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For Professional Advisors
Do you ask the giving question?
Whether you are a financial advisor, an attorney, an accountant, or a stock or insurance broker, you have an opportunity to play a key role in helping your clients give back to their community while managing their assets or planning their estates. One of the greatest opportunities to assist your clients in maximizing the personal benefits of giving occurs when they are making other major business, personal, and financial decisions, such as: (1) estate planning; (2) writing a will; (3) sale of a business or other major asset; (4) retirement planning; and (5) at times of a financial windfall.
In many of these situations, an opportunity exists to help your clients through planned giving. One of the most important things you can do to help your clients enjoy the benefits of planned giving is to ask them the giving question - "Are there charitable or community needs you would like to consider in your planning?"

According to data collected by the National Center for Family Philanthropy, donor/clients are most satisfied with their advisors when the advisor:
  • Discusses philanthropy with them in detail, asks questions, and listens

  • Makes philanthropy a discussion about living 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


The following excerpt is from the 1996 article, "Advisor's Enthusiasm Helps to Shape Client's Charitable Role" by Joe Breiteneicher:
"We know that experienced advisors tailor their approaches to the backgrounds and needs of each client. If getting started on developing a client's philanthropic profile is a cause for discomfort for some advisors, we offer the following queries, which have proven to be effective and which advisors can adapt for their own use. Charitable Giving Questions Estate Planners Should Ask Their Clients:
  • What are their values? What have been the principles that have guided how they have lived their lives, raised families, run their businesses?

  • What charitable interests have they pursued as an outgrowth of their values?

  • What have they learned from their giving? What would they do differently?

  • What has been the most satisfying charitable gift that they have made? Why?

  • How do they view their wealth in connection to their community, to society?

  • What role has philanthropy played in their family? What role would they like it to play? What value would it bring to their children and grandchildren?

  • What core values would they like to express through their giving? What do they want to stand for?

  • When they think about challenges facing their community, what are their major concerns?

  • Are any of these or should any of these be the focus of their giving?

  • What would they like to accomplish with their giving? What do they think is possible?
Answers to such questions help clients and advisors begin to:
  • Ascertain the priority treatment the client gives to philanthropy;

  • Determine the relative importance the client places on the tax consequences of giving;

  • Bring into sharper relief the role giving plays and could play for the client;

  • Provide advisors with an assessment of what the client would like to accomplish and insight into what has been achieved;

  • Help sort out the structure and focus of an enhanced giving effort by the client;

  • Assess the value of philanthropy to the family and, especially, to intergenerational dynamics;

  • Finally, assist advisors to develop and deliver information and resources that will support clients' philanthropic enthusiasms and priorities."



Resources for Professional Advisors:

You are likely already aware of the philanthropy resources available to you from your professional associations. In addition, there is a tremendous online resource available to you at no charge called the Planned Giving Design Center. Its mission is "to act as an information conduit between charitable organizations and professional advisors, whereby objective, authoritative information on the subject of charitable gift planning is provided on a current basis. The website for the Planned Giving Design Center is www.pgdc.org.
Another resource designed for advisors is The Philanthropic Advisors Network created by the Council on Foundations to promote opportunities for legal and financial advisors to discuss charitable issues, assist their clients and learn from each other. For more information on The Philanthropic Advisors Network go to the Council on Foundation's website at www.cof.org or call 202/466-6512. The Philanthropic Advisors Network is subscription based.
The Northwest Giving Project is an organization whose aim is to inspire and educate individual donors and their advisors about giving. Their data-intensive website - www.nwgiving.org - has in-depth information about many philanthropic options and forms of giving. They do not recommend any one giving vehicle, plan, non-profit organization, cause or advisor. Similarly, New Ventures in Philanthropy, a special project of the forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, can provide you and your clients with the resources you need to understand the full range of options available for establishing philanthropic grant making funds. They can be found on the web at www.rag.org.

The Homer Foundation: Closer to home, the Homer Foundation can provide you with information on charitable opportunities in the greater Homer area, and share how easy it is for your clients to give to or through the Homer Foundation today or in the future.

Visit our Forms Library to access sample bequest and fund forms.

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