For Professional Advisers

Do your clients…

• care deeply about their local community?
• give to one or more charitable causes?
• have interests in creating a personal/family legacy in their community?

• want to stay personally involved in the use of their gifts?
• want to receive maximum tax benefit for their charitable contributions?

• value sound financial stewardship of their charitable gifts?

If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, The Hartford Area Foundation can be a valuable resource for you and your clients.

Partnering with HAF As a professional advisor, an attorney, CPA, trust officer, financial planner, or insurance professional, you can count on the HAF to provide resources, services and giving options tailored to help you meet your clients’ goals and needs.  We are here to help you help your clients fulfill their philanthropic wishes, integrate charitable giving into their planning, and maximize tax benefits along the way.
We always encourage our donors to consult their professional advisors when considering a significant charitable gift to the Foundation.  We envision ourselves as one of several valuable partners in the client’s charitable journey, and we are honored to work with you to maximize your donor’s charitable intent.
                       
How can I recommend charity without recommending a specific charity?
Professional advisors often want to encourage charitable giving and its many benefits, but also want to avoid recommending a specific charity.  There is a simple solution:  the Hartford Area Foundation, which can serve your client’s multiple charitable interests.

How can the Foundation help me with my client’s charitable intent?
The Foundation is a single, trusted, worthy vehicle through which your clients can address the charitable issues they care about most.  We offer a variety of giving options, which indeed expands the conversations you can have with your client.  An endowed gift to the HAF can support a specific nonprofit agency(ies) or field(s) of interest to the donor.
The Foundation provides due diligence for all of the funds it supports, ensuring that donors’ gifts are managed to maximize the positive impact of their gifts while minimizing tax burdens, always in respect of the donor’s original intent.
Here are some of the resources we offer you and your clients:

• Information and guidance on charitable needs and opportunities in the Hartford area.
• Links to professional resources and area organizations

The HAF is pleased to partner with you to offer your clients a unique way, through a single gift, to impact lives forever.

Types of Funds
Unrestricted Funds. Unrestricted gifts to the Foundation can be used to address ever-changing community needs, including future needs that often cannot be anticipated at the time your gift is made. An unrestricted gift allows flexibility to address a wide range of charitable opportunities – arts and culture, community and economic development, health and human services, and more.  The Foundation’s Board of Directors, which keeps a pulse on community needs and opportunities, is in charge of directing grants from these unrestricted funds.
Field of Interest Funds.What is your charitable field of interest?  Literacy?  The arts?  Youth?  Education?  Historical preservation?  You can pick an area or areas of interest, and the Council will award grants from your fund to agencies and programs in those fields.
Designated Funds.  As its name implies, you designate your gift to support a specific nonprofit agency – for example, community enhancement projects, the Auto Museum, the Schauer Center, an educational institution or the Jack Russell Library, the food pantry, Eagle Scout projects, etc.  Annually, the HAF disburses a grant from your fund to your chosen organization.
Donor-designed Funds.  A donor designed fund provides lasting support for the purposes you specify. Just establish the fund, either a one-time gift or an endowment created over time (e.g. $5,000 or more yearly for five or more years). Earn immediate tax savings. At your convenience, decide (based on your wishes or from our list of unfulfilled projects) how you want your donation interest spent. Your gift can be by name or anonymous as you choose. You enjoy the satisfaction of giving and the HAF does the homework and paperwork.
Establishing a Donor fund. A named endowment requires a total gift of $25,000 or more these may be considered restricted or unrestricted. Restricted are to be used for a specific purpose as determined by the donor. Unrestricted endowments will be determined by the Board of Directors as to purpose and need.
Areas of Consideration

• Arts and Culture
• Community Area Development
• Education
• Health and Human Services
• Youth and Family development

Ways to Give  Anyone can make a gift to any community foundation fund at any time. There is no minimum contribution to existing funds, which offers great opportunity for everyday people to strengthen their community through charitable giving.  If you desire, your gift may be made in memory of or to honor a person, event, organization, or the community at large.
Cash.  An outright gift of cash to HAF – to support an existing fund or establish a new one – is a simple and convenient way to make a contribution.
Appreciated Securities.   Gifts of appreciated stocks, bonds, or other property are extremely popular, particularly because they may provide significant tax benefits. A charitable gift of these assets, made directly to the Foundation (i.e. not passing through your hands) generally will allow you to take a charitable deduction on your income taxes for the full market value of the asset as of the date of the gift.  You also may avoid significant capital gains taxes.  A gift of appreciated securities may enable you to make a larger contribution to the Foundation at a reduced cost to you, benefitting you, the Foundation, and your chosen charitable cause.
Bequest.   The simplest and most common way to leave a legacy is to designate a specific gift amount or a percentage of your estate to HAF.  Fund agreements to benefit your selected charitable interests can be written and signed now, to take effect upon your death; those agreements can be changed to address new opportunities during your lifetime, if desired.  A bequest is a wonderful way to leave a permanent legacy of your lifetime interests and values.
Life Insurance Policies.  Whether it’s a policy you already have but no longer need, or a new policy you buy for the specific purpose of making a future gift to HAF, life insurance can be a very helpful gifting tool.  Depending on the gift arrangement, you may receive an income tax deduction for the policy’s cash value and any premiums you pay in the future.
Retirement Plan Assets.  Qualified retirement plans are very expensive assets to pass on to our children:  they carry a significant income tax liability and can also be eroded by estate taxes.  Naming HAF as a beneficiary of your retirement plan may reduce or avoid estate and income taxes, leaving less highly-taxed assets available for your children and providing more for charitable causes in the Hartford area than you may have thought possible!
For the past several years, Congress has provided a very beneficial tool for charitable donors with Individual Retirement Accounts.  The IRA Charitable Rollover allows people age 70½ or older to make tax-free gifts directly from their IRA to a public charity such as HAF, up to $100,000.  Such gifts are excluded from your gross income and can count toward your minimum annual distribution.  This provision was in effect for 2012 and 2013; future eligibility is up to Congress.
Real Estate.  Consider deeding your home or farm to the HAF now while retaining the use and enjoyment of the property for your lifetime; you could receive an immediate charitable tax deduction, and the value of your property or land would be removed from your estate.  If you own real estate that has appreciated in value, a gift to the HAF may provide you with immediate tax relief and support and your gift supports your community…forever.
Charitable Remainder Trust.  A charitable remainder trust names the community foundation as trustee and ultimate beneficiary of trust assets; you receive an immediate tax deduction for the charitable gift, and the assets are removed from your estate, avoiding potential estate taxes.  You, or someone you name, receives income from your gift for their lifetime.  Upon the death of the life income beneficiaries, the remaining trust assets are used to establish or support an endowment you have specified.
Charitable Gift Annuities.  Consider a gift that pays you back! A charitable gift annuity is a simple contract in which HAF, in return for a gift of cash or other property, agrees to pay you a fixed sum of money for your lifetime (to one or two people = the annuitants).  You receive an immediate tax deduction, and a portion of the income received is tax free.
Penny Per Bushel.  If you are a farmer with charitable interests, HAF’s Share Your Harvest: One Penny Per Bushel program can help you support the charities you care about and provide tax benefits at the same time.  To receive tax benefits, gifts must be made directly from the grain buyer to HAF; talk to your financial advisor to explore this option and see if it is right for you.