Charitable Giving
When discussing a client’s philanthropic goals, Dave focuses on several questions: When are the donations being made? What is being gifted? Why are you making the gifts? Which charities do you plan to support? How do you plan to make the gifts?
When?
Are you planning to make the gifts now, upon your passing, or a combination of the two? If you are making the gifts now, do you intend to make smaller gifts every year or a large gift in one year?
What?
Do you plan to give cash, appreciated securities, art, real estate, or a portion of your IRA? The best tools and timing for your philanthropic goals will change depending on what you plan to donate.
Why?
Why you give can be a complex answer. Reasons for giving often include both the altruistic desire to help others and the desire to reduce the donor’s income taxes and estate taxes. When both of these motivators are present, tools like charitable remainder trusts, donor advised funds, qualified charitable distributions from IRAs, and testamentary giving can maximize the tax benefits while still benefiting the charities you support.
Which?
Which charities you support can influence how you give. Larger charities can more often accommodate endowments, restricted gifts, and naming opportunities. Smaller charities on the other hand may not have the resources to accommodate individual donor requests. Smaller charities often have more immediate needs for funds to apply directly to their missions and fewer staff to devote exclusively to fund raising.
How?
Your answers to the above questions will guide how best to make your charitable contributions. Depending on your answers, you may want to make outright gifts of cash or securities, establish a charitable remainder trust or private foundation, set up a donor advised fund, make qualified charitable distributions from your IRA, or include substantial charitable contributions in your will or revocable living trust.
Please contact Dave to learn how Greenberg Estate Planning, PLLC can assist with your charitable giving.
