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Working with Professional Advisors
A professional advisor can be an invaluable resource in helping you plan your charitable giving. Advisors provide complete
information on your giving options and how they will work in your specific financial situation. An advisor can also project
how each option would affect your taxes, savings and legacy planning. The type of advisor and level of expertise you need
will depend on the kinds of charitable giving options you are considering.
Types of Professional Advisors
When planning their charitable giving, people most often work with one or more of the following professional advisors:
- Attorney
- Accountant
- Estate Planner
- Financial Planner
- Stock Broker
- Planned Giving Officer (these people work for the nonprofits who are the recipients your donations, but often can also
provide good information to share with your advisors)
- Philanthropy Consultant (some advisors from the disciplines listed
above concentrate their practice solely on helping clients with their charitable giving)
Selecting Professional Advisors
Before selecting a professional advisor, you should interview several about their expertise in the giving options you are
considering as well as their experience in helping a client determine his or her own values and giving style. Because advisors
have different expertise and different products and services to sell, you may get a variety of opinions when asking for a
recommended course of action. As a consumer, you need to find the right match of skills and personality to meet your needs.
Ten Questions to Ask Your Professional Advisor about Charitable Giving
- What are some ways that I can begin or continue a family tradition of philanthropy?
- How can I best structure my charitable
giving to maximize the benefits to the organizations over time and in a manner that leaves me and my family with what
I deem appropriate?
- How can I get the most advantages from my charitable giving plans?
- In what ways can
my business giving program benefit my company?
- What process should I use to decide how to provide long term support
for the cause(s) that I care about?
- What assets can I use to set up a foundation or fund or trust while I am still in business?
- When are the right circumstances and times to start structuring my donations and contributions?
- Should I give my money to a specific agency or create an on-going fund?
- What are the
legal and economic differences between a charitable trust, a fund, a supporting foundation and a private foundation?
- How can I ensure that my charitable gift will be used for the purposes I intend?
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