Jonathan L. Hay is a shareholder at Purcell, Flanagan & Hay who focuses on estate planning, estate and trust administration, and advising owners of privately held businesses.
Jon has been involved with numerous community and charitable organizations supporting causes ranging from cerebral palsy to the Jacksonville Symphony. For many years, he served as the chair of the Downtown Professional Advisory Council for The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida.
As he recently handed the baton to a new chair, Kelly Helmuth, we wanted to ask him to share his reflections about his work with charitable clients. “The Community Foundation fills a need in the philanthropic landscape,” he said. “Anytime it appears a client could benefit from help shaping their philanthropic plans, I think about the Foundation.”
Q: Why do you incorporate philanthropy into your work with clients?
At some point in my personal and professional life, I realized that I lived in a relative bubble, and the world was much larger and held much more significance than I could understand from my limited view. I began to better understand the value that charitable organizations bring to me and to the world. This perspective was encapsulated for me by the phrase, “doing well by doing good.” I concluded clients could benefit from this orientation, as well. As a trusted advisor to my clients, I integrated philanthropy into my routine conversations, helping clients explore how philanthropy could align with their values and goals. The consequences have been readily apparent to me, bettering the lives of my clients and the communities in which they live.
Q: From your perspective, what are the benefits for clients and advisors of working with The Community Foundation?
Many of my clients have expressed their appreciation for my objectivity and independence. The same can be said of the Foundation. When it comes to philanthropy, the Foundation maintains an unbiased approach—something reflected clearly in its mission: “stimulating philanthropy to build a better community.” The Foundation focuses on helping individuals identify their unique charitable vision and then supporting them in bringing that vision to life. Clients can benefit greatly from the Foundation’s guidance through this process.
My purpose as an advisor is to add value to my clients’ lives – to be a problem solver. Often, the value-add is related to clients’ philanthropic objectives. The Foundation helps develop those objectives and offers solutions. It’s been a fantastic resource for me in offering counsel to my clients and their philanthropic endeavors.
Q: Can you share some examples of charitable giving solutions that have been helpful to your clients?
In general, anytime it appears a client could benefit from help shaping their philanthropic plans, I think about the Foundation. Here are a few situations where I have found the Foundation particularly helpful:
- Field of interest funds – these are perfect for clients who have a particular area of interest but do not want the burden of choosing among various charitable organizations and/or handling the work of making periodic grants. Let the Foundation do the work!
- Of course, donor advised funds (DAFs) are great options for clients looking to either (a) have their own, private foundation or (b) bunch charitable giving into one year to obtain a better tax deduction.
- On a more technical side, the Foundation helped me and a client develop a plan to avoid an excess business holdings tax penalty relating to a gift of stock in a privately held company.
Q: Why have you invested your time and talent in supporting the Professional Advisory Council (PAC) at the Foundation?
The PAC is a fantastic way to inform the professional community of the resources and talents of TCF. It also serves to bring together this client-facing group of professionals to share knowledge and experience related to philanthropic matters for the benefit of us all and the benefit of our respective clients. In short, it makes us better at our professional callings.
To learn more about PACs and the Foundation’s work with professional advisors, contact John Zell, CAP®, SVP, Development.
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