Can CCF help build a giving plan?
Life is full of big decisions, and charitable giving is no exception. Major considerations like choosing a career, buying a house or starting a business benefit greatly from a strategy – and so does giving.
You wouldn’t buy a house without considering the size of your family, your available funding, the school district or the insurance requirements. It’s equally important to make sure your charitable giving is impactful, in line with your priorities and financially feasible. That’s where your giving plan comes in.
What considerations are part of a giving plan?
A giving plan is the foundation for your philanthropy, so it should address key factors like:
- What are your values? What causes are you passionate about?
- There are countless great causes to support. But some may resonate with you. For example, donors who once struggled with food insecurity may hold deep support for others who currently suffer the same plight, or for an organization that once helped them. The same could be said for a variety of other worthy causes, from health to education and beyond.
- Who’s involved?
- Many donors see giving as part of a legacy. As a result, some like to involve their families. This decision may even be part of an effort on your behalf to create conversations about giving with your children or grandchildren.
- Does your giving foundation and chosen organization align with your values operationally?
- If you’re funding a DAF, you’ll want to ensure your partner is aligned with your goals and values. You should also review any financial considerations, such as investment strategies and fees, as applicable.
- Your giving plan may or may not include specific organizations. Typically, it should include some sort of criteria to help evaluate the organizations you choose to support, such as causes, geographic reach or specific impact.
- What are your financial capabilities, and what type of assets do you intend to give? How should they be managed?
- Your giving strategy and capabilities may be heavily influenced by the types of assets you have – cash, property, stocks or others. This may also fluctuate as your financial situation or external factors, like tax rates, change. In this case, your giving plan is likely tied strongly to your DAF agreement, which should be updated every few years.
- How will you evaluate your impact?
- How will you decide if your giving has made a difference? Consider your goals in this context, along with what sort of information may be available to donors from benefiting organizations.
Can CCF help me create a giving plan?
Yes. However, we won’t make specific monetary or organizational recommendations – that’s something our donors deserve to decide! We’ll work with you to outline your big-picture goals, like your values and giving philosophy. We may point you toward organizations or causes to research based on your feedback, but we’ll never pressure you to support specific organizations or campaigns, and we’ll never provide input on the amount you should donate.
Why CCF?
If you’re seeking a partner for your donor-advised fund in Memphis, CCF is unlike any other. Some of the things our fund holders appreciate are:
- Our Christian values – While we don’t limit “common grace” gifts to organizations that support worthy causes such as homelessness, the arts or others, we do work hard to ensure all donations support organizations that stand with our Christian values.
- The Hope for Memphis Fund – If fees result in a surplus in excess of our administrative costs, those dollars go into the Hope for Memphis Fund, which has made millions of dollars in grants to local organizations since our founding at no additional cost to our fund holders.
- Our investment strategy – Our rates of return are always available online, and donors appreciate our “open book” philosophy with regard to managing their funds.
Ready to get started?
Contact us to jumpstart your giving today.