re: #164 Eclectic Cyborg

Why does every famous person need their own Foundation anyway?

I mean I understand wanting to give back but still…

It’s not just for famous people.

If your donations are 18 small ones, a dozen medium ones, a project once in a while… your paperwork is easier if you make one donation a year on your 1040, and your foundation has its own separate checkbook. If you talk some of your friends into donating to your preferred charity one year, they can all put the money in your foundation which then writes a larger check and gets to name a wall.

If your donations are a steady $x/year for each of 12 causes but your income is uneven (you sold an investment property one year. you cashed out a stock.), you can remove the money from your taxable income today but park it and dole it out over several years.

The foundation is legally required to disburse 5% a year, the rest can be invested and there’ll be no capital gains tax if/when those investments pay off. If you and your four richest friends each have a foundation, you can hire each other’s kids part-time to buff up their college applications.

Etc.