Schwab Charitable Makes International Giving Easier and More Cost Effective

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Schwab Charitable, one of the nation's largest national donor-advised funds, announced enhancements to its Global Giving Program that will streamline and simplify international giving for its clients. Schwab Charitable is the first national donor-advised fund to partner with NGOsource, a new legal service that assesses whether a foreign grantee can be considered the equivalent of a U.S.-public charity and qualify for tax-deductible donations. This equivalency determination process has the added benefit of ensuring that the international charity conforms to acceptable legal, financial and operating standards.

“This goes hand in hand with our commitment to make giving simpler and more cost effective for our clients.”

According to NGOsource, the cost of using outside legal counsel for a single equivalency determination can range from $5,000 to $10,000*. The collaboration between Schwab Charitable and NGOsource will reduce this cost by more than 70% for Schwab Charitable clients.

"We are pleased to offer this resource to make the process of direct international giving more widely available," said Kim Laughton, president, Schwab Charitable. “This goes hand in hand with our commitment to make giving simpler and more cost effective for our clients.”

Opportunity for advisors: help clients with their granting strategy

As international giving continues to rise in popularity, more donors are incorporating international charities into their granting strategy. Conversations about charitable giving can tend to be highly personal and are a good way for advisors to build deeper relationships with their clients.

“This is another great tool to help my clients who are particularly interested in giving to international organizations to help them achieve their philanthropic goals,” said Jeff Colin, founder and partner at Baker Street Advisors, a San Francisco-based wealth management firm.

Schwab Charitable works with over 1,000 registered investment advisors (RIAs) to meet the charitable giving needs of their clients. Advisors are able to use the same technology platform (SchwabAdvisorCenter.com) to oversee charitable accounts as they do for other accounts at Schwab.

About Schwab Charitable

Created as a national donor-advised fund with a mission to increase charitable giving nationwide, Schwab Charitable has received over $7 billion in contributions and has facilitated over $3 billion in grants to charities on behalf of its donors since inception. Serving a wide range of philanthropic investors, account sizes range from $5,000 to more than $500 million. Schwab Charitable has been a pioneer in enabling investment advisors to manage the investments of donor-advised accounts and remains a leading provider of such professionally managed accounts. Schwab Charitable also offers a private foundation conversion service for private foundations considering donor-advised funds as a complementary or alternative charitable vehicle. For more information, visit schwabcharitable.org.

*www.ngosource.org

Professionally-managed accounts are available only through independent investment advisors working with Schwab Advisor Services(TM), a business segment of The Charles Schwab Corporation serving independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading and support services of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

While donors may recommend an advisor, the Fund must approve the recommendation. Advisors must meet certain eligibility requirements and adhere to Fund fee and investment guidelines. You may request a copy of the investment guidelines by calling us at (800) 746-6216.

Schwab Charitable is the name used for the combined programs and services of Schwab Charitable Fund, an independent nonprofit organization. The Fund has entered into service agreements with certain affiliates of The Charles Schwab Corporation.