Professor Paul Schervish (Millionaires and the Millennium: New Estimates of the Forthcoming Wealth Transfer and the Prospects for a Golden Age of Philanthropy) issued a study in 1999 that stated that an amount of $41 trillion would pass across generational hands from the period 1998 to 2052. Whether or not one agrees with that estimate, no one argues that a tremendous amount of wealth will indeed be transferred, and indeed, already is in the process of being transferred. Further, some portion of those assets will indeed be gifted for charitable purposes. A concerted effort by the organized Dallas Jewish Community can help donors direct some portion of their own assets for Jewish Community purposes.
Studies indicate that more than 80% of U.S. Households give to charity each year. Yet only 8% of decedents leave a charitable bequest. Why the disconnect? Most Planned Giving Officers will tell you that the conventional wisdom regarding that 92% of donors is: no one asks them to consider a charitable bequest in their estate plan. In 2007, charitable giving in the US exceeded $306 Billion. About 5% of that came from Bequests. Of the wealthiest Americans who die each year- measured by whether or not their estate was required to file a Federal estate tax return-more than 80% of those estates did NOT take an estate tax charitable deduction. This percentage has been around the same for quite a number of years, even as estates have been growing and the number of Americans whose estates were required to file has been shrinking due to the larger exemption.
Clearly, an increased level of discussion with donors, across the spectrum of Jewish organizational life in Dallas, can have an appreciable impact on our local statistics.