One can’t raise money for a charity without having an insight into this question and its answers.
In my experience, the reasons individuals make charitable gifts include:
- a strong desire to give back for some service the charity has provided to the donor or to a close family member or friend (a service such as an education or health care);
- a deep commitment to the charity because of the charity’s mission and how well the charity carries out its mission;
- an emotional need, such as the need of an elderly childless individual to make a sizable gift to a children’s hospital;
- a sense of duty, such as the sense of duty that a member of the class of 1959 feels to make a 60th reunion gift; and
- a sense of gratitude, as I once encountered concerning an individual who was kicked out of a college in the 1950s and who came to understand about 50 years later that that event had had a profound, positive effect on him.
This is, of course, a mere sampling, not an exhaustive list.
Gift planning takes into account why individuals make charitable gifts. But gift planning usually focuses on:
- how the gift will be made (gift vehicle and funding asset),
- when the gift will be made, and
- the purpose for which the gift will be made.
Recognition and crediting are sometimes important. These two items are frequently a matter of back-and-forth.
All very interesting — a confluence of human desire, the law, and the donee organization’s wishes and needs.
by Jon Tidd, Esq
