Community Foundation Hosts “Top Charitable Trends” Seminars to Promote Local Philanthropy

To encourage impactful charitable giving locally, the Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois & Northeast Missouri hosted free learning seminars on Thursday covering top trends for professional advisors and individuals interested in making a difference in their communities.

The programs were presented by Bryan Clontz, president of Charitable Solutions LLC. 

“We know that Americans are freakishly generous, but there are a number of additional ways to maximize giving and impact in a more tax-wise way,” said Clontz. “Additionally, generational trends are changing the type of funds and charitable engagement. These sessions provided an overview of some of the key trends developing in 2022 for both donors and advisors who work with them.” 

Wealth planners, attorneys, bankers, CPAs, and other advisors who work with charitably-inclined individuals attended a luncheon seminar, “Top 10 Charitable Trends Every Advisor Should Know in 2022” at the Quincy Country Club. Attendees at the lively session learned about tax planning opportunities under recent tax acts, popular gift vehicles and assets, motivations for giving, engaging clients across generations, and more. 

“The more we can work together to grow charitable assets for our community – for today and for tomorrow -- the better and stronger our region will be,” said Catherine Bocke Meckes, Community Foundation CEO. “The fantastic turnout at these seminars underscores that we have many partners sharing in our goal of advancing local philanthropy.”

Individuals interested in learning how to make the most of their own charitable giving attended a dinner seminar, “Top 5 Charitable Trends Every Donor Should Know in 2022.” The event was held at The Patio Restaurant & Lounge in Quincy.

“We are fortunate to live in communities in which philanthropy is part of our culture. All of us have the potential to make a difference, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to assist both donors and nonprofits as they strive to do so,” said Meckes. 

Clontz is a charitable giving consultant specializing in noncash assets, like real estate, stock, or any item of appreciating value. He has worked extensively with community foundations and authored a book called Charitable Gifts of Noncash Assets, as well as the planned giving manual Just Add Water. He has written a dozen articles in financial services and planned giving journals and guest columns on charitable tax issues for Forbes.

Programs were made possible by presenting sponsors Mercantile Bank-United Community Banks and Benson Financial, and partner sponsors TI-Trust and Stevenson-Paxton Group of Wells Fargo Advisors. Additional sponsors included First Bankers Trust Company, Northwestern Mutual - Sheila Davismeyer and Donald K. Kirk, State Street Bank, Adams & McReynolds Retirement Partners, Cary, Welch, Hickman & Hawk LLC, Danielle Fleer, Gray Hunter Stenn, RiverWealth, Merrill Lynch, and Schmiedeskamp, Robertson, Neu & Mitchel LLP.  

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The Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois & Northeast Missouri builds permanent charitable funds to assist area nonprofits and communities. 

Its mission, “connecting people who care with causes that matter,” is achieved by gathering funds, growing them through investments, then granting to nonprofit organizations, causes or communities that mean the most to its donors.   

Since 1997, the Community Foundation has made more than $13 million in grants. It serves 12-counties: Adams, Brown, Hancock and Pike in Illinois and Clark, Lewis, Marion, Ralls, Pike, Knox, Shelby and Monroe in Missouri.  

The Community Foundation has IRS 501(c)(3) status, and contributions made to the Community Foundation generally qualify for the maximum allowable deductions for income and estate tax purposes.  

For more information, call 217-222-1237, email info@mycommunityfoundation.org or go to www.mycommunityfoundation.org or www.facebook.com/mycommunityfoundation.

Bryan Clontz, PhD, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CAP, AEP, RICP, CBP, ChSNC, is the founder and president of Charitable Solutions, LLC, specializing in non-cash asset receipt and liquidation, gift annuity reinsurance brokerage, actuarial gift annuity risk management consulting, emergency assistance funds, as well as virtual currency and life insurance appraisals/audits. Bryan is the founder of the Dechomai Foundation, Inc. and the Dechomai Asset Trust, two national donor advised funds focusing on non-cash assets generally and S-corp transactions, respectively. He is also the founder and president of The Emergency Assistance Foundation, Inc., a global charity that allows employers to create emergency assistance and disaster relief funds for their employees. Finally, Bryan created the National Gift Annuity Foundation, the largest national independent gift annuity platform. Clontz authored a book called Charitable Gifts of Noncash Assets, a planned giving manual entitled Just Add Water, and a dozen articles in financial services and planned giving journals. He has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Kiplingers Personal Finance, Bloomberg Wealth and serves as a guest columnist on charitable tax issues for Forbes.