Working with your client’s best interest in mind
Karen Cameron, CPA, CGA
Professional advisors are highly trusted by their clients to guide them each year in their business and personal financial and family decisions, as well as their long-term plans and goals. This was also my career, as the accountant and trusted tax advisor for many local clients until my retirement two years ago.
The Victoria Foundation was an excellent organization to consider when several of my clients were looking for where and how to donate, and how best to organize their philanthropic wishes in their estates.
More recently over the past few years, I’ve volunteered my time as a director on the board of the Victoria Foundation, and as treasurer, and chair of the finance committee. As a board member, I’ve gained more first-hand insight into the high level of expertise of the Foundation’s leadership team and staff. They are available to work with you and your clients, to ensure your clients’ donations have the impact they want — whether it be to the Foundation directly or to the Foundation to pass through to another charity of their wish. They’ll help to ensure donations are planned for maximum tax-effectiveness, such as donating stocks in kind.
As an advisor, you want to know your client’s funds and wishes are managed prudently for both risk and return — you can feel confident in this. On the board, I’ve seen the Foundation’s strategic governance process in action, and hold them in high regard. The board composition is required to maintain a wide range of knowledge, experience and competencies that include law, investment, finance, risk and strategic management, and culture and local community. The governance process ensures the Foundation has a strong succession of board and committee members.
Looking back on my career as a partner in a local CPA firm, I saw several benefits to having clients choose to make donations to the Victoria Foundation as part of their estate planning. One benefit is that the Foundation can be a one-stop shop for clients to provide for in their Will. For example, one donation can be made to the Victoria Foundation in the will, and when working with Foundation staff, the client can provide a list of the amounts to various charities or causes they would like this donation to be granted to by the Foundation. Another option is that they may establish a permanent fund with annual grants supporting the future operations of their chosen charities.
There are two advantages to this approach:
1) The client can change their mind in future years about which charities to support, and they just make this change with the Foundation without having to update their will.
2) After their death, the client’s accountant only needs to obtain one donation tax receipt from the Foundation, instead of having to chase down many small donation tax receipts. In my experience that often leads to challenges in getting the deceased client’s final tax returns filed by deadlines and/or delays in their estates being wrapped up, and in cash distributions paid to waiting beneficiaries.
Another example of working with the Foundation and clients during their will and estate planning might have the client decide to include a portion of their RRSP/RRIF to be left to the Victoria Foundation. This strategy has the result that on death the RRIF fair value that is fully taxed as income, will also get a full offsetting donation tax credit so that no tax is paid by the estate, and the Foundation receives a donation equal to 100% of that specific RRIF asset value.
Based on my personal experience serving on the board and its committees, I can assure you that Victoria Foundation consistently prioritizes your client’s best interests. I encourage you to connect your clients with the Foundation to explore their philanthropic goals and tax planning needs.