By Michelle Lovely, Senior Vice President, Development and Donor Services
As President Mike Parks shared in his column on page 1, we are amid the largest shift of wealth in history. With an estimated $75.6 billion projected to transfer to the next generation in the coming decade, and $215 billion over the next 25 years, we are on the brink of transformative community resources we’ve never experienced before.
Think for a moment if just a small percentage of this transferred wealth was donated to charity – let’s say 5 percent – and how this funding could address some of Greater Dayton’s most urgent needs. In my role at The Dayton Foundation, I am having more and more conversations with fund holders who want to impact our region after they are gone. They often ask, “What is the best way to ensure our charitable wishes are carried out?”
We are on the brink of transformative community resources we’ve never experienced before.
A good place to start is by talking to your family. Kickstart the conversation by asking what they’d like their legacy to look like. This can lead you to share your own giving goals, including any financial information they need to know about your estate plans. Then, as a family, you can make sure those wishes are communicated to your financial advisor and/or estate-planning attorney.
Another way to continue the conversation is by involving your loved ones in your current giving. I’ll share a few examples.
One family who has a Donor-Advised Fund through The Dayton Foundation asks each of their children and grandchildren to research a charity and share why they chose it at Thanksgiving. The parents then make a donation from their fund to the chosen charities.
Another family opened free Charitable Checking AccountsSM through the Foundation for each of their children. During the holidays, the parents contribute to the accounts, and the children award grants to their favorite nonprofits.
For other families, our Family Foundation PlusSM fund option enables family members to serve as a board and decide together which charities they will fund. Many of these family foundations are strategic about what they hope to achieve each year through the grants they award and the charities they select.
And for others, establishing a deferred fund through the Foundation is an excellent option for preserving their charitable intent. Maybe it’s:
» a Scholarship Fund to help youth pursue education,
» a Designated Fund that supports a favorite charity in perpetuity, or
» a Field-of-Interest Fund that supports a specific area, such as animals or the arts, that leaves the Foundation’s volunteer Grants Committee to determine where grants from the fund will be best directed.
The Dayton Foundation can work with you and your professional advisor to create your charitable legacy through a deferred fund that outlines your charitable intentions. If you’d like to leave a 5 percent gift to the community but want the Foundation to use grants from your fund to address a broad range of local needs, including future needs that cannot be anticipated, you can create a Community Impact Endowment Fund. With thoughtful planning, you can reflect your values clearly and provide a roadmap for the Foundation and your family to carry out your philanthropic legacy.
Most of all, we can help ensure the story, values and impact that you and your family want to leave behind lives on for future generations. For more information, contact me, Nakia Lipscomb or Marianne Requarth at (937) 222-0410 or visit www.daytonfoundation.org/leave-a-legacy.