Instilling the idea of charitable giving in children and grandchildren may appear to be easy, but questions can quickly arise about where to start and how to keep things going. It seems that wealth advisors are being asked by their clients to weigh in on strategies for fostering a family’s financial values more frequently, which often includes advising on how to sustain charitable giving traditions.
An essential first step in creating any multigenerational philanthropy plan is to advise clients to consider organizing their charitable giving, such as through a family DAF managed by KZCF. KZCF has the tools to guide individuals and families in establishing their plans.
The process of establishing a charitable giving plan for a family requires much-needed clarity about their philanthropic vision and goals. Without an organized approach to family giving, it is easy for children and grandchildren to get confused about their parents’ and grandparents’ rationales for deciding which nonprofits to support.
Consider this scenario:
"Before we got everything organized through KZCF, our family seemed to take a shotgun approach to charitable giving," said the daughter of an entrepreneur who formed a family DAF upon selling a business.
Her mother, the entrepreneur, underestimated how easily confusion could arise.
"Nearly every check I’d ever written to a charity was aligned with my commitment to supporting a healthy workforce in our community,” said her mother. “Without a healthy workforce, my business would never have been successful. Now, though, I see that because I was not involving the rest of my family in my giving and explaining why I was supporting certain causes, it might have looked chaotic to them."
We can think of at least five reasons why establishing a fund at KZCF can be a very effective solution for many of your clients who are launching a multigenerational giving strategy.
The giving vehicles or options at KZCF are extremely flexible and can be used to engage an extended family in the process of charitable giving.
For example, DAFs are popular because they allow your client to name children and grandchildren as successor advisors.
When your client organizes charitable giving through a KZCF fund, the client can make a large transfer of cash or marketable securities that is immediately eligible for a charitable deduction.
Your client can then recommend gifts to favorite charities from the fund when the time is right. This is especially useful for clients who sell a business or experience a large influx of taxable income in a single tax year.
Establishing a DAF at KZCF can be a much better choice for your family-oriented clients than a DAF offered through a brokerage firm (such as Fidelity or Schwab).
At KZCF, your clients and their children and grandchildren are part of a community of giving and have opportunities to collaborate with other donors who share similar interests. As a local expert, the Donor Relations team at KZCF can offer current, accurate information about the greatest needs in Kalamazoo at any given time. Our Donor Relations team can keep your clients informed about the agencies that may be of greatest interest.
KZCF can work with clients and their families on charitable giving plans that can account for multiple generations.
KZCF is comprised of an experienced team that supports strategic grantmaking, family philanthropy and opportunities to gain deeper knowledge about local issues and nonprofits that are making a difference for Kalamazoo community members.
KZCF’s tools and resources make it much easier for families to communicate across generations about the family’s charitable giving purpose and goals for long-term impact.
We welcome the opportunity to work with you and any of your clients to establish an enduring and rewarding family philanthropy plan customized to meet each family’s unique needs.
