Advising Your Clients
Talking with Your Clients about Giving
When your clients plan,
they rely on your sound advice and expertise on matters of finance, estate planning, real estate, tax and securities. Our expertise is Catholic philanthropy, and we serve as a partner to lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, and other professionals so that your Catholic clients achieve their charitable goals through current giving and planned gifts. We work closely with you to tailor a fund or deferred giving arrangement to meet the charitable and tax objectives of your clients.
Most Catholics have a strong desire to give according to their faith and want to know the most satisfying and effective way to accomplish their philanthropy. With the Catholic Foundation of Michigan, you can be assured that your clients’ charitable giving will benefit, in perpetuity, the values-based causes that are most important to them and that their funds will always be invested according to their wishes and Catholic principles of investing.
Together, you may consider the following:
- When to give. Does your client want to establish a fund now? Later through deferred gifts? A will or other planned giving?
- What to give. The Foundation accepts many of types of assets, including:
- cash
- marketable securities
- real estate
- retirement plan assets
- life insurance
- The best way to give. The Catholic Foundation has various types of funds funds and services available:
- Donor-advised funds
- Field-of-interest funds
- Agency and beneficiary endowments
- Scholarship endowments
- Charitable bequests
Talk with us about which one is right for your client. The Foundation can offer you resources to help guide your conversations.
Giving Now
By establishing a fund today, your clients can support favorite parishes, schools and ministries during their lifetimes. Many of our donors have donor-advised funds and add to their funds each year, recommend grants on a regular basis, and name the fund in their wills.
As a public charity, The Catholic Foundation of Michigan offers donors the maximum charitable tax deduction permitted by law. It may be advantageous for your client to make a current gift based on this year’s tax situation, and to determine grants from the fund in future years.
Contact us to learn more about setting up a fund.
Deferred Gifts and Bequests
A permanent fund with the Catholic Foundation will continue a family’s name and ensure that the causes they care about will be supported forever. Your client’s gift will never become obsolete and will remain useful to the community in perpetuity.
Beneficiary Designations may offer your clients significant tax advantages and cost them nothing during their lifetime. They are among the simplest ways your clients can provide for the future of their favorite Catholic ministries.
- Life Insurance can be used as a charitable asset, enabling your client to be eligible for a charitable tax deduction based on the current value of the paid-up policy.
- Retirement Plan assets can be used to support your client’s charitable interests while achieving significant tax advantages for their heirs.
- Bequests allow your clients to make an extraordinary impact on the Catholic organizations they wish to support without affecting their current lifestyle. After providing for personal bequests, your clients may include provisions for setting up a fund or add to one already established. They will save estate taxes and ensure that the charitable work they care about is carried on. Contact us for a sample of will language.