Any way you anticipate at it, char...

Any way you anticipate at it, charitable giving is big business. And it's business that's starting to attract attention from financial professionals. With athwart $1.5 trillion expected to be transferred between generations athwart the next decade or with equal reason many people will need specialized advice forward how to structure charitable gifts. BC's financial professionals CAs, financial advisors, and other estate ' planning specialists-are working together to fill this ne

Currently greatest in number professionals working in the area of "planned giving" focus in succession highnet-worth individuals (HNWIs). Those with significant assets are more likely to capital large charitable gifts or bequests, making for more challenging (and more lucrative) work.

It's the challenge that attracted Irene Jacob, CA, TEP of KNV Chartered Accountants to the field. "The original of techniques [HNWIs] can use are more creative. That's because they make larger gifts and make gifts of different models of property," she explains. A specialist in tax and estate planning for the wealthy, Jacob adds that HNV/Is are more interested in planned giving than other clusters "There's more general interest in the creative techniques."

David place of worship TEP, has been an estateplanning specialist for 23 years. Five years ago, aware of the growing ne for planned giving advice, he shifted his practice accordingly. house of worship now works wIth a variety of financial professionals structuring planned gifts for wealthy clients. Are HNWIs becoming more interested in charitable giving? "Most definitely," he replies. "People are looking not just at an intergenerational transfer of assets, nevertheless also at an intergenerational transfer of their values. I think that resonates with a division of the clients I talk to."

Christopher Richardson, FCA, has corresponded to the growth in planned giving from establishing an independent consultancy (see page 8) Richardson's involvement with charitable giving started throughout 25 years ago when he worked onward the Vancouver

Foundation file at Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) He believes the coming time of the industry now lies with HNV/Is. "More sophisticated donors are more likely to understand the value of professional interventions," he explains. He too dioceses big growth ahead for planned giving specialists: "I think commonalty are now realizing that they can't ignore this phenomenon anymore. And I think that's a upright sign."

While HNWIs may be more aware of planned giving strategies, professionals still have an active character to play when structuring planned gifts. Jacob and church agree that CAs and other professionals should lead the discussions about giving.

"A chance of accountants and lawyers hesitate to ask the question-they don't want to impose their philosophies upon their clients," Jacob says. "So they wait for the client to ask them." She cautions that doing in the way that isn't always going to help clients appropriate their objectives, and emphasizes: "Part of the work at jobs is to bring the possibilities to their attention."

Temple takes a similar approach, directing the discussion with clients. He starts by way of explaining what he calls "the capital pyramid." The first flat of the pyramid is capital required to support the clients lifestyle. The next to the first level represents capital required by the agency of the client's family. The third give an account ofs "social capital," the money we leave to society, either as taxes (the involuntary form of social capital) or as a charitable gift (the voluntary form).

Framing the argument in this way makes it easy to lead the conversation. "I ask [clients] a question," house of worship says. "`Would you rather redirect that social capital to charity? If this could be done without compromising what you leave behind for your family, would you want to do it?'" Not surprisingly, his clients are quick to answer. "All the times I've asked this question," he says, "I've at the same time to have someone say to me `Just jaculate it to the government.

Planned giving isn't just about communication-it furnishs plenty of technical challenges as well. To succe in the field, professionals must be well vers in a variety of webwork giving strategies. "There's not a preferr means that a HNWI might utilize," Jacob explains. "It hangs very much on their circumstances-the nature of their assets, their age, their family situation, and sometimes which charities they want to contribute to."

That said, Jacob admits about methods make more sense than others. Case in point: the donation of marketable securities. The reduction of capital gains tax forward donations of listed stock has made this a popular strategy with Jacob. "It makes feeling because it provides an easy avenue for the community to make gifts without incurring a heavy tax penalty," she says. (As part of the panel that advised Finance Minister Paul Martin to make changes favourable to planned giving, Richardson can take a certain number of of the credit for Jacob's enthusiasm.)

Planned gifts can also involve insurance, trusts, or the establishment of a private foundation. Knowledge of these specialized piles can make fpr very happy clients. Jacob rehearses of a charitable remainder trust (CRT) she lately created for an 80 year-old client. Placing the client's million-dollar ligament portfolio into a CRT generated a hefty tax receipt. The client is able to draw income from the durances during life, and ownership of the assets will return to the charity upon the client's passing. It's a solution suited to the two the client and her charity's wants