Charitable and estate planning employs a myriad of techniques to assist a donor’s desire to leave a meaningful and lasting gift to their alma mater, or favorite charities without depriving their beneficiaries and heirs a promised standard of living. Such planning allows a donor to reduce estate, capital gains and income taxes, manage their wealth and income, and perpetuate their giving beyond their natural life. The specific aims of the Premium Finance program through Bromell & Associates, LLC are:

1. a. Endow gifts of long term donors – The biggest threat to the viability of any 501(c)(3)/509(a) organization (charitable nonprofit and college or university) is the loss of a donor’s continual support. As donors move on into the next life, it is important to both celebrate and recognize their current giving but use every opportunity to remind them of the importance of endowing their giving, be it through charitable bequests, gifts of life insurance, and other techniques designed to perpetuate a donor’s giving.

1.      b. Establish a menu of choices for donors to support their colleges, universities, and foundations – It is easy to become myopic in our thinking with regards to charitable and estate planning, in that we believe that such giving only takes place at death. In fact, a look at wealth concentration in the country shows that individuals age 40-59 hold a greater percentage of wealth than any other age group; further that their giving will more likely come in the form of inter vivo gifts rather than through charitable bequests and other gifts triggered by death. This corresponds with a precipitous rise in donor advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, family foundations, and other vehicles utilized to transfer wealth and maintain present standards of living.

With this shift in giving, colleges and universities are best served by cultivating the donors within their own ranks, first through segmentation of its donor pool (age, patterns of giving, generations, etc.) and the introduction of giving societies which allow younger donors to network and meet prestigious donors, friends and supporters of the college and university to inspire their further philanthropy.

1.      c. Capture assets otherwise loss due to missed opportunities – Wealth transfer for the period 2001 -2055 is estimated at a low of 2% to 4% or approximately $41 trillion for the period. As discussed above with respect to the amount of charitable deductions, bequests and other transfers currently taking place, irrespective of any actions to extend the Tax Relief Act of 2001 beyond the 2011 sunset, the time for introducing a program of charitable planned giving is now.