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For more than a decade donor-advised funds (DAFs) have been the fastest growing giving vehicle in the charitable giving landscape.  So what draws donors to DAFs?  When we peel back the layers, we find a whole host of reasons and benefits.  In addition to being easy to establish, DAFs offer an immediate tax benefit, a tax free environment for appreciated assets to be sold, anonymity in giving, family involvement, and the ability to spread giving over many years.

Read More »DAF Stats: Baby Boomers Lead the Way but Millennials Gaining Ground on Gen X

It’s time.

As we all come off the four-day food bender that is Thanksgiving, we must face the inevitable; the Christmas season is here.  For those who are like me, I adopt ostrich-like qualities from what now seems like Labor Day through Thanksgiving, ignoring the ever-expanding holiday shopping propaganda.Read More »Making our List and Checking it Twice

Just about any asset can be a good candidate for a donor-advised fund (DAF). Cash and publicly traded securities are by far the most common, but there are many other under-utilized ‘specialty” assets that work well for a contribution to a DAF.  Such specialty assets include closely-held business interests, real estate, equipment, collectibles, and other similar property.

Read More »Time is Running Out to Donate Specialty Assets

Often we hear advisors and families alike remark about how challenging it can be to start a conversation around giving.  In reality, studies show that individuals want their advisors to discuss charitable giving.  While charitable giving is a different conversation for advisors, Renaissance has developed some trigger questions to help you get the conversation started.  Advisors play a critical role in starting these conversations and introducing solutions like Donor-Advised Funds (DAF) to charitable families. A DAF is the perfect tool for a family to support a tradition of giving and for an advisor to employ tax-smart strategies to enable the family to give more over time. Read More »Making Philanthropy a Family Affair

In Part 1 of this two-part series, we described several basic design features of a charitable lead trust (CLT). In Part 2 we will explore three common CLT formats.

Read More »Three Common CLT Formats

A common goal of estate planning to avoid estate and gift taxes. A charitable lead trust (CLT) is one tool that can accomplish this objective. Although less familiar than charitable remainder trusts, CLTs can meet many of a donor’s tax, financial, and non-financial goals—all in the context of making a charitable gift. For example, a CLT may be used to accomplish one or more of the following:

Read More »A CLT Can Benefit Charity, Reduce Taxes & Transfer Assets to Heirs

This is Part 3 of a 3-part series.

Read More »Four Strategies to Utilize Life Insurance for Charitable Gifts

This is Part 2 of a 3-Part series on Charitable Gifts of Life Insurance. (Catch-up with Part 1).  In this post, we will focus on policy suitability and claiming the charitable deduction and then wrap up with a Case Study. Part 3 will describe a client who gave an existing policy and a client who gave cash to a charity, which then purchased a new life insurance policy.

Read More »Which Life Insurance Policies are Suitable for Charitable Giving?