Charitable Conversation Starters
Initiating a charitable giving conversation can be challenging. Clients expect advisors to bring charitable planning savvy to the table and they expect this conversation to happen early in the relationship. Here are some ideas to help you get started:
Family Giving History
How did your parents handle their charitable giving?
- Did they volunteer?
- Give to faith-based charities?
- What were their favorite charities?
- What motivated their giving (givers at heart, tax deductions, relationships, recognition)?
- Did they want to leave a legacy?
Clients Charitable Wishes
If you had $1M available to give to charity, how would you spend it?
- To whom do you make gifts annually?
- How did you get involved with the organization(s)?
- Do you volunteer for any organizations or have you in the past?
- When you think of charities you support, what do you want those charities to resolve or provide?
- Would you want to leave a legacy and what would it be?
Community Needs
If you could solve a problem in our community, country, or world, what would it be?
- Would you cure a disease, educate children, save animals, provide clean water, provide sustaining food, or promote the arts?
- What issues, problems, disease, or social conditions concern you?
- How do your concerns affect your charitable decisions?
- Would you give more money or time if you could see the impact?
True or False
I have made a charitable gift because a friend, family member, or colleague asked me to contribute to their cause.
- I have made a charitable gift in memory or in honor of another person or a pet.
- I have made a donation of clothes, furniture, appliances, or other personal property.
- I have made a donation to a charitable organization that was meeting an urgent need in my community or somewhere else in the world.
- I have made a series of weekly, monthly, or annual donations to a charitable organization.
- I care about the continuing work of one or more charitable organizations because my children, grandchildren, friends, or the community will benefit from its work in the future.
- I have included a charitable organization in my estate plan.