Benefits for Clients and Advisors

Rochester Area Community Foundation considers professional advisors — including attorneys, accountants, financial planners, investment professionals, and insurance agents — to be valuable partners in philanthropy. We work with you to help your clients develop plans that fit their financial needs and their charitable interests.

If you have a client interested in charitable giving before the end of the year, we can help. December 8 is the deadline for us to assist in:

  • Ensuring a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from an IRA of someone who is 70 1/2 or older is deposited into a fund at the Community Foundation to support the community or an area of interest to the donor. IRA rollover gifts cannot be directed to Charitable Checking AccountsSM (CCA) or donor-advised funds.
  • Completing the transfer of stock gifts into a fund at the Foundation. Email StockProcessing@racf.org or call Andrew Muldoon at 585.341.4360 with the stock name and share count. Privacy rules prevent some brokers from identifying donors.
  • Bunching, which is when a larger gift is made to a donor-advised fund or CCA to support future annual giving.
  • Taking advantage of tax-advantaged income for life with a charitable gift annuity.

Talking About Philanthropy With Clients

To help introduce your clients to the Community Foundation, feel free to share this overview packet, which contains a fact sheet, frequently asked questions, investment fees, and performance results (among other resources).

A recent U.S. Trust Study of the Philanthropic Conversation found that high net worth clients want to be talking about charitable giving with advisors early in their relationship and in a meaningful way. Many advisors, however, may not bring up the topic of philanthropic giving until they have a better handle on a client’s personal and financial goals. In other words, the time is now.

The study also found that clients want advisors to:

  • Better understand their motivations for charitable giving;
  • Have meaningful, values-based conversations rather than focusing solely on tax or wealth restructuring perspectives; and
  • Talk about how to involve children and grandchildren in charitable giving.

Community Foundation staff would be happy to help you in these discussions with clients, explain the range of charitable options depending on how involved they want to be, and assist in resolving complicated estate planning issues.

Professional Development Opportunities

The Community Foundation offers a variety of professional development events for advisors. These include a variety of networking events and informational seminars throughout the year. Learn more about events for professional advisors.

Financial Management Options for Advisors

Financial advisors working with clients to create funds of $2 million or more may request the opportunity to continue managing the funds once they are contributed to the Community Foundation. The request is subject to the review and approval of our Investment Committee.

The Community Foundation also participates in the American Funds Community Foundation Program that allows financial advisors to receive compensation for continued management of client assets given to the Community Foundation for qualified charitable agreements. This program provides your clients with maximum tax benefits on their charitable giving while providing you an opportunity for continued involvement. Learn more in this American Funds document about community foundations.