Kathy N. Rosenthal is a partner in the law firm Rosenthal & Markowitz LLP in White Plains, N.Y., and a former member of the Westchester Community Foundation’s board of advisors.
“In my work as a lawyer working with clients to plan their estates and addressing other matters, I call on many professionals to help me, such as accountants and financial planners. The New York Community Trust staff are just as integral to my work. They are an enormous resource.
To do my job well, I talk to clients about very personal aspects of their lives. For example, I have to know how the clients feel about their grown child’s new spouse or partner, how their grandchildren manage their money and lives, who they like and don’t like. I learn what I need and clients are very happy to have somebody who’s an active listener.
Some clients arrive at my office with a philanthropic plan or a desire to give back, but regardless of their income, I ask them their plans for the ‘God forbid’ scenarios: who will inherit if their intended beneficiaries die before they die. This can lead us to discuss charitable giving and their core values.
With The Trust, clients know the money is in safe hands and will be used the way they intend. It’s a way of making smart charitable choices without a crystal ball. Organizations come and go, diseases are cured. The Trust helps people use their money smartly in an evolving culture.
The added value provided by The Trust is that the staff knows the community’s needs: where the holes in service are and which organizations competently fill those gaps. Anybody can write a check to a nonprofit; what’s important is knowing which nonprofit to help, which will make smart, impactful gifts. Working with The Trust, my clients don’t have to immediately pick which nonprofit they want to leave their money to 20 or 40 years from now.
I have found the people at The Trust to be informed, involved, and welcoming. They don’t try to get in the way of a client’s charitable goals; they embrace each client’s ideas so the goals can be implemented. They just say, ’We will work with you.’ The Trust has been wonderfully supportive for my clients and for me as a planning professional.”