How We Work with Your Clients
Because of our unique mission, we can help you to help your clients achieve their goals in ways not available through other organizations or strategies. We partner with you. You stay in control of your clients’ financial relationships and we help you serve your clients’ charitable giving needs. Our staff members are available to discuss specific charitable giving scenarios, structure a gift to meet your clients’ goals, provide materials or gift illustrations and attend joint meetings with your clients if appropriate.
A volunteer board of community leaders, a thoughtful and expert staff, knowledge of and commitment to the community, proven asset management and grantmaking expertise all ensure that your clients’ charitable gifts will be carefully invested and administered according to their wishes. Whether they choose to support local, national or international charitable interests, we can help your clients make a lasting difference.
GIVING SCENARIOS
The following client scenarios might be a good fit to refer to the Community Foundation:
A fund at the Community Foundation provides an attractive alternative to the regulatory requirements and administrative burdens of a private foundation. Our professional staff takes care of all administrative and grantmaking activities, allowing your clients to focus on the rewarding task of supporting their favorite causes. In addition, a fund offers greater tax benefits and privacy due to the Community Foundation’s status as a public charity.
If your client has a private foundation already, it is not too late to take advantage of our services. Our staff has extensive experience facilitating the transition of all or part of the assets of a private foundation to a donor-advised fund.
You may have a client ready to sell a business, which can be a significant taxable event. One effective way to avoid some of the tax liability is by donating a partial interest in the business to the Community Foundation.
Making a charitable gift, whether outright or to a charitable remainder trust prior to the sale of a business provides maximum tax advantages. By giving an ownership interest or equity, the donor may avoid capital gains tax on the portion of the business that is donated, as well as claim an income tax deduction based on the fair market value of the gift. The seller simply gives the interest in the business to a donor-advised fund or charitable remainder trust, and the buyer then makes the purchase from the Community Foundation, which is, of course, tax-exempt.
By contrast, when a gift is made from proceeds received following the sale, the donor will have paid capital gains tax on 100% of the sale price, so the tax benefit comes solely from the income tax charitable deduction. Amounts from the sale would then create a charitable fund to carry out your client’s charitable goals.
Oftentimes the easiest way to support charitable interests is through a bequest, which permits your clients to support the community while retaining complete control over their assets during their lifetimes. Bequests can be set as a specific dollar amount, a percentage of an estate, or what remains after other bequests, such as those to family members, are satisfied.
For your clients, planned giving may be as simple as including the Community Foundation in their wills. Donors may leave a percentage share of their estates, specify a dollar amount, or designate us as a contingent or residuary beneficiary.
Gifts of appreciated securities offer important tax advantages, since their full fair market value is deductible as a charitable contribution up to 30% of adjusted gross income each year when itemizing deductions. Like gifts of cash, deduction amounts that exceed the limit can be carried forward for up to five additional years. Capital gains taxes do not have to be paid on the appreciated portion of the gift.
After the Community Foundation liquidates the securities, the value of the gift (net broker’s commission and fees) is available to support the donor’s charitable goals. We can accept gifts of publicly traded stock, publicly traded bonds, closely-held stock, restricted stock, partnership interests (such as limited partnerships), interests in limited liability companies and mutual funds.
After age 59 ½, your clients can take a taxable distribution from their Traditional IRA without penalty. They can use that in any way including contributing the distribution to charity. If they itemize their charitable deductions, then donating their IRA distribution should provide them with a charitable deduction that offsets their income. Once they reach age 70 ½, there is also a way to transfer a gift from your IRA to charity without it being counted in their income or being taxed. This is called the “qualified charitable distribution” (QCD), more commonly known as the Charitable IRA Rollover.
This is an easy and convenient way to make a gift from what might be one of your clients’ major assets. It may allow you to sustain or even increase your giving as their cash-flow changes in retirement and can count toward their required minimum distribution. In order to qualify, the transfer must go directly from your IRA to charity, cannot exceed $100,000 and must be made outright. Charitable IRA Rollover gifts may not be made to donor-advised funds or life-income vehicles such as charitable gift annuities or charitable remainder trusts.
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are intended to support your client’s lifestyle during retirement. If these funds are not needed for their everyday living expenses, they can use them to support their charitable goals by naming the Community Foundation as a beneficiary. Tax efficiency is maximized because there is no estate or income tax attributed to their gifted IRA assets. This option allows 100 percent of their IRA assets go to a charitable purpose that is important to them and also allows their estate to claim a charitable estate tax deduction.
The Community Foundation offers a range of charitable funds, allowing your clients to choose the vehicle best suited to their philanthropic goals. Because the Community Foundation is an independent public charity, all contributions are eligible for an immediate tax deduction and many contributions may qualify for a larger tax deduction than those to other charitable entities like private foundations.
For all of our funds, we carry out due diligence on grant requests, issue grant checks and provide staff assistance through a wide range of donor services.
Giving Options
Our staff is here to help your clients plan for the giving options that are best for them. With our support, you can ensure that their charitable intentions and goals make a real difference.