Many affluent individuals often want to share some of their wealth through philanthropic efforts. However, charitable giving is not always a simple task – especially when donating a complex asset. In a recent article in Financial Advisor Magazine, Delegate Advisors Chief Executive Officer Andy Hart reflects on the time he helped one of his clients successfully donate a hotel.
While this was not the first time Delegate Advisors assisted clients in donating complex assets to charity, this case was particularly complicated. It involved a client who developed and owned part of a large hotel chain, but was prepared to step back from the chain’s day-to-day affairs.
“He loved the hotel business and especially these older hotels that were an original part of the chain, and he did not need the money that would result from a sale,” Hart tells the publication. “When he was approached by someone that wanted to buy the hotels, the client decided instead to give one to charity. Then the issue arose: how do you give a privately owned hotel to charity?”
Hart and the team at Delegate realized they would have to find a 501c(3) organization that could accept the hotel as a gift while it was still privately held. The firm then reviewed balance sheets of potential charities and successfully helped their client find a charity that was able to accept this type of donation.
“A lot of advisors have clients with complex assets who don’t need the extra money that a sale of an item would bring in,” Hart explains. “The key is to structure the gift to receive the full fair market value of the asset given to the charity. The entire transaction took about two months to arrange and our client was pleased with the result.”
To read the entire Financial Advisor Magazine article featuring Delegate’s Andy Hart, click here.