Philanthropy
As our client’s wealth expands we are sometimes asked to assist in the thought process, planning and then structuring of potential charitable giving. We firstly however help our clients to understand how much of their wealth they will need to ring-fence so that they will be secure for the rest of their lives and so that they can provide where appropriate a legacy for their children and beneficiaries.
The amount that any individual wants to gift is very personal to them and can range from a few thousand pounds to something much more substantial. Through careful planning we can help those individuals structure those gifts in the most efficient way for the recipient and also for the donor.
No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.
– Aesop
We will work with legal and tax advisers to then assist in the structuring and timing of any potential giving as well as taking into account the level of involvement that our clients require. We can also introduce to organisations that specialise in charitable work should there be no particular cause that is immediately close to them.
In putting together a gifting strategy a client will first need to establish what their personal and charitable objectives might be and also decide what they would like to achieve with their charitable giving. A gifting programme can then be devised that is affordable and that can take into account the amount to allocate and also the time period over which the gifts are to be made.
Guidance will then be required as to how any giving can be completed tax efficiently so that it dovetails with the rest of a client’s estate and financial affairs. If not already done so, suitable charities will need to be identified and chosen based on their stipulated interests and objectives. Lastly it is important to ascertain how much involvement a client wishes to have from a human as well as financial perspective and also the success of how the gifting can be measured.