Today’s Trends to Improve Charitable Giving
Just as I was delving through an excellent article by Karen Simmons, President and CEO of the Chester County Community Foundation in the Summer, 2016 Edition of the Chester County Bar Association magazine, “New Matter,” I happened upon another related column in the on-line version of Money on a similar subject. Both discussed what is happening with charitable giving today, a discussion that at its higher reaches is described as philanthropy.
Karen’s article, titled, “Philanthropic Conversations Between Clients & Advisors,” reviewed and summarized conclusions from a recently completed “US Trust Study of the Philanthropic Conversation. “ It raised issues why people give and why they do not and arrived at some unexpected conclusions.
For instance, most advisors were cited as believing that clients fail to give either because they believe they won’t have enough money to leave to their heirs (41%), or won’t have enough money for themselves (34%) or don’t consider themselves wealthy enough to give (22%).
When high wealth clients were surveyed regarding reasons not to give, their reasons were very different. Several stated they were concerned that their gift won’t be used wisely by nonprofits (30%). Some indicated lack of knowledge of or connection to a charity (24%). Others indicated fear of increased donation requests from others (17%).
As to the reasons why people do give, advisors and clients agreed on the Top Three motivations for charitable giving. These are (1) being passionate about a cause (2) having a strong desire to give back, and (3) having a positive impact on society and the world.
Local attorney Joanne Peskoff-Bear is cited in Karen’s article stating that “Philanthropy is not something that happens at ‘the end’ with ‘what’s left.’ It’s a way of living one’s core values on a daily basis. People want to see good things done with their money. And they want to involve their families and friends to benefit the community. They want to see the results of their passions now, plus provide for the causes later.”
The Chester County Community Foundation that Karen Simmons spearheads is a prime example of “giving back” to the local community in a planned giving way and Karen is an excellent spokesperson for the cause.
The Money on line article, Why Charitable Giving Has a New Look,” http://time.com/money/4423200/charitable-giving-has-new-look, addresses a type of giving that can assist higher wealth and/or committed individuals and families to deal with those issues that might inhibit them from giving in the first place. The discussion in Money is about donor-advised funds. Fortuitously, donor-advised funds are just one of the types of giving in which the Chester County Community Foundation is involved.
Remember that the top reasons given by clients why they would not give relate to the concerns that the gifts would not be used properly by the non-profit or there is a lack of knowledge regarding specific charities or the fear of being asked for increased donations from others.
Now, consider donor-advised funds. Under this arrangement, money or assets can be placed in charitable accounts and an immediate tax deduction taken. The money remains in the fund. It is not returned but the donor can decide when and where it is disbursed.
Using donor-advised funds and working through an organization such as the Community Foundation, potential donors have the ability to obtain additional detailed information regarding specific charities of interest before committing funds to them. Donors can also decide at a later date to commit more or less to a given charity. As the Money article stated, “dollars can remain or years in the donor-advised funds, where they are invested and hopefully grow over time.”
It gives a smaller investor the ability to act in a way similar to larger foundations and using local Community Foundations allows sizeable funds to stay local while allowing the option to extend the reach beyond.
As to the desire that many of us have had to “change the world” for the better, this is a way to do this and see the results.
Donor advised funds, according to Money are attracting a lot of attention. The article also cited substantial increases in charitable giving for this year overall. This might not be surprising. With the widely understood uneven distribution of wealth and a desire to help, charitable giving if directed to subjects and areas of true need may help.
About the Author Janet Colliton
Esquire, Colliton Law Associates, P.C. Janet Colliton has practiced law for over 38 years, 37 of them in Chester County, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her practice, Colliton Law Associates, PC, is limited to elder law, Medicaid, including advice, applications and appeals, and other benefits planning including Veterans benefits, life care and special needs planning, guardianships, retirement, and estate planning and administration.