Presentation: Charitable foundations

To make it easier for you to prepare materials for clients, we’ve developed this text for a slideshow on the workings of Charitable Foundations. The presentation is in a Word file to make it simpler to customize the content to your client’s needs (there is no PowerPoint).

SLIDE 1

The Rise of the Charitable Foundation

How wealthy people give

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SLIDE 2 Private foundations are becoming an increasingly popular way for high-net-worth Canadians to fund their charitable giving

SLIDE 3 What is a charitable foundation?

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A nonprofit organization that either donates funds to other organizations, or provides the source of funding for its own charitable purposes

SLIDE 4 Features of a foundation

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• Usually created with a single, large primary donation

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• Generates income by investing that initial donation

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• Disburses, at minimum, a prescribed percentage of assets each year

SLIDE 5 Benefits of a foundation

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How are foundations better than other giving structures?

SLIDE 6 Tax-free growth of donated capital

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Within the foundation, donations compound tax-free

SLIDE 7 Control and flexibility

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Foundations offer control over:

• who gets what
• how much they get, and
• when they get it

SLIDE 8 Privacy or publicity

A foundation can ensure gift-giving remains anonymous . . .

. . . or, that gift-giving is public and well publicized

SLIDE 9 Ability to target small organizations

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Foundations make donating to small, community-based organizations easier

SLIDE 10 Longevity

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Tax-free donation growth can extend giving potential well beyond a single lifetime

SLIDE 11 Family participation

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A foundation can foster a culture of family giving

SLIDE 12 So what’s the catch?

SLIDE 13 Ongoing costs and fees

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These costs make foundations best suited to larger donations

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Rule of thumb: $1-million or more

SLIDE 14 Minimum asset disbursement

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Foundations must distribute at least 3.5% of their assets per year

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If they don’t, they can lose their tax-free status

SLIDE 15 Foundations aren’t a hands-off giving structure

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They require ongoing participation and expense

SLIDE 16 A FINAL THOUGHT . . .

Foundations are more complex

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But for many wealthy givers, that complexity is worth it

SLIDE 17 Interested? I can help

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• Professional expertise

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• Expert knowledge

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• Balanced unemotional perspective

SLIDE 18 Thank You

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