The National Christian Foundation continues to research the greatest wealth transfer in the world’s history. At this point, we believe $124 trillion will transfer from generation to generation over the next 20 years. Of that vast amount, less than $16 trillion is currently targeted to go to charity.
This means more than $100 trillion by current value will go to heirs and taxes. With the radically disproportionate distribution of wealth in America, many trillions could be going into complex trust agreements for heirs for the purpose of avoiding taxes. Absent very intentional planning and precise language in those trusts, however, there is considerable risk that the money will generally be restricted to specified permissible distributions to heirs without provision for charitable giving. If this risk becomes reality, vast wealth could be locked up for limited distribution for many years.
No matter how much wealth your grandparents and parents may own, it is not too soon to think through ways in which you can serve the generations who love your school. It most often takes a period of years for a family to be discipled and take action through a sequence of planning which empowers heirs and blesses the Kingdom.
The families you serve can generally be categorized into one of four strategies, which now exist within their estate plans, if they have a written, updated plan. There is an opportunity to serve them in moving from the first bullet point to the last:
- Leave it all to the kids
- Leave a charitable bequest of modest nature, and the rest to the kids
- Add the Biblical concept of loving one’s “Neighbor” to the plan and leave equal portions of the estate to the kids and charity. More specifically, ¼ to each of Susie, Sam, Tom, and charity, hopefully including your school. This can be a breakthrough strategy to get families to think outside the box of their own family and awaken to the joy of more radical provision for others.
- Leave an empowering inheritance to the kids and the rest to charity; substantially increasing the odds your school will be a beneficiary. When the residue of an estate after heirs is set up to go to charity, the odds go way up that the family will start giving that piece sooner rather than later. “Do your giving while you are living, so you know where it is going.”
The National Christian Foundation will soon offer a free two-hour seminar on how non-profits can better reach out to their donor bases to help equip them to create win-win plans for their heirs and the Kingdom. Once a date and location are determined, Member Schools within The Collaborative will be invited.
To discuss these realities until then, please feel free to reach out to Jay Bennett ([email protected]) or Tyler Van Eps ([email protected]). We believe in The Collaborative and are available at no cost.