Why You Should Chat Charity with Clients

Establish your position as a charitable advisor while building connections with your clients. 

Understanding your clients’ giving can help you better understand their financial priorities. And empowering them to give more cost-effectively can actually help you optimize your business. Does that sound lofty? Let me explain.

Benefits for clients

By starting the conversation, you can help your clients:

• Understand how to financially plan for their giving
• Make their giving more meaningful and impactful 
• Forge more cost-effective pathways to philanthropy 

While kindness and generosity can come naturally, knowing how to carry out your vision of a brighter future can be challenging. That’s where you can step in with our expert guidance and support, bringing more joy and meaning to your clients’ lives. 

You may not know it, but most of your clients want to talk about charity. According to U.S-based research, 9 out of 10 high net-worth individuals already support charities and philanthropic causes. While they may not consider giving to be a matter requiring financial advice, they care about charity and it can be a significant part of their lives. 

Your clients build a stronger connection with you

You can become your clients’ link to better, more confident giving. 

There is no better way to connect deeply with a person than to understand where and when they are willing to give. Clients can work with you to manage the assets they donate, and the conversation about giving will likely be one that lights them up with excitement—creating depth of understanding and a sense of shared purpose.

Most people who give have a haphazard and piecemeal approach to their gifts. Through access to our services, Charitable Impact can help you guide your clients to think and give like philanthropists.

Donors tend to find increased reward and meaning in long-term proactive strategic giving strategies. The benefits are more tangible when they can keep track of their giving and its impacts. 

Giving is part of financial planning

So where do you come in as their financial advisor?

As with the rest of their financial lives, you can help your client give in the most strategic and beneficial ways possible. In addition to helping your clients decide how much to give, you can aid them in identifying which assets should be donated to achieve their desired outcome.

This might include publicly traded securities, private shares, real estate, life insurance—even art or cryptocurrency! These less-than-traditional gifts can then be liquidated by Charitable Impact and reinvested in an investment account that you manage.

You can help your clients consider their giving in a more informed way that takes into account their overarching financial goals. Advisors we work with tell us their clients gain immeasurable value through their charitable giving, at least in part because the experience has been enhanced through a thoughtful and strategic approach. 

Clients sometimes discover they have more to dedicate towards generosity. For example, those who had considered major philanthropic giving as part of their estate planning often find they have more to give during their lifetimes.

We provide a flexible solution for giving

Giving through Charitable Impact provides your clients with flexibility and access to personalized support. Donors can give when and how they want to any of the more than 86K Canadian registered charities. If clients are already giving to a number of charities, an Impact Account makes their giving more streamlined, convenient, and easy to track. 

With Charitable Impact, donors have the option to give to any registered charity or qualified donee in Canada through an Impact Account, or to grow their giving funds (without incurring taxes) through a Charitable Investment Account.

With either option, your clients receive an immediate tax receipt and you retain assets under management. We are here to walk you through this decision with clients, and closely support each step of the process. 

Benefits for your business 

Talking philanthropy with your clients can help grow your business because you can: 

• Maintain your assets under management
• Build stronger relationships with your clients, their families, and their communities
• Provide a more holistic approach to wealth management to stand out from the crowd

To start, when you bring your clients’ giving under your management, you’ll get a bigger share of wallet. You gain an opportunity to maintain your AUM while offering unique and personalized services. 

Build a trusted bond with your clients

Priorities in giving more than often include or consider families and future generations. Having philanthropic conversations with your clients can bridge you to their closest communities and networks, and to the next generation of philanthropists. 

There is no one perfect picture or definition of strategic philanthropy. With your clients’ input and Charitable Impact’s expertise, you can help craft a customized and satisfying solution to meet clients’ giving needs. In turn, your relationship with clients strengthens because they trust your advice for all their wealth management—including philanthropy.

Stand out from the crowd and lead on emerging trends

While many clients are giving, there remains a gap in the number of financial advisors providing philanthropic services. Increasingly, individuals investing in their own futures are also investing in building brighter futures for others. They may not have access to the same level of financial guidance for this aspect of their wealth management.  

That’s why you stand out when you manage your client’s charitable assets. It positions you and your business at the cusp of a trend among high-net-worth individuals towards increasing philanthropy and engagement with charity. 

Working with Charitable Impact can save both you and your clients time and money while providing a more holistic approach to wealth management. We provide our expertise in giving and handle all the finer details. 

So, why wait to ask about your clients’ giving? 

Starting the conversation 

Of course, the first question you should ask your clients is “Do you give charitably?” If clients do give, you could ask about charities they support and why, how they give, and whether they are interested in giving publicly traded securities or investing in their giving. 

We are here to help and answer any questions about charitable giving. As Canada’s DAF for everyone, all donors can act on their generosity while taking time and space to make important giving decisions. Our philanthropic advisory services are available to guide and support in-depth discussions about major donations. 

Financial advisors often say working with Charitable Impact adds value for their clients, without requiring them to become experts in philanthropy.

Grow your business and give clients the best advice, by helping them give. Charitable Impact is the lowest cost of any advisory-managed donor-advised fund in Canada. We offer full-service support to you and your clients. Find out more today.