What is PPP or Partnership for Philanthropic Planning?

PPP is also known as the old National Planned Giving Council. Currently there are 110 chapters around the country promoting planned gifts. What are planned gifts? Simple bequest are the most common of planned gifts. Adding a charity to IRA beneficiary or including in your will or trust some of the proceeds to benefit your favorite causes and naming those charities you love is a planned gift.

The current president of PPP or Partnership for Philanthropic Planning was here in town this week and it was my honor to spend time with him and hear him share the main functions of PPP with a local chapter. Advocacy is major reason to be a part of something bigger and the national PPP provides influence and education for lawmakers. Research is another competent.

Better yet let me share what drives it all the ENDS Policies- the follow is taken directly from www.pppnet.org Strategic Plan section.

ENDS Policies

The Partnership for Philanthropic Planning has defined the following desired outcomes or “Ends Policies” as critical components of mission acheivement. These Ends guide all activities of the Partnership.

1. The Partnership for Philanthropic Planning is the voice of charitable gift and estate planning.

Definition: The Partnership is recognized by charitable gift planners, financial and estate planning professionals, the media, legislators, regulators, fundraisers, nonprofit administrators, allied professional organizations, donors, and the public as the spokes-organization and standard setter for philanthropic planning .

The end is achieved when: Partnership guidelines and standards are widely used by charitable gift planners and well respected by all key constituencies. The Partnership is the first place that charitable gift planners, financial and estate planning professionals, the media, legislators, regulators, fundraisers, nonprofit administrators, allied professional organizations, donors, and the public go for information on charitable gift planning. The Partnership is always consulted when legislation or regulation affecting charitable planning is considered.

2. Charitable gift planning is widely recognized as bringing value to charitable organizations and financial and estate planning practices.

Definition: Charitable gift planning is recognized and respected by charitable gift planners, financial and estate planning professionals, the media, legislators, regulators, fundraisers, nonprofit administrators, allied professional organizations, donors, and the public as a professional expertise. The public recognizes the term “charitable gift planner.”

The end is achieved when: Charitable gift planners and donor advisors value each other as teammates in the charitable gift planning process. Charities include and value gift planners as a part of their development teams. Membership in the Partnership is recognized as evidence of commitment to gift planning professionalism.

3. Charitable gift planning is widely practiced.

Definition: Americans at all income and asset levels engage in philanthropic planning. Every fundraiser and donor advisor has at least a basic familiarity with planned giving options and presents these options to all donors, prospects and clients.

The end is achieved when: The number of planned gift donors is equal to the number of people who support charity during their lifetime. Charitable organizations are able to measure a steady increase in the number of planned gifts committed and realized. All donor advisors ask clients about their philanthropic goals.

4. Charitable gift planners are well-trained and competent.
Definition: Fundraisers and donor advisors plan charitable gifts competently and ethically.

Donors have meaningful charitable giving experiences.

The end is achieved when: There is general agreement regarding the skills, knowledge and experience required for competence in charitable gift planning. Fundraisers and donor advisors have a wide variety of options for acquiring and maintaining skills, knowledge and experience. The number of public complaints about poorly structured gift plans or incompetent/unethical gift planners steadily decreases.

5. Local planned giving councils are vibrant, healthy and well-supported by the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning.

Definition: The Partnership and its affiliated planned giving councils work together to forward the mission of the organization. Partnership councils have a reputation for organizational excellence because of their leadership infrastructure, program quality and community involvement.

The end is achieved when: Both the number of planned giving councils and the number of council members is steadily increasing, and at least 75% of members belong to both a local council and the Partnership. Councils rate the Partnership’s services as essential to their leadership infrastructure, program quality and community outreach. All councils have strong participation by both nonprofit and for-profit gift planners.

Strategies

The ability of the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning to be successful in achieving its Ends and ultimately, its mission, depends upon successful accomplishment of the following key priorities:

1) Engaging all of the constituencies critical to the philanthropic planning process
2) Providing unique programs and services
3) Implementing successful models of collaboration and partnership
4) Creating brand awareness and support

Case Study for Effective Accountability for Elderly

Are you responsible for an elderly parent or relative? Let me share with you a story of one of my clients, and ask yourself does this sound familiar.

Roger is 66, this year he has finally retired after years of hard work, but unfortunately he is working as hard as ever because his aging mother and aunt are suffering from various illnesses, including both physical and mental issues including the onset of Alzheimer’s. He travels to see them frequently and does his best to monitor their bank accounts and to help them both with bills and money issues. Each day he logs into their different accounts and attempts to monitor all their activity, banking, credit cards and household expenses, it is time consuming and a major burden and only something that you would do for a loved one.

If you or someone you know is like Roger, caring for another person’s finances, helping with their health issues, and you are getting worn out, please consider a using a process that family trustees and advocates have used for over a decade.

iSteward, is a tool and process to help those like Roger that are overwhelmed by the time and energy it takes to stay on top of their loved ones that mean so much. How can iSteward help?

iSteward is a fast and easy way to organize and make the complex more simple. It is a private, safe and secure website where everything can be monitored and reviewed with the touch of your fingertips. There are custom alerts in one place for all accounts. No need to login to all the accounts and monitor anymore as iSteward has tools to help you. We like to think of it as a personal financial home page, with added layers of safety and security.

First, iSteward is NOT is transaction site. What do we mean by that phrase? No movements of money whatsoever, unlike banking, credit card and brokerage account sites, there is never any movement of your funds through iSteward. This web portal is designed to ease security pressures and allow for the very best in monitoring and reviewing of all your different accounts.

If you are working with multiple professionals, such as a health care advocate, an elder-care attorney, tax professionals and financial advisors, iSteward process will serve as a central depository for secured information. You no longer have to trust on outside emails and attachment files; rather utilize the iSteward state of the art file security system to deliver sensitive materials to those different professionals.

As we all grow older and have become more cautious over technology, the more sense it makes to have a secured Non-Transactional portal to see everything and be on top of it all in one place. This safe and intuitive process is easy to set up and monitor all activities of brokerage accounts, banking, tax, insurance and legal issues. There are thousands of professionals using this technology daily to do just that- collaborate and provide secure information and planning.

Want to learn more then check out other iSteward blogs and articles at www.StewardshipMatters.net, and while you are there watch a short video on iSteward.

The Stewardship of Time

What motivates or controls you will drive your waking moments. I was reminded this week of the biblical view of the stewardship of time, by author and speaker Ken Boa. He says, “God has apportioned an individual enough time to accomplish God’s purpose for that individual. He determines the length of our stay on earth and our areas of influence.”

The apostle Paul stated his perspective, to look at your life as that of two days: today and That Day. When we are defined by the eternal or That Day, it gives meaning to the temporal or today.

In light of the following Scripture we should consider Time:

Psalm 31:5a “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

God owns all things including time, and like all other the assets we have been entrusted, we should be good stewards with our time.

James 4:4 “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow, you are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

Today is a gift, that is why we call it the present. Unfortunately, we often need to be faced with death or experience firsthand the shortness of life by another’s passing away to truly appreciate the today.

Ecclesiastes 8:5 ”Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.”

When we presume our future will be there but by doing that we sometimes squander the opportunity of today. To make the most of our time, we must steward time as God’s time.

Jim Rohn would say this about the present. ”Wherever you are, be there.”

With technology and media hitting us with more and more distractions, it is all the more important that we intentionally pull away and unplug ourselves. This will allow us time to reflect on the order and the important things in our lives, so we can live into that purpose for which we are called. This is a journey rather than a status of arrival or a place.

Time management experts often state, show me your calendar and I will show you what you care most about. Another indicator is to look at how you choose to spend or invest your free time or leisure time (sometimes called margin). Is there any margin in your life? If not, you should find a way to carve out some margin to reflect and think about your purpose and influence.

Financial Planning: Getting from Here to There

If your financial plan is not addressing inflation right now, then you are cheating your future and that of your family. Real financial planning engages coaching, knowledge on various options and strategies, and how to implement and follow the progress of your individual plan. There is a lot more than crunching numbers, and that is where we help you with your personal financial planning process, which will help you get from Here to There. The following video is a quick primer on one of the processes we use to help clients plan their resources and become good stewards for their families. Click below to view.

iSteward a Safe Place for You

Why is iSteward safe for you and your personal financial information? First, unlike banking sites and bill paying portals iSteward does not allow banking or any types of transactions or transfers period. iSteward’s Wealth Management System employs the most advanced security features and protocols to keep your data safe, private and secure, 24/7/365. Comprehensive security protection measures include password protection; secure socket layer encryption, firewalls, intrusion detection, audits, inspections and more. You can be confident that your important information is safe and secure.

It allows you to get a clear, easy to understand picture of your finances with graphics and data. This allows you and your advisors to be able to make a plan with both you and them saving time, and the frustration from having your financial data that is incorrect or out of date. Imagine you have multiple financial relationships and even some financial accounts that are held in a business name or with previous employers’ retirement accounts, now you can have all of your information consolidated and seeing all of it together to address your allocation to company or industry.

You are traveling or it’s a weekend and need access to important legal documents, now you can access anywhere in the world your personal vault document or perhaps a copy of your passport making the trip to Embassy much faster and easier to navigate. Perhaps you left a family member with another care giver and the hospital needs documents to treat them and you open your virtual vault and simply email it to the parties with a simple click.

Unlike portals that are driven by a banking or investment relationship the iSteward is driven based on sound planning advice for a fee, rather than the same “old park your CD here” and we will help your organize your stuff planning.

We want you to know that stewardship encompasses all aspects of your life, and is not about only a part of your life like giving away some money. iSteward can help.

IRS and Charitable Fraud

The Internal Revenue Service each year compiles a list of the top 12 predatory scams and frauds perpetrated on U.S. Citizens, listed below is # 6 on the 2013 IRS’ list:

Impersonation of Charitable Organizations

Another long-standing type of abuse and fraud are scams that occur in the wake of significant natural disasters.

Following major disasters, it’s common for scam artists to impersonate charities to get money or private information from well-intentioned taxpayers. Scam artists can use a variety of tactics. Some scammers operating bogus charities may contact people by telephone or email to solicit money or financial information. They may even directly contact disaster victims and claim to be working for or on behalf of the IRS to help the victims file casualty loss claims and get tax refunds.

They may attempt to get personal financial information or Social Security numbers that can be used to steal the victims’ identities or financial resources. Bogus websites may solicit funds for disaster victims. As in the case of a recent disaster, Hurricane Sandy, the IRS cautions both victims of natural disasters and people wishing to make charitable donations to avoid scam artists by following these tips:

To help disaster victims, donate to recognized charities.
Be wary of charities with names that are similar to familiar or nationally known organizations. Some phony charities use names or websites that sound or look like those of respected, legitimate organizations. IRS.gov has a search feature, Exempt Organizations Select Check, which allows people to find legitimate, qualified charities to which donations may be tax-deductible.
Don’t give out personal financial information, such as Social Security numbers or credit card and bank account numbers and passwords, to anyone who solicits a contribution from you. Scam artists may use this information to steal your identity and money.
Don’t give or send cash. For security and tax record purposes, contribute by check or credit card or another way that provides documentation of the gift.

Here is some good practical advice to help from becoming a victim of fraud or a scam in this situation. Call the IRS toll-free disaster assistance telephone number (1-866-562-5227), when you are a disaster victim with specific questions about tax relief or disaster related tax issues.

Good Stewardship takes some effort. It matters for you and for others too.

Values Based Investing

Here is one radio personality view of values-based investing.

“Dave does not use a values-based investing approach. Here’s why:

1) In values-based investing, you pick between two similar mutual funds that align with your beliefs–a good concept.

2) However, few of these funds stand up to Dave’s criteria for picking mutual funds (five-year or longer track record of strong rates of return, professionally managed by a team of mutual funds managers, etc.)

3) This is a very personal decision you will have to make, and it is sometimes referred to as a slippery slope. If you no longer invest in funds that might invest in a company that supports abortion, to be consistent, you will need to stop shopping at the grocer that sells pornography. You would also need to stop banking because nearly all banks contribute to United Way, which supports Planned Parenthood.

4) Do not choose these funds out of guilt.”

The above philosophy was similar to mine own after I was ridiculed by some hard core non values-based investment firms in the early 1990′s. Back then the financial the industry taught me to believe values-based approach was nothing more than a marketing gimmick or excuse for money managers to prey on an investors emotions. I have learn a lot since then and in fact a tremendous amount of change has occurred within the values-based fields in the past decade.

I agree wholly with items 1 and 4. After 27 years of reading and studying, along with applying values-based investment principles in everyday practice it does work. Values-Based investing is not for everyone. In 1986 the first investment I helped my first client with was Calvert Social Investment Fund and they were thrilled with the fund’s values and value they received for their investment. In fact they came into the office telling me they did not want to be a part of any companies doing business in South Africa because of the politics of that country. Rarely does an investor ask for values-based investments, most investors and advisors know very little or next to nothing about the more than 500 + value based offerings today. Some of these investments have 20 year track records and are considered top picks in their respected categories. Today, there are screened Exchange Traded Funds in addition to mutual funds and private money management offerings.

Let’s address the 3rd item above: His example of grocery store selling pornographic materials is both ignorant and a lame excuse. Here are 5 compelling reasons why: 1) Focus and where profits are derived in business, reveal values 2) Technology and resources are better today than ever before in screening values 3) Leaders in nonprofits have engaged deeply in investing in values based companies 4) Individual investors are demanding more and better ways to align with their values 5) Impact and results are proving values-based investing is a really good thing.

A question I would have for Dave above is this. Can you draw a personal line in the sand as it relates to your values or standards in the following way? You have a choice between two grocery stores located next to each other and similar prices and service and selection on the key ingredients. Store A displays and promotes gambling and pornography openly and is one of the larger vendors in the state for these services. Store B has lottery tickets available at service counter and does a little business in this area (less than 1% of their profits) and does not promote pornographic materials like Store A. So now what do you choose?

Nowadays there is great news; there are now tens of thousands of auditors and consultants inside public corporations looking at where profits are derived and reporting daily to various services such as the MSCI, GMI, ICCR and others. We know who sells what and the profits they make on these items, including: land mines, gambling devices, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, abortion related services, usury, toxins or polluters of the environment. This is not a perfect science, rather taking steps either towards your values or away from your values. It’s about you and your values.

Please understand that these values, or screening for these values is important tool in aligning your values with your investments. By screening you can also find excellent money managers and investment products that cater to your individual values. This was not true when I first started almost 3 decades ago.

Financial Tools For Professional Women

It is no surprise to any of us, that 57% of the workforce is made up of women. Now there is exciting news for professional women, there are useful tools to track your goals and progress with little to no effort. Save time and energy by having all your family and financial data online and at your disposal 24/7. This can include your different financial investments and family budget presented in a secure and useful package to help you make wise choices about for your family’s needs, paying off college loans, planning for future educational expenses and your retirement. It’s called iSteward and having a process like this will help you change for the better your planning and investment decisions.
Click on the video below to see how it can help you.