Sharpe Blog

If you’ve followed our blog or read our newsletter, Give & Take, you know we stress the importance of thanking your donors. As our founder Robert F. Sharpe Sr. often taught clients, when a donor puts you in their estate plan, they are elevating you to the status of family, and they should be treated …Read More

LLC means “limited liability company.” So what? LLCs play an important role in charitable gift planning. A charity may want to establish an LLC to receive gifts of real estate, for example. A donor may want to follow Mark Zuckerberg’s lead and create an LLC as a vehicle for making charitable gifts. An individual may …Read More

Notwithstanding the possible disruption to the world of donor advised funds from a potential trial in Fairbairn v. Fidelity Charitable Fund,1 a recently decided tax court case affirmed the longstanding rules governing gifts of appreciated stock to donor advised funds. In Jon Dickinson, Et Ux (2020) TC Memo 2020-18, the Dickinsons donated shares of their …Read More

In my experience, planned giving is affected by some things and not others. Interest rates: The biggest influence on how gifts are made is interest rates. For example, low interest rates provide an incentive to set up gift annuities. High interest rates (traditionally associated with high inflation) provide a disincentive to set up fixed payment …Read More

In my blog post of May 27th (An Era of Heightened Scrutiny Arising for Donor Advised Funds?), I noted the case of the Fairbairns versus Fidelity Investments Charitable Fund (Fidelity). Their complaint alleged Fidelity failed to follow their investment recommendation on a liquidating strategy of a $100 million gift of lightly traded stock representing 10% …Read More

It’s well known in certain quarters that a charitable lead annuity trust (CLAT) works well in a low-interest-rate environment. We’re in such an environment, so let’s drill down into the CLAT. First, the big picture. A CLAT makes an annuity payment to charity for either a fixed term of years or a life. The life …Read More

Throughout 2020, Americans have revealed the depth of their generosity, giving to causes crucial to surviving the impacts of the pandemic and organizations that matter to them. However, the economic crisis impacted many donors’ ability to give, and continued economic uncertainty could impact giving into next year. October, November and December are traditionally the three …Read More

What problem? The problem, in my opinion, is that flawed software pervades society. Cut to the chase: The problem extends far beyond charitable fundraising, but let’s focus on a major difficulty facing charities today. It’s getting an IRA beneficiary distribution from a financial institution. You may ask, is this a software problem? Answer: Yes. The …Read More

One of the challenging, yet rewarding, aspects of development work is understanding the motivations of donors, especially those capable of significant gifts. Here I offer four examples of major donors, “hidden in plain view,” addressing an identical problem with slightly different motivations. For each of these examples, the need being addressed is the disruption of …Read More

Language If you’re a PG (planned giving) officer, you work on situations involving older individuals. Typically, individuals north of age 70. These individuals are, for the most part, what I call “traditionalists.” In particular, most of them were educated in the traditional use of the English language. In traditional use, one does not write, for …Read More