Hello from the community foundation!

Thank you for the opportunity to work together as you serve your philanthropic clients. We are grateful for the many ways our team collaborates with attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors.

As always, we’re committed to staying on top of legal developments and curating that content to save you time. This month we’re covering three topics that have risen to the top of our research:

Week 1 - If you only have 60 seconds to get up to speed, check out our insights and tips for how your clients define “wealthy” and why it matters for their philanthropy, and important year-end giving reminders about ways the community foundation can help.

Week 2 - You and other financial and tax advisors are on pins and needles about what might happen with the tax laws and especially the estate tax exemption. The community foundation offers factors to consider as you advise your clients … and as you continue to watch and wait.

Week 3 - Your client base is more and more likely to include ultra high net worth families. It’s important to understand how multiple charitable giving vehicles, including a donor-advised fund at the community foundation as well as possibly a private foundation, play a role in a client’s overall philanthropy strategy.

Whether we are working together to structure a family’s donor-advised fund, a gift of real estate, endowed support for a favorite nonprofit, or a Qualified Charitable Distribution to a field-of-interest fund at the community foundation, our team enjoys and appreciates every minute. We love serving as your first stop for all things philanthropy.

On a personal note, please swap out your exterior light bulbs for green bulbs this week (November 4-11) for #OperationGreenLight – an initiative designed to shine a light on the service of our veterans and their families.

Please take time in the next week to thank the veterans in your life & community!

Julianne Buck, CAP®

Executive Director

Insights worth a quick peek

You’re busy as 2024 draws to a close! The team at the community foundation is committed to researching, curating, and keeping you up-to-date on the latest trends and developments that could impact your clients’ charitable giving strategies. If you only have 60 seconds, we recommend scanning these quick updates.

Charitable giving can help bridge generations’ definitions of “wealthy”

The recently-released Bank of America Private Bank Study of Wealthy Americans is a must-read (or at least a must-skim) report because it offers insights into shifting views on wealth, and it also highlights a disconnect in inheritance expectations. Notably, younger individuals tend to rally around a definition of “wealthy” in terms of having the means to live a life of purpose and make a difference. Older generations are more likely to define “wealth” in financial terms. Important for charitable planning is the finding that older generations may not be planning to leave the inheritance that their children and grandchildren expect. Working with the community foundation to help clients establish a multi-generational charitable giving plan makes it easier to get expectations out in the open and keep the entire family meaningfully involved in the family’s wealth over the long term.

Must-know tips for clients’ year-end giving

We know you’ve got a lot on your plate as the end of the year approaches. Even if charitable giving does not appear on the surface to be a burning issue in client meetings, it’s still crucial that you keep in mind a few essential charitable giving techniques because your clients do care. Please scan these three important techniques, and please reach out to the community foundation on any matter related to charitable giving.

• Encourage clients to consider giving highly-appreciated stock, not cash, to their funds at the community foundation, thereby maximizing tax benefits.
• Help clients evaluate a “bundling” or “bunching” technique to make gifts to donor-advised funds at the community foundation, exceeding the currently high standard deduction to be able to itemize. Then, donor-advised fund assets can be used over the next few years to support clients’ favorite charities.
• Help clients who are 70 ½ and older make Qualified Charitable Distributions (“QCDs”) directly from IRAs to designated or field-of-interest funds (donor-advised funds are ineligible recipients) at the community foundation–up to $105,000 per spouse. Plus, QCDs satisfy RMDs!

Reach out to the community foundation team today! November is the time to set things in motion so you don’t get caught up in the year-end rush. We are here for you.