Recently published studies on client motivations and the resulting planned gifts by affluent donors suggest that their advisors have done a poor job of conveying the concepts. Charitable estate and financial planning opportunities are often overly complicated, and the majority of donors have been unsatisfied with their experiences in this area. What does this mean to gift and estate planners? Generally, the charities will not see gifts completed or any additional contributions made. In their conversations with peers, unhappy donors often discourage similar planning strategies. This unfortunate attitude also decreases charitable support and referrals for professional services. In order to overcome this negative response, particular attention needs to be paid to client motivations and improving the technical competence of their advisors. Since affluent individuals tend to interact with others in like situations, the opportunity to build an effective planned giving program or professional practice depends on proficiency and satisfying donor expectations. To successfully complete a gift plan, the advisor needs to better educate the client and give more thought to the long-term nature of the transaction. Understand the various gift planning tools, their respective advantages and disadvantages, and the client's satisfaction increases. When community philanthropy prospers your opportunity to generate more services and gifts often improves.

 In an IRC §664 trust, many advisors don't make use of custom documents to meet their clients' specific needs. While many advisors feel the standardized prototype IRS guidelines can satisfy donor requirements, in fact, they are extremely limiting. Why use a flexible custom document? The trustmaker can be his or her own trustee and continue managing trust assets by retaining the same investment professionals who have helped them accumulate their current wealth. Successor trustees can be chosen who will understand client security concerns and family philanthropic motivations. The charitable remaindermen can be modified (as long as they remain in the same or a more public class of charity), and more than one charity, family foundation or supporting organization may be served by the CRT at maturation. Other reasons include:

If you need a computerized gift scenario, a client - donor presentation or if you would like to discuss strategies in the design or implementation of your client's deferred §664 or §170 trusts, give us a call. We provide courtesy illustrations to professional advisors and planned giving officers; so please call for a charitable factfinder to organize the data for your own customized plan. For more practical CRT technical background, enroll in one of our 4 hour CE/CLE/CPE (CPAs, attorneys, financial planners, insurance) workshop programs. Contact our office for additional details and schedules.

Gift and Estate Planning Services -- Springfield, Illinois 62703-5314

217.529.1958 voice -- 217.529.1959 fax -- e-mail VWHenry@aol.com

See our web-site for software, case studies and concepts -- http://gift-estate.com/CRTrust/CRT.html

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