| Can I Donate to a Charity in a Family Member's Name? |
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Janine: I recently had a family member pass away. Will I break the flow of money if I donate to a charity in my family member’s name?
-Anne Little Rock, Arkansas Anne, You will not break the flow of money by donating in your family member’s name. The issue with philanthropy and the flow of money is do you receive some benefit by donating to a particular organization? I don’t mean the “gifts” that some groups give donors for various sized donations, but rather that your family would receive a direct benefit from the organization. A good example is boy scouts. I have many clients who have sons in boy scouts and they like to donate to that organization, but in order to keep the flow of money cycling, they have to make sure their charitable contributions are for the benefit of the entire organization. They don’t want to donate directly to their particular pack because their sons would receive a direct benefit from this donation. Does this help? As long as you are donating to a charity and your family does not receive any direct assistance from the donation, the flow of money will be fine. |
