Starting the Conversation for Effective Year-End Planning

For many professional advisors, the end of the year is a sprint to the finish line.

Your clients need documents drafted, assets transferred and guidance on the year ahead. And of course, philanthropy is often an important leg of the sprint. In our experience, it is never too early to start a conversation about philanthropy.

If you are new to philanthropy, or simply looking for new ways to engage your clients, consider these conversation starters:

• Consider multiple giving vehicles. Encourage your clients to use a donor advised fund in concert with their private foundation to promote next-generation engagement, enable anonymous giving or explore impact investing through Benefit Chicago.
• Engage next-generation philanthropists. Philanthropy can help bring families together around shared values and interests. The Chicago Community Trust can work with your clients to develop family mission/vision statements, schedule family site visits to nonprofit organizations, and identify new organizations to support.
• Simplify giving. Keeping track of dozens of charitable gift receipts can be a headache for philanthropists and their accountants. Simplify your clients’ lives by having them create a donor advised fund at the Trust. They will have one gift receipt for claiming a charitable deduction, and can still support their favorite charities by recommending grants from their donor advised fund account throughout the year.
• Continue annual giving after death. If you have clients who wish that they could continue making annual gifts to their favorite charities after their death, The Chicago Community Trust is here to help. Donors can bequest some or all of their estate to the Trust to establish a field-of-interest fund that will continue making annual gifts in the name of the donor to specific organizations, or to an issue area (like education or arts & culture).

The Chicago Community Trust is here to help you start these conversations with your clients. Philanthropy is the only thing that we do, and we are happy to share our knowledge with you and your clients to make the year-end giving process easier.

For more information, please contact Tim Bresnahan at 312.616.8000 ext. 158 or by email at tbresnahan@cct.org.