When it comes to charitable giving, some clients give and some don’t. The ones who do  may have been raised in a family where tithing or supporting church, community or the arts were second nature. And they may be writing big checks without your knowledge, when in fact you can help them understand tax-advantaged giving.

For clients who don’t give, we don’t judge their practices or their hearts. Not everyone feels the same way and the financial advisor is not necessarily the one to bring them around. Giving can be as touchy as politics and religion. Maybe that’s why some advisors avoid the topic altogether.  In my experience, there are easy ways to provide essential value in your clients’ giving activities.

There are many ways to enable clients who have favorite causes they wish to remember at year end. This blog is not to offer tax advice, just practical hints for helping along the conversation and sharing your knowledge base:

1. Add charitable giving to your list of year end reminders, without assuming everyone gives. “What are the loose ends you are concerned about at year end: taking gains and losses, prepaying your January mortgage, making any year-end charitable gifts?” In this way, you can identify their interest.
2. If year-end giving is their goal, probe to find out their areas of charitable interests. An arts patron may not  be fascinated in urban education.  An education advocate may be disinterested in the stray pets issue. Explore their interests without leading the witness. When you understand the charitable interests of your client, you gain insight into a dimension of what they are all about.
3. Don’t assume a client has selected a nonprofit gift recipient. An estates/trust attorney told me he has clients who want and need to give but don’t know which organizations to support. I was on the board of a local nonprofit then. Several months later he called back with a client who wanted to write a check. As their advisor, you can help a client research charities within their areas of interest and be enormously helpful to them.
4. Talk through the most tax-efficient ways to give. This is your territory and not mine, but the consideration set includes gifts of appreciated assets including securities, and donor-advised funds. If you haven’t read up on donor-advised funds, they are popular both for the current year tax deduction and the ability to defer selection of the ultimate gift recipients. There are many providers perhaps including your own firms, but here’s a web site to read up on them.
5. Your client may be considering a mega gift. It is not unusual for private wealth managers to have a role in facilitating a client’s major gift. Perhaps they are planning to endow a named scholarship or build a wing on the local hospital. They trust you and they want to make the right decisions about organizational due diligence, tax-efficient gifting, and in some cases, naming opportunities. When you engage in thoughtful conversation about this, they may feel comfortable taking you into their confidence and inviting you to meet with them and the nonprofit executive. This is a privilege and a responsibility that binds you to your client in important ways.

The month of December is when many donors assess their financial affairs, wrap up their fiscal years and receive bonuses. It is a good time for you to ask if part of the conversation is about charitable giving and if so, how you can help facilitate. Remember to tread gently and follow the lead of clients who wish to give, but may not have thought to consult with you. This is a good time of year to initiate the conversation but don’t delay.  Good luck!

LederMark Communications is a financial services marketing firm that helps advisors, portfolio managers and firms grow their businesses with effective marketing strategy and communications.