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Seniors and Philanthropy: A Client's Story

Ellen's biggest challenge was not the upkeep of her four homes around the United States. She had staff to take care of that. Her challenge, once she got sick, was health insurance claims, lots of mail, and the ever-growing number of requests from charitable organizations that accumulated in her New York apartment.

On the advice of her financial advisor, she contacted Eddy & Schein. Gideon took care of the health insurance claims, winnowed out the mail, and helped Ellen focus on the philanthropic requests. He then researched charitable organizations to identify the most deserving and best managed in each category. Together they developed a budget for contributions. Gideon maintained a spreadsheet of "gifts given" to which they referred as they reviewed the pile of requests accumulated between visits.

Ellen felt relieved to have an organized process and to know she was making generous gifts based on careful, thoughtful analysis, not just the emotional pull of a letter or photo.

Charity as a Way of Life
For all our clients, charitable donations are a way of life and giving does not stop as they age. Whether a senior gives a few hundred or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, many of the issues are the same.

How to Decide
One of the first questions that needs to be answered is what percentage of the individual's total spending budget should go to gift-giving. This decision should be re-visted annually in case financial circumstances change.

The next biggest challenge is the overwhelming number of requests received in the mail and on the phone. This can be confusing for anyone, but as people age, it is even more difficult. When the mail comes, bills, personal correspondence, thank you letters for donations, subscription renewal notices, junk mail, and charitable solicitations must be sorted for follow-up or disposal. For charitable solicitations, the first task is to identify which organizations have already received gifts, and whether they should receive additional donations, which ones have yet to be given anything, and of those, which should be sent contributions.

Another problem is how to decide between different organizations raising funds for the same medical condition or societal problem. Help is needed to identify:

• What issues/campaigns should be supported; e.g., a physical ailment, homelessness, food drives, wilderness/parks, peace campaigns, overseas programs, etc.
• Of those issues, which one or two organizations are best suited to address them
• What percentage of the total gift-giving budget should be allocated to each

For a copy of the Eddy & Schein A Thoughtful Plan for Philanthropic Giving, please click here.

Whether seniors have a system or respond to the emotional pull of a letter or phone solicitation, there comes a point when they no longer can manage as before. This is where a family member and/or a Daily Money Manager/Financial Organizer can help.

Free Consultation - If you know a senior who is feeling isolated and out of touch, we can make some recommendations based upon their individual circumstances. Please call us for a free telephone consultation at (212) 987-1427.

Social Media Sharing - If you would like to share some of the information in this newsletter with your fans/friends, or followers on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, click on one (or more) icons top right, and share a link.

Rebecca R. Eddy and Gideon Y. Schein Professional Affiliations

Eddy & Schein is a member of the Estate Planning Council of New York City, Inc.

Rebecca Eddy is President and Gideon Schein is Vice President of the Greater New York Chapter of AADMM (American Association of Daily Money Managers)/p>

Gideon Schein is Leader of NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) Special Interest Group on Seniors

Rebecca has been voted to the Board of Directors of Savvy Ladies, which is dedicated to providing financial education to women in their quest for financial independence.

Gideon is Treasurer of the NAPO-NY Chapter Board of Directors

Previous Newsletters Archived on our Website

Our previous newsletters are archived on our website at: http://www.eddyandschein.com/newsletters.php

At any time, from our home page, you can click on the "View Archives" link situated below the subscription sign up space.

Please feel free to contact us and take advantage of our free telephone consultation. We would be happy to talk to you about how we can provide Life Keeping, Not Just Bookkeeping.^®

Sincerely,

Copyright, October 2010, Eddy & Schein, Inc.

About Us

Partners Rebecca R. Eddy and Gideon Y. Schein, both MBAs and certified Professional Daily Money Managers, have a primary focus on the needs of an aging population:

• Seniors who need help in organizing and streamlining tasks such as expense and revenue tracking, bill paying, health insurance claims management, or providing regularly required information to accountants and lawyers.
• Seniors who may or may not have an estate plan in place, but need to catalog assets and personal effects and coordinate and track philanthropic activity.

If you have not already downloaded our "10 Mistakes to Avoid: Make Your Senior Years Easier," go to www.eddyandschein.com/10mistakes.

Our Promise

Eddy & Schein In-Home Administrators for Seniors® is dedicated to making life easier when it comes to managing seniors' personal administrative matters. From simply gathering and paying bills each month to performing a complete review of seniors' financial and personal affairs, we provide exactly the help needed. Working with Eddy & Schein, clients are given private, one-on-one attention at home. Together, we'll develop a plan to address our clients' specific needs. And of course, privacy is strictly guaranteed.

Elderly Care - Home Care - Elder Home Care