Why independent advice?
Theresa was Founder Director of Philanthropy UK, which was established in 2001 as a project of the Association of Charitable Foundations. Over 3 years Theresa was responsible for dealing with enquiries from people considering setting up a charitable trust. She realised that many people were asking the same sorts of questions. As a result in 2003 she wrote the first edition of A Guide to Giving, which provided detailed guidance to individuals about how to embark on the development of a strategy for giving, the questions to ask, the mechanisms which could be used and the options for tax-efficiency.
The new edition was sponsored by Coutts in 2005. It is freely available on the Philanthropy UK website and includes a framework for effective giving, with a step-by-step process for creating a charitable giving strategy that reflects one's own motivations, interests, circumstances and objectives.
But as with other matters relating to disposition of wealth, values and family, even with very clear guidelines available it helps to have personal, bespoke and confidential advice.
|
Wealthy fail to find good charity advice (Financial Times 19th September 2007)
Bankers and financial advisers to the rich and super-rich are failing to give them good advice on how to give their money away, interviews with some of Europe's wealthiest philanthropists have revealed. Most of the wealthy individuals and families were highly focused on their philanthropy and wanted to contribute towards a particular area or cause of interest to them. But they complained that it was hard to find qualified independent advisers to help them plan their giving programmes and to select suitable charitable projects.
"Lawyers and private bankers are very good at providing technical advice but they are not interested in the psychic income"
The research was conducted by the Scorpio Partnership on behalf of New Philanthropy Capital, Bertelsmann Stiftung and WISE. The full report can be found on the New Philanthropy Capital website.
|
What matters is not only what questions are asked, but the spirit in which they are posed, and how the responses are interpreted. There may be different priorities among family members, and between generations. There may be different concerns for recognition. There may be different desires for involvement with beneficiaries. As well as confidence in competence and sensitivity to these matters, the relationship with your philanthropy advisor must be based on respect, confidentiality and shared values. We believe we offer a strong basis for such a relationship.