Beyond Taxes: Reflecting on Your Charitable Giving at Year-End Posted 2009-12-03 by MCF
Charitable giving decisions are best made following
thoughtful reflection. Yet inertia and tax deadlines can conspire to push the
fulfillment of those good intentions to the end of the year, when they must
compete with so much else for your attention.
Is there a better way?
Consider the strategy of Kent and Susan
Garlinghouse of Topeka, Kansas. For many years they have contributed
appreciated securities at year-end to a donor advised fund at their local
community foundation. Having met the tax deadline with the contribution, they
can then put off the more challenging and rewarding part of the giving process
– choosing recipients to recommend for grants and deciding how much each might
receive – until later.
The fund allows donors to recommend grants
throughout the year for charitable purposes. "That way, you can fit your
donations into a program you've proactively decided upon rather than scurrying
around trying to find a charity," says Kent Garlinghouse.
The Garlinghouses sit down in April, and again in
November, to work out the details of their advised giving program. "A lot
of thought goes into it," says Susan. Their planning, she says,
"conveys to the groups we give to that we're going to be there each year.
It forces us to focus. And it helps us to have a good feeling about the gifts
we are able to give."
Shaping a giving program
A thoughtful giving program also can serve as a way
to share your values with the rest of your family. When Chris Getman of New Haven, Conn.,
established a donor advised fund with his local community foundation he
appointed his three grown daughters as advisors to the fund. "I receive the tax benefits, and my kids
enjoy the pleasure and responsibilities of giving," says Getman. His
daughters, two of whom live in Wisconsin
and the other in Atlanta,
confer and select recipient organizations once a year. “The kids feel really
good about the decisions they make together," says Getman.
In shaping your own giving program, spend some time
thinking about what you want to accomplish. "Do you want to make an
immediate impact with your gift, to feed someone today? Or do you want to look
toward the future?" asks Susan Garlinghouse, who says she and Kent are
"delayed gratification givers" who take a long-term view.
You may have both short and long-term goals. The
following are a few of the things you might consider as you establish or
refresh you giving plan in the New Year:
Do you want to make one-time gifts or provide ongoing support to
organizations?
What degree of recognition and visibility would you prefer?
Do you wish to focus on a single issue or several?
Would you like to effect change on a local, regional or national
level?
How much family involvement do you desire?
Reflecting on your past history of giving and
volunteerism—and which experiences gave you the most satisfaction—can help you
answer these questions. You might also wish to think about what you consider
“the most significant problems that face society, and where you want to make a
difference," says Kent.
How your community foundation can help
While the Garlinghouses focus their giving on
groups with which they have had a personal association or feel a strong sense
of connection, they know the community foundation is there to support them for
needs beyond recipient selection.
You may find that you would benefit from assistance
in choosing organizations to fund. Your local community foundation can help in
a number of ways, from offering research on potential grant recipients to
taking you on a site visit. If you care strongly about a particular cause, your
community foundation can help you determine which organizations, locally or
nationally, are the most involved or offer high impact programs. Once you've
made a decision, your community foundation can provide follow-up analysis to
assess the impact of your grant. And if you want to give, but prefer to leave
the details to others, you can ask your community foundation to allocate your
contributions according to your priorities or its own.
As the Garlinghouse and Getman families have shown,
charitable giving need not be a tax-driven process. By establishing donor
advised funds at their community foundations they have been able to eliminate
the pressure imposed by tax deadlines. And community foundations can offer
expert assistance and consultation in constructing a meaningful, effective
giving program.
That allows you and your family to focus on what is
most important. "Giving is not so much an obligation as it is an
opportunity," says Susan Garlinghouse. "It's an opportunity to be
part of something bigger than yourself. That’s very important to me."
Written by HNW for Community Foundations of America.
Copyright 2002.
Used with permission.
