Your clients rely on your guidance to make important financial decisions. When it comes to charitable giving, we can partner with you to simplify their giving and amplify their impact.
But don’t just take our word for it. Hear from professionals in the field like Jonathan Grob Estate planning and tax attorney Mcgrath North.
I help clients with all aspects of estate and business planning, which includes lifetime and at-death charitable giving. In addition to my business practice, I also assist nonprofits with governance, transactions, and tax matters.
What are the questions you are most commonly asked as it relates to philanthropy?
How to go about it. If I have a client that desires to have a legacy gift, we have conversations about how to best handle the gifting, whether it is a Donor Advised Fund or a charitable trust, or how to implement an ongoing legacy gift. If it is an estate planning gift, we look at how to weigh the charitable objectives with family objectives along with any corresponding tax consequences.
As part of the planning process, I encourage family meetings. I encourage my clients who are interested in charitable giving to have the conversation with their kids about why they are doing this, and how the kids can have a role in the charitable plan.
For your clients with charitable interests, what makes OCF a good partner to facilitate giving goals?
For a lot of clients who are involved in the local community, the community is where their heart is. So, if they are going to have a local legacy, it should be with people in the community who know the community, and the Omaha Community Foundation is committed to the community.
There’s more assurance with a community foundation that is a custodian of a Donor Advised Fund because it will always maintain that Omaha focus. Clients can call and ask questions about the local landscape. The Omaha Community Foundation provides more comfort and local connection than if they use a national DAF provider.
How has involvement with CAP® enhanced your profession?
Many clients haven’t thought of philanthropy before, so it is important to bring up. Many clients only focus on supporting some charitable organizations here and there but haven’t had the time or space to think of how to make a long-term impact. As advisors, we can give them the impetus to think about it.
CAP® influences how I discuss estate planning and philanthropy. Before CAP® I would let the client dictate if they wanted to bring up charitable giving, but now it is something that I bring up in every meeting. When they are receptive to the conversation, it will result in action on their part or give them the opportunity to think through it.