Creating a Private Foundation: The Essential Guide for Donors and Their Advisers [Hardcover]

Roger D. Silk (Author), James W. Lintott (Author), Andrew R. Stephens (Author), Christine M. Silk (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bloomberg Financial | Publication Date: July 2003

Imagine all you'd like to accomplish with your philanthropy. Now picture a large portion of your resources never reaching their intended use due to poor strategies, mismanagement, or unnecessary taxes.

Today the opportunities in the philanthropic sector are greater and more varied than ever. Private foundations, which offer several estate and tax-planning advantages as well as unparalleled donor control, have become the vehicle of choice for more than sixty thousand individuals and families--and may be ideal for you.

Creating a Private Foundation introduces the issues you need to understand and gives the big picture on how foundations work. It tells you exactly what is involved for you, for the causes you care about, for your finances and taxes, and for your heirs.

Chapters address the practicalities as well as the implications of founding, funding, organizing, and operating an effective foundation, including growing its endowment, allocating its assets, and selecting professional foundation management help. Roger Silk, James Lintott, and their colleagues, leaders in the foundation consulting arena, have pooled their wisdom in this comprehensive guide for donors and your advisers. If you're looking to make a difference, there is no better guide.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Noteworthy for its comprehensive nature and excellent resource section . . . advisers will find throughout the book examples of successes, challenges, and perspectives of real foundations. These types of stories are useful in discussing the workings of private foundations with clients or prospects."
- NAPFA Advisor, August 2003

Review

Featured in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 9/4/2003

"Philanthropy is a vital activity, and there's never enough money to do all the good that needs to be done. In Creating a Private Foundation, Roger Silk and Jim Lintott clearly explain a number of different giving strategies--both tax and philanthropic--to help donors make their limited resources go farther. I highly recommend it."
- Ace Greenberg
Former Chairman, Bear Stearns  

"If you are a donor to charity or if you advise donors, you must have this book. You’ll learn more than most experts know, and you’ll be empowered to have far more impact than you’d ever have thought possible."
- Mark Victor Hansen
Cocreator, #1 New York Times best-selling series Chicken Soup for the Soul
Coauthor, The One Minute Millionaire

"This book is a great guide for those interested . . . in charitable foundations. Every donor should study it."
- Vernon Smith
2002 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics    

"This guide provides just the right information to help you create and effectively manage your foundation--and does so in an interesting and very readable way. The authors have clearly been listening to their clients and do an excellent job of anticipating the questions you will have about your foundation. They share their breadth of experience and have organized the information to be most helpful. You will refer to this book over and over again as an important resource for your philanthropic giving."
- Charlie Haines, CFP
President, Charles D. Haines, LLC

"This comprehensive and compelling guide effectively describes why and how a grants-making foundation can be an extremely helpful vehicle for donors who want to make a unique and lasting difference."
- Gordon Gund
Chairman, The Foundation Fighting Blindness

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Bloomberg Press; 1 edition (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576601366
• ISBN-13: 978-1576601365
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.7 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #815,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful Primer, October 31, 2003

By 

C. Kurdas (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating a Private Foundation: The Essential Guide for Donors and Their Advisers (Hardcover)

Unwitting new philantrophists sometimes end up with bureaucratic creatures that do exactly what the donor did not want. This book is full of practical advice on how to avoid unpleasant surprises if you set up a foundation of your own, such as finding out that you have no control over its activities.

It also gives a succinct review of investment problems. Foundations can potentially last for many generations. But they can easily mismanage themselves into oblivion in short order. The authors identify seven deadly investment sins.

For example, foundations don't need to frequently redeem their investments, but some mistakenly invest in liquid assets and lose returns as a result. They would be better off with non-traditional investments like private-equity, income producing real estate, hedge funds, and timber.

Many foundations fail to diversify, unwittingly taking on risk. THey start with stock from the founder's company and continue to hold a concentrated position, exposing themselves to the vagaries of that business. In 2002 the David and Lucille Packard Foundation was forced to cut its donations drastically when Hewlett-Packard stock fell.

IN short, an easy-to-read, useful guide.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creating Private Foundation, June 16, 2003

By 

John E. Mayer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating a Private Foundation: The Essential Guide for Donors and Their Advisers (Hardcover)

A great great book to give to your existing Private Foundation clients, as well as those considering their options. The book hits on several key points among many others - which are the reason to formalize your investment policy statement(IPS) and donor intent issues. The author is correct that too often good intentions fail to result in effective results. It deals with other vehicles like charitable lead trusts (CLTs) and charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) as well as donor advised and support organizations. It is a big picture book not a technical how to for the attorney!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creating a Private Foundation, January 13, 2011

By 

Sanda Putnam (Buffalo, SD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creating a Private Foundation: The Essential Guide for Donors and Their Advisers (Hardcover)

The author provides ample information to help a person understand the ins and outs and the starting point for creating a foundation.