Note: This outlines one of three basic options for succession planning with JCF.
You can read more about all options at Creating Your JCF Legacy.
Fundholders who wish to ensure support for their favorite charity—while also empowering their heirs to pursue their own interests—choose to list both individuals and a charity as Successors.
You may leave instructions to divide the assets in your donor advised fund and indicate what percentage will remain in your account for
your Successors to advise, and what percentage will go to IRS-qualified public charities you have designated. As previously stated, the named organizations are subject to JCF’s review and approval. This is an effective way to ensure that specific charities you supported in your lifetime will receive grants, while also empowering your heirs to support the charities about which they are passionate. We encourage you to leave a legacy letter or ethical will to help guide your Successors; however, these tools are meant as guidance and JCF cannot enforce your wishes once your Successors take over the fund. Therefore, if you have specific instructions about the charities and amounts to be granted, option 2 is probably your best choice.
“The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”
– William James
Questions about estate planning and donor advised funds?
We would be happy to assist you.
Succession Story:
Miriam
Support your favorite charities while also empowering your heirs to forge their own love of charitable giving.
Miriam was active at her JCC, serving on the board and making full use of the programs and facilities. Her grandchildren attended the nursery school and summer camp. She and her husband, Abe, were active members of their synagogue, where they volunteered on several committees. Miriam and Abe also supported a Jewish charity whose mission was to alleviate poverty and homelessness.
After Abe died, Miriam created a JCF fund in his memory to support these charities. She named her children as Successors, but realized that they had different passions and no longer lived in NYC. So Miriam created a Succession Plan to continue her legacy of supporting the charities that were dear to her and to her late husband, but also to give her children the opportunity to support the charities they cared about. The assets that remained in her original fund were divided between the JCC, her synagogue and the social services organization. Additional assets that came from her IRA to JCF were evenly divided to create new individual funds for her children, empowering them to forge their own philanthropic journeys.