Charitable Gift Types

Including revocation language serves two purposes. First, it may enable the donor to avoid making a taxable gift to the annuitant. Second, it preserves flexibility in the event of a change in circumstances, such as the dissolution of a marriage. The decision on whether to include the revocation language is ultimately the donor’s, but it is helpful if the charity understands the issues to help inform that decision. 

Mutual funds are easy to purchase, simple to understand, and they allow for continual reinvestment of income over the long run. As planned gift donors review their financial assets and determine which ones to use as the funding for charitable gift annuities, mutual funds present an obvious choice. But gift planners should be aware of some particular aspects of mutual funds that can cause significant complications in the process.  Read about the complexities in mutual funds transactions and tax accounting.

Fundraisers consider a well-functioning gift annuity program the cornerstone of a robust planned gift fundraising effort.  Although bequests and beneficiary designations typically produce most of the realized planned gift revenue, offering gift annuities is usually the mark of a mature planned giving program.  Nonetheless, among those charities that have offered gift annuities, many frequently worry about the continued viability of offering them.

The end we are talking about is the end of calendar year 2016.  Are you ready?  Most charities concentrate on year-end giving in the fourth quarter and for good reason.  A study conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University focused on high-net worth donors found that 42.7 percent of those surveyed gave more during the holidays than the rest of the year. Nonetheless, in addition to soliciting and encouraging gifts at the end of the calendar year, it is also a time for planned giving departments to prepare and plan. 

The persistently low IRS discount rates over the past five years has had a chilling effect on charitable remainder annuity trusts (CRATs). One reason is that these low rates have made 1-life CRATs unavailable for beneficiaries younger than their early 70s. Beneficiaries of 2-life CRATs must be even older. The roadblock has been the 5% probability of exhaustion test.

Gift planners are often surprised to see that the state named in the Governing Law paragraph in an annuity agreement is not always the same as the donor’s state of legal residence. Here’s why these states sometimes differ:

During the downturn in the stock market in late 2008, many charities monitored their gift annuity reserve fund balances on a weekly or even daily basis, concerned that there were sufficient reserves to meet the requirements of states with a calendar year reporting period. But the uncertainty brought by the financial turmoil of the “great recession” had at least one positive effect, prompting charities to take a more detailed look at their gift annuity programs, either through an internal review or by hiring an outside consultant. For some, this was the first time a thorough review of the program had been done.

This document is derived from one we created for a consulting client. In conversations with that client we wanted to ensure that they were augmenting an excellent marketing effort with on-the-ground cultivation and solicitation. To add to the ranks of a bequest society, a planned giving officer often needs volunteers to help, and volunteers are more willing if they are informed enough to be comfortable. The best volunteer solicitors are ones who have made a gift, but there is still a gulf between making a gift and feeling prepared to ask another to do the same.

We frequently receive calls from our clients asking how to determine the date-of-death value for a charitable gift annuity (CGA). The value of a gift annuity upon the death of an annuitant seems to be an area of particular confusion.

We have responded to many more client inquiries about charitable lead trusts over the past two years than any other two year period in our 25-year history.  We have also noticed a flurry of articles on lead trusts during this same period.

A particular lead trust variation that has received considerable attention lately is what some practitioners are calling the "Shark Fin" lead trust. You may have also seen the term "Balloon" lead trust mentioned.  Two names, same trust.