Asking the ‘Giving’ Question
Why Discuss Charitable Giving with your Clients?
Your clients are expecting you to help them create innovative, comprehensive financial plans that take care of their families and friends, minimize taxes and reflect their values. Raising the issue of charitable giving with your clients can by deeply rewarding on both a personal and professional level.
Ask the ‘Giving’ Question
Professional advisors are in a unique position to support their clients to realize their philanthropic goals by helping to design charitable gifts that can maximize the tax and other financial planning benefits. One of the simplest and most important things you can do to help your clients enjoy the benefits of charitable giving is to ask them the giving question:
“Is there a cause you care deeply for or a community need you would like to have an impact on?”
When is the Right Time to Talk about Philanthropy?
Your greatest opportunities to help your clients maximize the personal benefits of giving occur when they are undergoing major business, personal and financial transitions, such as:
- Sale of a business or other major asset (e.g., secondary property)
- Estate planning
- Re-adjusting assets after the death of a loved one
- Writing or revising a will
- Retirement planning
- At times of a financial windfall, such as an inheritance, a merger or acquisition
Which of your Clients would Benefit from the Giving Question?
Recognizing that all clients can benefit from charitable planning in life and through their estate, Canadians who have been identified as having the most need for charitable gift planning include:
- Unmarried individuals without children
- Married, with no children
- Owners of privately held companies
- Married couples who have independent or older children
- Owners of appreciated securities or secondary real estate
- Surviving spouses
- People with an existing relationship to a cause or community organization
Jennifer DeBues |
Executive Director