Wealth Insights
Finding the good and helping it grow

Article 15 min read

Published March 10, 2025

Maximize your impact across generations with impassioned family and institutional giving.

For many people, donating to charity provides far more than tax advantages. Giving to a worthy cause can be rewarding and inspire a special brand of meaning that is often difficult to find elsewhere. One way to deepen that sense of meaning is to go beyond writing a check to your favorite organization and finding a way to personalize and scale your giving. You have many options for doing so, including establishing a private foundation, creating a charitable trust or setting up a donor-advised fund.

Whether you’re already pursuing one of these paths or are considering one, your philanthropic vision will be unique to you. “Philanthropy is very, very personal,” says Anna Priestley, Trust Advisor at Regions Bank. Priestley works with clients who are looking to make a difference as part of Regions’ Philanthropic Solutions group, a team of advisors in the bank’s Wealth Management division that provides support for clients’ asset management, mission and charitable giving priorities.

To create a strategy for giving in an efficient, sustainable way, Priestley says it’s essential to do two things: Identify and define charitable missions that are important to you and ensure your generosity has as much impact as possible. In other words, it’s essential to find the good and help it grow.

Making decisions about philanthropy can be complex and have generation-spanning significance, but planning and professional guidance make navigating them easier. Here’s how you can use your generosity to fuel a legacy.

Define your desired impact

When setting your philanthropic vision, writing a mission statement may seem like the most logical first step. After all, the missions of your favorite charitable organizations likely sparked your interest in supporting them. Defining your impact—what you’d like to see accomplished with your money—can increase the benefits of your giving, especially for the long term.

“Think about whom you want to help,” says Priestley. “What does that help look like? Why is that important to you?”

Consider, for example, the broad potential mission of improving the lives of children. You could focus on alleviating hunger, enhancing education, supporting children with learning differences, providing kids with more outdoor opportunities or any number of other important causes.

Thinking through these possible impacts and then assessing why they’re important sets your philanthropy up for success. “Having an impact focus allows you to hone your giving to the exact causes you want to help and can build a stronger legacy,” Priestley says.

Once you have an idea of your desired impact, consider surveying the existing landscape in that space. There are more than 1.5 million charitable organizations in the United States, according to the Internal Revenue Service. It’s inevitable their services might overlap either with each other or with the cause you’d like to support. While it can feel overwhelming, Priestley acknowledges, you don’t have to do it alone. The Regions Philanthropic Solutions team is here to help. The team conducts research and attends events to stay current on the charitable landscape and can help you analyze possible impacts of causes that are distinctive and resonate with you. “Understanding your desired impact then helps us provide guidance on the best way to achieve your charitable mission,” Priestley says.

Carefully consider the vehicle

After defining your desired impact and mission, it’s time to select the right vehicle for your giving. “There are many ways to give, and each option comes with its own benefits and can help lower your taxable income and optimize your giving strategy,” says Marcie Braswell, Philanthropic Solutions Executive. Here are some common ones:

Private foundations are independent entities that do not qualify as a public charity. This is because private foundations receive funds from limited sources—typically a single individual, family or corporation—as opposed to the public. Because of this, they are subject to greater oversight and stricter operational constraints than public charities or donor-advised funds. Despite these limitations, private foundations provide several significant benefits, including greater operational control, the ability to bring family members together to achieve charitable objectives, the establishment of a family legacy that can be passed to generations of family members, and tax benefits.
Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) are a popular planning strategy that can offer significant income tax benefits while providing a current income stream to a noncharitable beneficiary, such as the charitable donor and their spouse. A CRT will provide a philanthropic benefit to one or more qualified not-for-profit organizations at the end of the trust’s term. Proper structuring of a CRT will potentially allow for the dedication of future funds to a charitable donor’s favorite charity without immediately relinquishing financial resources needed to fund current cash flow needs.
Charitable lead trusts (CLTs) offer a unique planning opportunity that can combine both philanthropic and personal goals in an effective manner. If implemented correctly, a CLT will provide an immediate benefit to one or more qualified charitable organizations. In conjunction with its philanthropic benefits, a CLT may offer tax-efficient options to transfer assets to loved ones. Although CLTs are sometimes underutilized, charitably inclined individuals should consider exploring the inclusion of one as part of their wealth plan due to the strategy’s potential to provide multiple solutions.
Donor-advised funds allow donors to receive immediate tax deductions for charitable contributions, and these funds can be a good option for families who might want to create their own foundation but don’t want the administrative work and expenses.

Each individual or family will have unique circumstances and goals that will need to be considered as they select the right vehicle. Tax planning and compliance, state and federal reporting, asset selection and other important topics can all play a role in the decision. Because of the complexities, Braswell recommends working with experienced professionals in the field.

“The Regions Philanthropic Solutions team can walk through each of the options and say, ‘If you choose this vehicle, you’ll see this in practice,’” says Braswell. “We can help you weigh the pros and cons of each vehicle to decide how best to give and achieve your mission.”

Include your family from the beginning

Whether you want to give as an individual or as a family, including your loved ones in your journey can build unity that deepens your philanthropic impact.

These conversations can take many forms. “You may want to offer children or grandchildren a role in contributing to the charitable mission of the family and work together on causes you all care about. This sets the tone of a family legacy focused on giving,” says Braswell.

These conversations help you communicate that all-important intended impact and can assist you in conveying the long-term vision for your philanthropy that continues beyond your lifetime.

“It’s never too early to start these conversations,” says Braswell. It’s easy to assume you know what someone else in the family wants. In-depth conversations can reveal inaccurate assumptions and provide a venue for resolving them—before they create problems. And written documents, while essential, are not a substitute for an in-person exchange.

“No matter how well a document is written, it can’t capture the essence of the person,” says Braswell. Understanding that essence is often key to ensuring that the giving lives up to the donor’s original intent, even generations later.

Any conversation about a legacy can evoke strong and potentially uncomfortable emotions, Braswell adds. Having an outside fiduciary advisor join the conversation can make it more comfortable and more productive. The advisor can ensure your family understands the desired outcome of the giving. Later, that advisor can make sure that the ultimate idea behind the giving continues to come to fruition, Braswell says.

Prepare for change

Avoiding potential misunderstandings within a family isn’t the only advantage of clear communication about desired impact and intent.

Societal changes often occur rapidly. As a result, perspectives on what causes matter most change, too. For example, smartphones became widely used in the United States less than two decades ago. Today, there are multiple nonprofits working to educate people about the potential dangers of too much smartphone usage, especially among children. Someone who established a foundation to help children—even as recently as 2010—might not have anticipated this need but could have a desire to address it now.

Change isn’t restricted to technology either. It can happen in health care, education and almost any other social realm that matters to a donor. The causes or communities you care about may also change. Clearly communicating your intent to an advisor and to your family helps future generations stay true to that intent even as the world evolves.

Change also happens at nonprofit organizations. Whether your philanthropic vision includes supporting established nonprofits or starting your own foundation, it’s important to prepare. Turnover in staff members, board members and executive directors is natural, but in her work with nonprofits, Priestley has noticed that the effects of that turnover can become significant.

A new executive director might have a different interpretation of the organization’s mission statement than the previous one had and change the organization’s work accordingly. An outside advisor who has a responsibility to you can help ensure the causes you’re supporting continue to do work that aligns with your intent.

Get support for the details

Clear communication is one key step toward maximizing the positive impact of your giving. Carefully managing the details is another.

“Work with a team of professionals who can help navigate the applicable rules and regulations that govern your chosen charitable vehicle,” says Braswell. “Having professionals in your corner who can provide advice and guidance helps build confidence that your giving is making the greatest impact and avoiding unnecessary risk.”

Professional advisors can also share best practices from the philanthropic sector and help you incorporate them into your giving. That helps ensure the details are looked after and, in turn, further maximizes the impact of your generosity.

A partner on the road to finding the good

We all have different experiences and passions that influence which causes we want to support.

Whether you’re hoping to make an immediate impact or looking for ways to ensure your wishes are carried out by future generations, the Philanthropic Solutions group can guide you through each subsequent stage of your philanthropic journey. Its members have a depth of knowledge and experience in advising clients on all aspects of philanthropy. Braswell previously led the Endowments and Foundations team within Regions’ Institutional Services for nearly a decade.

Regions’ experience can help to amplify your generosity so it has a longstanding effect.

“By forming Philanthropic Solutions,” says Braswell, “we can now provide the same specialized support we were providing to our nonprofit organizations to individuals and families looking to leave a legacy and make an impact.”