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Antoinette Shippen Mason generously included the Hartford Foundation in her estate plans many years ago, but often wondered how she could make a difference during her lifetime. In 2010, Ms. Mason, working with her advisor, Christel Ford Berry of Ford Berry Associates, decided to give others the opportunity to further their education by accelerating a portion of her bequest and creating a scholarship fund at the Foundation.
The Hartford Foundation recently sat down with Attorney Berry to learn more about this generous gift.
You recently worked with Ms. Mason to help her accelerate a portion of her bequest. Why did you suggest this to her?
I began working with Ms. Mason about ten years ago. At that time, she wasn't in the best of health and was in a rather dismal living environment and needed a lot of care. Working with her friends, we were able to help move her into a much better living environment and witness a dramatic change in her health and attitude. Over the course of that time, I got to know her much better and learned more about her background and many accomplishments, how she educated herself and made tremendous inroads in the field of engineering, a profession with precious few African American women.
Ms. Mason always maintained that her resources weren't significant, but I've always told her that they were. After including a provision for a scholarship fund in her estate plans, Ms. Mason was invited to attend the Hartford Foundation's scholarship reception. We went together and thought it was terrific. As Ms. Mason was glowing about it, I mentioned to her that, if she wanted, she could see "her" student honored at the awards ceremony in the future. And so we set about establishing the Antoinette Shippen Mason Scholarship Fund so that she could witness the impact of her giving during her life. This summer, Ms. Mason met the first recipient of her scholarship award - a very powerful moment. And it helped change her attitude from "will I live?" to "how can I help others?"
How, and when, do you raise the topic of charitable giving with your clients?
I am personally very involved in the community, believe in giving back and that most clients do also to the degree they are able. Asking my clients if they want to leave funds or create legacies to a specific charity is an easy question and something that I discuss with everyone. No one has ever been offended by it - some clients provide for a smaller gift and other clients may take a while to think about how to be the best benefactor that they can be.
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More Online
Read Attorney Berry's answers to these questions:
> What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
> What is the strangest asset you have ever handled in an estate or estate planning engagement?
>What do you get our of your relationship with the Hartford Foundation?
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Christel Ford Berry with Antionette Shippen Mason |
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Scholarship recipient Shantel Honeyghan with Ms. Mason |
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Looking Ahead to 2012: Giving Opportunities for the Recession-Weary |
With little confidence in the economy and risk tolerance lowered, many individuals seek safe harbors for their funds.
Savings are at a historic high, and yields on cash equivalents are below nominal inflation. Despite the gains that the market has provided in some instances for individual retirement plan assets, life income philanthropic planning has become one of the more conservative solutions to low interest rates available through bank certificates of deposit and money market funds.
At the forefront of this trend is the charitable gift annuity, which has emerged as a solution that provides the opportunity for individuals, as young as age 60, to increase their income during life and ultimately support the charitable causes most important to them.
Here's how it works: - In exchange for a gift - most frequently either cash or marketable securities - the Hartford Foundation agrees to pay a fixed amount each year to the donor (and a spouse or a loved one*) for life, based on their age(s) at the time of the gift, or they can choose to defer payments to a later time, such as retirement.
- Tax benefits include an income tax deduction in the year the gift annuity is created. A portion of each annuity payment is deemed a return of capital, and is therefore tax free to the donor.
- If the gift is made with appreciated securities, a portion of the capital gain may be free of tax and the remaining capital gain may be spread across the anticipated life of the annuitant - essentially deferring the tax over a number of years.
- The assets used to create the charitable gift annuity, and their appreciation, may be removed from the donor's estate.
A deferred charitable gift annuity enables an individual, as young as age 50, to provide for a predictable source of retirement income (to begin at a flexible future date) while ensuring a legacy of charitable support.
Often, individuals who establish gift annuities use some of the income payments to pay the premium for a wealth replacement life insurance policy to benefit heirs by replacing assets that were donated for the gift annuity.
As you work with your clients, consider how some of these methods can be used to achieve their goal of supporting causes they care about, while also ensuring income during their lives.
*Be sure to consider gift tax implications of an income stream for someone other than a donor, spouse or loved one. |
Learn More
 To further discuss any of the topics covered in this issue of Giving Advice or other ways that charitable giving can help your clients, contact Sally Weisman, senior philanthropic services officer at 860-548-1888 x1019 or sweisman@hfpg.org; or visit www.hfpg.org/tools.
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 Today, despite efforts by many, Greater Hartford faces significant challenges. Most, if not all, can be traced to two unacceptable but entirely changeable conditions in our state:
- We have the largest education achievement gap in the nation.
- We have the second largest income gap in the nation.
Over the past year, we at the Hartford Foundation asked the community - what needs to be done to address these chronic problems? Nearly 700 nonprofit, community, business and government leaders, donors, professional advisors, and funders, shared their views. Based on those conversations, and our own research, the Hartford Foundation has adopted a strategic plan, Accelerate Success, to help prepare residents of Greater Hartford to compete and prosper in our global economy through an integrated system of high-quality education and workforce development.
The Hartford Foundation's mission will not change. We remain the community foundation for the 29-town Greater Hartford region, and will continue to provide grantmaking in all areas that affect residents of the region. We will also be more strategic and focused in two major areas: education and workforce development.
The goals are ambitious. We recognize that we cannot do it alone. We will continue talking with our current partners, and potential new ones, to learn more about how we can work together to achieve the systemic change we all desire. Then, together we will embark upon the difficult and lengthy work that lies ahead.
ead about our goals and objectives, learn more about how these two issues affect all residents of the region, and join the conversation at www.hfpg.org/strategicplan.
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 10 Columbus Boulevard, 8th Floor · Hartford, CT 06106
860-548-1888 · www.hfpg.org Giving Advice is published periodically by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the community foundation for the 29-town Greater Hartford region. Hartford Foundation is devoted to building successful partnerships with professional advisers, donors and nonprofits to enhance the quality of life for people in the community. To access the Planned Giving Design Center, a free, comprehensive, online resource for professional advisors, visit hfpg.pgdc.com. |
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