learn more about the Community Foundation and how we can be a resource to you and your clients.

The team at the community foundation understands that it sometimes can be hard to know where to start a conversation with a client about charitable planning. As you ask questions about the causes your clients love and how your clients intend to support the community in their estate plans, you’ll need quick access to a few go-to planning tools to inspire the dialogue. To help you do just that, we’ve assembled this list of a few of our favorite planning tools.