While there is no “wrong” time of year to start a private foundation, there are a few things to consider that could best set you (and the causes you want to support) up for success before the start of the busy giving season.
Reason 1:
You’ll have more time this year for strategic philanthropic and financial planning.
Effective planning requires time—something there never seems to be enough of during the year-end holidays. While the actual process of starting a foundation is easy with the help of experts—Foundation Source can help you do so in less than a week—why try to squeeze it in during the holidays when, likely, you’re already extra busy? Setting it up sooner will afford you, your foundation members and your professional advisors ample time to best plan for how you can maximize your charitable giving and benefit your finances.
MAXIMIZE YOUR GIVING
During your planning, you can discover the wide variety of giving capabilities afforded to private foundations. For instance, in addition to making grants to public charities, you can use your foundation to award scholarships and prizes, conduct direct charitable activities, make hardship and emergency gifts directly to individuals, support mission-related investments, make low- or no-interest loans to charities, align the assets in your endowment with your philanthropic mission, and much more.
The earlier in the year your foundation is created, the more time you’ll have to initiate some of these giving tools during the holidays and/or in the coming year. And if you don’t know where or how to start, Foundation Source’s tech-enabled charitable giving solutions and philanthropic experts are here to help. Our team can guide you in nearly all aspects of giving through a foundation, such as determining a charitable mission, supporting different types of organizations and measuring the impact and effectiveness of your giving.
ENHANCE YOUR FINANCES
Your planning time can also help to maximize your finances and investments. You and your financial and tax advisors can take full advantage of the ongoing flexibility and control your foundation can afford you. With a private foundation, you always control the assets in your endowment, while having the ability to hold a wide variety of asset classes, including public equity and debt securities, private equity and credit, hedge funds, real estate and tangible property, collectibles, cryptocurrencies and more.
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