Elicit Your Client's Philanthropic Passion without Prying

No two clients are the same. In fact, some you may have a better personal relationship with than others. In working with each client, you feel them out and approach your interaction and business style slightly different. That is a good thing. Yet, your core services remain the same. Assisting your clients with philanthropic planning is actually a personal process. Deciding what charitable vehicles to use can be fairly easy to do. By that I mean making decisions about what asset(s) to select for giving. In most cases its cash. But it can be securities, real estate, retirement plan assets and more. These decisions are generally made on tax benefits to your client. Once those vehicles are in place, your client has to decide what charitable organization will get their gifts. What I hear over and over is, "Well, they either know before they walk in the door who they will give to or in a matter of a minute, without much discussion, the quickly decide to should give it to their church or college." Clearly, this is easy for you with perhaps little time spent on this process. But, to give away their money (assets) without deeper discussion or thought to what they want to accomplish through their giving, what motivates them, what are their interests or concerns in their community or this world, is a disservice to the client. Perhaps your concern with raising questions about charitable giving in a meaningful way is that is would be perceived as inappropriate or prying. But there are ways you can raise the issue without feeling like your putting yourself in an uncomfortable position. I recommend you first uncover their giving history in the past and highlight any giving that you know seemed really important to them at the time. They will feel really good that you remembered. It shows your focus is on them and their perception is your service is personalized. Then, gently ask them to think about the top 3 things that have been important to them in their lifetime? The discussion may unfold right then or they may not be prepared to answer those questions. Give them a few days to get back to you if they seem unsure. Explain that you value how they not only grow their wealth, but how they spend it too. By helping your client with the guidance they need to better plan their annual charitable giving and estate planning you are sending the message that you care. You may even refer clients who are very philanthropic-minded to an outside resource to assist them with a deeper, more connected value-based philanthropic planning. By being more responsive to your clients' charitable interests, it reinforces a greater sense of personalized financial planning that is meaningful to them. Trust me, they will thank you for it and may even refer others to you.