Charitable Planning
Charitable giving can represent a thoughtful expression of your values and can fulfill your legacy of helping people and organizations that are important to you. Properly designed charitable giving plans can also provide significant tax saving opportunities. Your personal and financial goals will determine the extent of any charitable giving plan and the tax benefits your plan can produce.
For information on how to get started on your estate plan visit our Estate Planning Process page.
We can help you design and implement the right planning strategy to meet your charitable goals. We have several strategies including:
A Charitable Remainder Trust allows one to transfer ownership of assets to the trust in exchange for an income stream to the person or persons of your choice for life or for a specified term not to exceed 20 years. At the end of the income period, the trust remainder interest is transferred to the public charity or private foundation of your choice. These trusts may reduce your income and estate taxes, and help avoid capital gains taxes.
A Charitable Lead Trust allows one to transfer ownership of assets to a trust during life or after your death. The trust creates an income stream to a public charity or private foundation for a specified number of years. At the end of that time period, the remaining interest is transferred to the non- charitable beneficiaries (i.e., family members) of your choice, often free of estate and gift taxes.
Private Foundations offer an excellent opportunity to educate family members about philanthropy. A private foundation is a nonprofit organization having a principal fund managed by its trustees for the purposes of social, educational, charitable, or religious activities serving the common welfare. Private foundations offer you a significant amount of control in determining how funds are used and may make grants to other nonprofit organizations. Contributions to private foundations are deductible for federal gift and estate tax purposes.
A Donor Advised Fund offers an alternative to direct giving or private foundations and offers considerable cost savings and tax advantages. A donor advised fund is generally held and administered by a community foundation or other public charity on behalf of an organization, family, or individual. The donor or a committee appointed by the donor is allowed to stay actively involved in the foundation or charity by recommending how the funds will be distributed, although the managing foundation or charity is able to accept or reject the donor’s recommendations.