Professional advisors can be invaluable guides in helping you plan
and execute your charitable giving. Advisors help provide thorough
information on your giving options and how these options will work in your
specific financial situation. They can also project how each option
would affect your taxes, savings and legacy planning. The type of
advisor and expertise you most need may depend, in part, on the kinds
of giving options you'd like to examine in depth (see Ways to Give for
an overview of your major charitable giving options).
Types of
Professional Advisors
Selecting Professional Advisors
Next Steps
Advisor Referrals
TYPES OF PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS
When planning their charitable giving, people most often work with
one or more of the following types of professional advisors:
- Attorney (may include estate planning, tax, mergers and
acquisitions, or corporate)
- Accountant
- Estate Planner
- Financial Planner
- Stock Broker
- Insurance Broker
- Planned Giving Officer (these people work for the nonprofits who
would accept your donation, but can provide good information to
share with your advisors)
- Philanthropy Consultant (some advisors from the disciplines
listed above are concentrating their businesses solely on helping
clients with their charitable giving)
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SELECTING
PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS
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.
You can interview prospective advisors about their expertise in the
giving vehicles you are considering, but it may also be important to
learn about an advisor’s experience in helping clients make
determinations about their values and giving style.
According to data collected by the National Center for Family
Philanthropy through
hundreds of interviews with donors, donors are most satisfied with
their advisors when the advisor:
- discusses philanthropy with them in detail, asks questions and
listens
- makes philanthropy a discussion about life goals, rather than
about estate planning and mortality
- keeps the giving plan simple and/or limits discussions of
complex giving vehicles to the top few options
- treats the plan as a vehicle for giving rather than as a
financial product he/she is selling
- is a giver him/herself
- knows when to look for additional assistance rather than trying
to be an expert on all aspects of giving and family dynamics
Since charitable giving plans deal with personal and sometimes
sensitive issues, it is important that you work with an advisor with
whom you feel absolutely comfortable. When it comes to narrowing the
field, trust your instincts.
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NEXT STEPS
To find out about professional advisors that Minnesota
philanthropists use and like, contact the Minnesota Council on
Foundations (612.338.1989, info@mcf.org)
for a list of MCF members who are willing to recommend and discuss
their attorneys and accountants with other donors. Once you have
established your giving vehicle, the Council can also provide you with
names of Minnesota consultants who specialize in grantmaking strategy
and administration.
ADVISOR
REFERRALS
Professional associations of the various advisor disciplines can also
tell you if an advisor is in good standing and meets their
membership criteria. The following websites offer
search features to help you find qualified advisors in your area:
Minnesota Organizations
National Organizations
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