Guiding Your Clients
Local expertise and trusted experience. We’re experts on local philanthropy—we’ve been supporting charitable giving in our community since 1919.
A true partnership. We can strengthen your client-advisor relationships by providing the professional resources you need.
And we’re here for you any time you have questions.
We can help you structure a charitable plan to meet your clients’ unique philanthropic and financial goals.
The Power of Endowment
The power of an endowment is in its continuity. When your clients create an endowed fund at the Foundation, they ensure lasting community impact through a permanent charitable fund.
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stories of impact
Connecting Clients With Causes That Matter
At a Foundation gathering, distinguished attorney Kim Stogner (Womble Bond Dickinson) stood before a room of professional advisors to offer insights about her experience supporting charitable clients.
Advisor Q&A’s
How do I begin a charitable giving discussion with my client?
You may never realize your client has an interest in charitable giving—until you ask. We suggest starting the conversation with some questions:
- Are there charitable organizations that you support on an annual basis?
- Would you like to include any of these organizations in your financial or estate plan?
- Are you interested in giving broadly to support the community’s changing needs?
- If there were a way for you to shift resources from paying taxes to giving to charity, would you be interested in exploring the options?
If any of these answers is “yes,” then you may have opened the door to a deeper conversation that can lead to a more meaningful client-advisor relationship.
How can my clients benefit from a Donor-Advised Fund?
Flexibility. Clients can make contributions in the years when it is more tax advantageous, and then make charitable distributions in subsequent years – without having to add to the fund each year.
Simplified recordkeeping. The Foundation tracks donations, provides timely gift acknowledgments and statement access, and utilizes professional money managers for endowed assets.
Anonymous giving. If desired, donors can make grants anonymously on a grant-by-grant basis.
If my client transfers assets to the Foundation, can I still manage those assets?
When donors set up an endowment they can select an investment manager from the Foundation’s list of approved managers. New investment managers can be added to the list subject to certain parameters.
My client has noncash assets. Can the Foundation accept these?
In addition to cash, the Foundation accepts gifts of securities, real estate, personal property, retirement plan assets, and life insurance.
A relatively new tool for giving is the IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution, allowing individuals 70 ½ or older to donate up to $100,000 annually to eligible nonprofit organizations.
My client has a large amount of low-cost basis stock, and I know that capital gains taxes could be avoided by donating it. Are there other advantages?
Diversify a portfolio. Donate stock to the Foundation instead of a cash gift, freeing up that cash to purchase diversified stock.
Simplify gifts to nonprofits. Some nonprofit organizations are not equipped to handle stock transactions. Your client can establish a Donor-Advised Fund at the Foundation with a stock gift and then make grants not only to those organizations, but to many more.
Support an individual and charity. Transfer stock to establish a Charitable Remainder Trust, providing streams of income both to an individual and to charity.
How can the Foundation help my client plan for future giving and create a lasting legacy?
Philanthropic planning can be as simple as naming The Winston-Salem Foundation in one’s will. Donors can specify a dollar amount, leave a percentage of their estate or the remainder of their estate, or designate the Foundation as a contingent beneficiary. A separate agreement with the Foundation can name charitable recipients including churches, schools, and nonprofits, as well as areas of charitable interest or community need. Whether your clients have heirs or not, they may still wish to leave a legacy to the community.
