-
Professional Advisors: Business succession planning
At the Community Foundation, we work with a wide range of individuals, families, and businesses for whom charitable giving is a priority, especially related to supporting causes in our community that improve the quality of life for everyone. In many cases, we’re helping business owners structure their personal and family philanthropy. A natural extension of that work is to explore ways a business owner’s succession plan can incorporate gifts to favorite charities and causes. Some attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors are surprised to learn how many charitable planning options may be available in connection with a business succession event. The Community Foundation is here to help.
-
Professional Advisors: Informing your work with charitable clients
As attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors, you’re dedicated to helping charitable clients navigate technical planning opportunities ranging from donor-advised funds and Qualified Charitable Distributions to charitable trusts and gifts of complex assets. The community foundation is here to help, every step of the way!
-
Professional Advisors: IPOs and charitable clients
If you keep an eye on initial public offerings, it’s been an exciting few weeks, especially if your clients are involved. As you work with clients who may hold stock that’s going public, or if your clients are considering investing in companies involved in IPOs, be sure to look at all angles of the client’s financial and estate plan that may be impacted—including charitable planning.
-
Venezuela Earthquake Relief Efforts
The June 24 earthquake in Venezuela has had a devastating impact. Tens of thousands have been displaced or are missing, with thousands more killed or injured. Buildings collapsed in Caracas and the states of Trujillo, Carabobo, Aragua, Miranda, and La Guaira. The United Nations has estimated that the earthquake caused $4.7 to $8.7 billion worth of damage, adding that the true cost could be between 1.5 and three times that estimate.
-
Lending a Helping Hand: Magic City ToolBank
Community gardens, neighborhood cleanup days, painting projects, field days, festivals, and health fairs. That’s just a short list of the many types of events across the Greater Birmingham area that are made possible thanks to Magic City ToolBank.
-
Good news keeps coming: Retirement plans and charitable giving
You’ve no doubt noticed that Qualified Charitable Distributions (“QCDs”) continue to gain traction as one of the most practical and effective charitable planning tools for clients over age 70 ½. By allowing eligible clients to transfer funds directly from an IRA to a qualified charity without recognizing the distribution as taxable income, QCDs can help reduce adjusted gross income while supporting charitable priorities. For many clients — especially those who do not itemize deductions — a QCD is particularly appealing.
-
Split-interest charitable gifts: Need-to-know FAQs
As charitable planning conversations become more sophisticated, many advisors are revisiting so-called “split-interest gifts” to help clients balance philanthropic goals with income needs. Two of the most common strategies — a charitable gift annuity (CGA) and a charitable remainder trust (CRT) — can both provide clients with lifetime income while ultimately benefiting charitable causes. Despite their similarities, the two vehicles function very differently and may serve distinct client needs.
-
Life-Saving Work: Mother’s Milk Bank of Alabama is expanding
Research has shown that sick or premature infants whose mothers can’t breastfeed have better outcomes when fed donor milk instead of formula. Donor milk reduces medical complications and surgical interventions, decreases hospital stays, and lowers the risk of sepsis and other disorders.
-
The Philip A Morris Fund for the Design Arts: Building a Better Birmingham
Kathryn Harbert and Philip Morris at Railroad Park Anyone who has ever enjoyed an afternoon with family and friends at Railroad Park, a place often called Birmingham’s living room, has Philip A. Morris to thank for those memorable moments. Though not a trained designer, Morris was a visionary. He not only served on the planning committee for Railroad Park but also for Linn Park and Red Mountain Park. He was chair of Operation New Birmingham (now REV Birmingham), Birmingham Historical Society, and Mountain Brook Villages Design Review Committee. He was co-chair of the Vulcan Park renovation planning committee and served on the boards of the Vulcan Park Foundation, Birmingham Botanical Society, and Friends of Linn Park. He was also a founding board member of Design Alabama and Horizon 280 Association.
-
Giving Together, Growing Together
Each year, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham receives an increasing number of applications for our spring and fall grant cycles, and existing funds are never enough to cover all the grants approved. So, in 2008, the Giving Together program was born to accompany the grant cycles.