Charitable Gift Planning & Foundations

Individuals and families sometimes want to provide gifts to charities for either philanthropic purposes or in order to receive tax benefits. In these situations, clients need to consider whether they are comfortable gifting large sums of money outright or if they would rather have those funds distributed over a set period. Clients may also have certain assets they wish to preserve for family members. While many clients chose to make charitable gifts each year, charitable giving vehicles other than outright gifting, such as a charitable trust, may be of greater benefit to some.

A properly administrated charitable trust can provide income, gift or estate tax benefits to its creator and can be a valuable estate planning tool for those who are charitably inclined but who prefer to retain some control of ownership over the assets they wish to donate. Lindabury’s Wills, Trusts & Estates group works with estate planning clients who wish to make charitable gifts by helping them identify ideal trust funding amounts, determine payout amounts and frequencies and terms which govern the trust.

Charitable foundations are tax-exempt organizations managed by directors or trustees. Charitable foundations are an estate planning tool similar to a charitable trust, however charitable foundations can accept asset contributions from multiple donors. For families wishing to create a lasting legacy of charitable giving, foundations offer the ability for members to pool their resources.

Depending on the source of the foundation's assets and the nature of its activities a charitable foundation may be either a public charity, a private non-operating foundation, or a private operating foundation.