PlannedGiving.com - Planned Giving

Roman Blum is living – no, scratch that – irrevocable proof that some people with the most to give never do, because they left one simple thing undone.

Read more »

By Brian Sagrestano, JD, CFRE

Over the last several years, there has been an explosion in the popularity of donor-advised funds, with over $37.43 billion held in such funds at the end of 2011.

While the figures are not yet available for 2012, the large, national Donor-Advised Funds such as Vanguard Charitable, National Philanthropic Trust, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund and Schwab Charitable reported dramatic increases in donations at year-end due to fears about potential future limitations on the deductibility of charitable gifts.

Donor-Advised Funds are a charitable giving vehicle that allow donors to make a charitable gift to the sponsoring public charity now, and later advise that charity to make distributions to other charities in the future. They are often seen as a replacement for, or cheaper alternative to, family foundations.

In the typical case, the donor sets up a Donor-Advised Fund with the sponsoring charity, making gifts as the donor sees fit. Over time, the donor then requests (”advises”) that the sponsoring charity make distributions to other charities of the donor’s choice. When the donor passes away,

• A replacement advisor can be named,
• The fund can terminate with the remaining assets going to the sponsoring charity in a variety of forms,
• Or the donor can request that one or more charities receive the final proceeds from the fund.

With the increase in overall assets in these funds, assets that donors have already allocated to charity, this is an additional pool of resources your donors can use to make a planned gift to your organization. By naming your nonprofit as the final beneficiary of the Donor-Advised Fund, you could receive substantial benefits.

Tell the truth – does Charitable Planning even show up on your radar?

It should.

With Charitable Planning, you can be a facilitator for good and generate revenue at the same time.

Read more »

By Viken Mikaelian

We hoped to reach out to the fundraising community with helpful news and analysis about the recent tax law changes, and informed opinion about what might be coming in 2013. Webinar attendees said we were exceptional, and many stayed overtime with their questions.

Though that’s not really a surprise, of course…

Read more »

By Brian M. Sagrestano, JD, CFRE

Due to the recent  uncertainty about whether the government would limit income tax charitable deduction as part of its effort to raise tax revenues, many high-net worth donors have made very significant additions to their donor-advised funds.

These donor-advised funds, particularly the ones at Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard are now some of the largest charities in the world by capitalization.
Read more »

[Webinar on this topic - click here]

By Brian M. Sagrestano, JD, CFRE

On January 1, 2013, the Congress passed the bi-partisan, 157-page American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.

This new law makes permanent several expiring tax provisions passed in 2001 and 2003 and includes a wide variety of other provisions, including “tax-extenders” (tax code rules that are usually re-authorized on a regular basis but not made permanent).

The Act does not renew a temporary payroll tax “holiday” for earners. This means that most working Americans will see a 2% decrease in take-home pay starting with their first paycheck in 2013.

You should be aware The Affordable Care Act of 2010 also imposes new taxes to help offset healthcare cost increases. Its significant provisions are also noted below.

Read more »

• The Mayan Calendar predicts that the world will come to an end before December 25, 2012.
• The U.S. Congressional Calendar predicts that philanthropic incentives may be legislated out of existence sometime soon.

Sure — somebody somewhere always thinks the world is coming to an end. But when the government starts playing around with the philanthropic benefits that donors can take to the bank, fundraisers tend to take it personally. Should we be concerned that there may be some unwelcome taxes or other legislation in our future?

Our take is: Fundraisers with their hair on fire don’t close gifts. We have better alternatives. Read more »

By Viken Mikaelian

Fact: Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA) rate tables or gift illustrations/examples really don’t work well. Non-profits want them in their CGA marketing pieces because they see them in everyone else’s stuff, but the reality is that they rarely bring in a gift.  Or bring in the wrong type of gift.

Give me a good outcomes-based story and say “Rates as high as 9%!” and that will make the phone ring / email come in / reply card get mailed. The customized illustration or example can always be delivered personally by the gift officer. It is much more effective that way. Read more »

I recall a few years back producing a major gifts/planned giving brochure for a very large health system in Pennsylvania.

The VP decided to do the 20,000 piece mailing in-house. The brochure was accompanied by a cover letter that they produced, with each letter and matching #10 envelope addressed to a Dear Mr. and Mrs. Problem? All 20,000 recipients were medical school grads, so it should have said “Dear Dr. and Mrs.”

Oops. Chaos!

Well, not really. After I calmed down Mr. VP-Gone-Mad, he received 6 unpleasant complaining letters next week, each one loaded with a mighty check ($1000 to $6000).

The entire mailing had a 27% response rate. To this day I do not know why. But please, don’t try duplicating this error deliberately!

And more than you think.

I like to spend time with my Dad and hear his wisdom. He’s a young 84 and recently told me that he wanted to cut back on making major charitable contributions.

“You know son, I’m getting up there, but we have good, long-lived genes and I may need this money when I’m 100.” And chances are he will live to be 100 (I hope I take after him).

“Dad, you’re sitting on appreciated stock. Why don’t you donate it, avoid gains tax, get a tax deduction, and receive guaranteed income for life?”

He asked, “Is that legal?” Read more »