Articles

DAF Basics:

Your Guide to Donor Advised Funds – for Advisors

The Financial Advisors Guide to Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) A Simple Primer-for advisors. Read more

Your Guide to Donor Advised Funds – for Donors

Americans are currently experiencing the greatest transfer of wealth in history. Read more

Not All Donor Advised Funds Are Alike: What to Look for in Selecting a Sponsor

Today there are over 1,000 public charities that sponsor DAFs, the fastest-growing and most active philanthropic vehicle in America…but not all sponsor programs are alike. Read more

Why Support Favorite Causes Through a Donor Advised Fund?

A donor-advised fund can help you maximize the power of your philanthropy. Many of us procrastinate until the last minute to consider donating to charities at year-end. Read more

What Makes Us Independent and Why It Matters

When we read about independence, we associate it with qualities like “free from the influence, guidance, or control of another or others; self reliant”. Read more

Donor Advised Fund Sponsorship vs. Stewardship: Two Very Different Things

As you may already know, a donor advised fund is a charitable giving vehicle sponsored by a public charity. Read more

A Counterintuitive Way to Look at Distributing Wealth

Beginning in the mid-1980’s, when Donor Advised Funds began to emerge from relative obscurity to become the most popular form of charitable giving today, I have been fortunate to work with financial advisors and their clients on their Donor Advised Funds (DAF).  Read more

Tax-Smart Giving:

A Win/Win Opportunity: A Tax-Wise Roth Conversion

Clients can convert their traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs regardless of income or marital status. Read more

Private Foundations and Donor Advised Funds – The Best of Both Worlds

This article explores two strategies for family philanthropy, the Private Foundation (PF) and the Donor Advised Fund (DAF) and how these effective and meaningful tools for family philanthropy can help your clients increase the likelihood for the successful transfer of their family wealth.   Read more

Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) for Advisors

While many of your clients will benefit from reduced tax rates and expanded tax brackets under the new tax laws, it’s likely that many will elect not to itemize this year.   Read more

Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) for Donors

While most taxpayers will benefit from reduced tax rates and expanded tax brackets under the new tax laws, many will elect not to itemize this year.  Read more

Charitable Giving – Looking Beyond Cash

Americans have a deep desire to become involved with and have an impact on various societal issues and alleviate suffering where there’s great need.  Read more

Family Philanthropy:

The Power and Impact of Women in Philanthropy

Women are shifting the balance of values in communities, businesses, markets and philanthropy, their impact amplified by accelerating economic power and leadership visibility. Read more

The Value of Family Philanthropy

Aligning your heirs around a guiding purpose for your family wealth and identifying philanthropic missions can help ensure successful wealth transfer for generations to come. Read more

Determining Your Family Values

Discussing and agreeing upon the guiding values of your family is an important part in drafting your family mission statement, which can help determine the direction of your legacy for generations to come. Read more

Closing the Generational Gap with Family Philanthropy

A report published in 2012 by Pew Research Center shows that fully 50% of successful individuals worry that their children, or other heirs, do not have the proper financial skills to handle inherited wealth. Read more

A Donor Advised Fund Can Be the Glue That Keeps a Family Together.

America is experiencing a growing interest in genealogy. There are even TV shows on the subject, and one common theme is that our memory and knowledge of family is fragile. Read more

Are Your Kids Suffering from Too Well Off Syndrome?

Are your kids suffering from too well off syndrome?  If so, how do you turn things around?  Read more

Getting Started with Your Family Mission Statement

A family mission statement is a critical part of successful wealth transfer, uniting all family members and heirs around a common, agreed-upon purpose – and it’s the foundation of your enduring legacy.  Read more

Meaningful Philanthropy for Millennials

If your parents or grandparents have been involved in philanthropic giving for many years, they probably hope you and any siblings will continue to honor this family legacy once they’re gone. Read more

Ten Questions to Help Families Navigate the Great Wealth Transfer

Americans are currently experiencing the greatest transfer of wealth in history, and many may be unprepared to successfully navigate it. Read more

Why Understanding the “What” of Family Wealth is Important to Success

Making critical, successful decisions when it comes to wealth transfer and inheritance depends on a comprehensive understanding of what makes up that wealth.  Read more

Why Some Wealth Transfers Succeed – and Others Fail

Sound asset stewardship and family unity each play a tremendous role in successful generational wealth transfer. Here’s why philanthropic giving can contribute to both of those goals.  Read more

Beyond Date Night – How Giving Can Bring Couples Closer Together

In today’s hyper-busy culture, many couples end up living almost separate lives during their first one or two decades together. Read more

Philanthropic Values:

How to Change the World – Finding Philanthropic Focus

Some people already have a fairly good idea as to where they’d like to direct their philanthropic giving. Read more

Tips for Choosing the Right Charity

If you’re like many people who establish a donor-advised fund for philanthropic giving, you probably already have a passion for certain causes. Read more

Why Craft a Mission Statement for Your Donor Advised Fund?

Regardless of their size, most businesses have some sort of mission statement meant to guide the focus and general intent of their daily activities. Read more

Volunteering (Giving Time and Talent) is a Transformational Experience

Americans are known around the world for their generosity.  Giving is part of our very nature.  Read more

Your Vision of Success Is Missing This Vital Ingredient

How do you define success? Ask 10 different people this question and you’re likely to get 10 different definitions. Read more

Charitable Giving – Phil Tobin Says: Live Your Values, Save On Taxes

You’re a generous person. You take care of the needs of your family, you give annually to your favorite charities, and you love to see those deductions reduce your tax bill. Read more

When Donors Speak, DAFs Listen

Whether it’s for the tax benefits, low hurdles for participation, overall flexibility or a number of other factors, donor-advised funds (DAFs) are seeing capital flowing in and out of them reach record levels.  Read more

Leaving a Legacy:

This Simple Strategy Can Help Make Your Legacy an Enduring One

What will happen to your established wealth in generations to come? By working together with family and trusted financial advisors, you can boil the future of your wealth down to a single page. Read more

My Mother’s Legacy

One October day 34 years ago my mother was a vibrant 71-year-old who loved to bowl and visit friends. The next she was gone.  Read more

Creating a Legacy Centered Around Life

“Choose well. Your choice is brief, and yet endless.” ~Goethe. What does the word “legacy” mean to you?  Read more

What Will Your Legacy Be?

We all leave a legacy that has nothing to do with the assets that comprise our estate. We can have absolutely nothing, no material possessions at the end of our life, and still we have a legacy. Read more

Legacy is More Than Passing Wealth between Generations

Wealthy families lose their money every day. Statistics show that 70% of the family fortunes created in America are gone in two generations and 90% within three.  Read more

Creating a Legacy within a Legacy

We’ve all heard the expression Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations—one generation accumulates the money and the next two spend it down to zero or thereabouts. Read more