Julie's August MHN column: Get ready for charitable gift planning

We are excited to invite all professional advisers in the region to a free workshop to earn CEUs on Wednesday, Sept. 27.

The 25th annual Estate and Charitable Gift Planning Institute is a national event hosted locally to teach the finer details of planning estate gifts.

The Continuing Education Units are available for attorneys, accountants, financial planners and trust officers, which includes one hour of ethics.

The live telecast will be viewed at the Community Foundation of Grundy County, 520 W. Illinois Ave. in Morris. The workshop begins at 9:30 am and ends at 3:30 pm.

Attendees must remain for the entire event in order to receive CEUs. Coffee, lunch, and materials will be provided. Please RSVP to julie@cfgrundycounty. com or 815-941-0852.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the workshop is titled, “Renewing Your Estate Planning Vows.” This year’s presenters are Ann B. Burns and Samuel A. Donaldson.

Burns is the chairman of the trust, Estate and Charitable Planning group at Gray Plant Mooty in Minneapolis. Her practice focuses on estate and charitable planning, business succession planning, estate and trust administration, and fiduciary and tax litigation.

Donaldson is a professor of law at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He teaches a number of tax and estate planning courses, as well as courses in the areas of property, commercial law and professional responsibility.

We’ve hosted the telecast here in Morris for a number of years and it is always entertaining and educational. They use many real-life examples and it’s amazing how many pickles professional advisers can get themselves into.

Why does CFGC host this? First, it is a high-quality event. The live event is hosted by The Salvation Army in Minneapolis and it’s in a ballroom of 1,000 professionals, so that is proof of the quality of the education.

We are excited to bring this level of education to Grundy County rather than asking professionals to spend hours traveling into the city and back.

Secondly, it’s easy and inexpensive for us to host. We have a comfortable conference room with A/V equipment and the Salvation Army does a topnotch job of broadcasting it on their end. We also want to increase the knowledge and comfort level of professional advisers when it comes to talking with their clients about charitable gift planning.  The Community Foundation of Grundy County is a great repository for donors who want to leave estate gifts to improve the quality of life here.

Do you know that $5.3 billion is expected to transfer from Grundy residents to their heirs over the next 50 years?  Yes – here in Grundy County.

If we charities can capture just 5 percent of that wealth before it transfers, Grundy County could have $26.1 million saved in endowments across the county that will distribute $1.4 million … annually … forever.

Can your heirs survive with just 95 percent of your estate?

That’s why we want professional advisers to know more about estate and charitable gift planning – they have a lot of work ahead of them in the next few decades and there is a huge opportunity for them and their clients to partner with us charities to capture just 5 percent of that wealth to support their favorite charities here at home.

Would you like to learn more about “Just 5 percent?” Watch our 6-minute video on YouTube.

 

Julianne Buck is the executive director of the Community Foundation of Grundy County, the only organization that improves the quality of life in Grundy County through leadership and philanthropy.