Each month we spotlight members of the Community Foundation of Broward’s Professional Advisors Council.
The PAC includes attorneys, CPAs and financial planners who help their clients achieve their charitable goals by collaborating with the Community Foundation. Council members have referred clients who establish charitable funds at the Foundation or who include the Foundation in their estate plans.
This month’s Q&A features PAC Member Jill Ginsberg, Esq.
Jill is Senior Partner at Ginsberg Shulman Attorneys at Law. She is a board-certified specialist in elder law, along with being a guardianship, tax, estate planning and probate attorney. In addition to engaging in all areas of estate planning and probate, she has passionately focused her practice on protecting South Florida’s elderly and incapacitated from financial exploitation and abuse.
Professional & Philanthropy
Q.What inspired you to enter your field?
My Uncle was a tax and estate lawyer and I used to help him with his clients. He showed me what a great area of practice this was as you can guide people to make good life decisions. I even went to the same law school.
Q.What areas of planning do you focus on?
Planning for incapacity and special needs, as most of my practice focuses on guardianship and the ways to avoid a guardianship. As I explain to families, having advanced directives, such as a Durable Power of Attorney and Health Care Surrogate are important for your life planning.
Q.What do you enjoy most about helping clients with long-term or legacy planning?
Guiding and helping clients give to an area that excites them and helps others. It is gratifying when you watch your client’s legacy gift provide funding to send schools to museums for learning or helping a foster child in their time of need.
Q.How do you approach conversations around charitable giving?
I like to find out the client’s interest first. What is meaningful to them may not be something I have thought about.
Q.Why is philanthropy important in a strong estate or financial plan?
In times when there is reduced funding for all not-for-profits, philanthropy is even more important these days.
Q.Are there causes or community issues that are especially meaningful to you?
There are so many issues that are important to me. Meals for seniors, financial education for all high schools, educational access to museums and art for all, access to cultural institutions for all, ending homelessness or at least trying. These are a few of my meaningful things.
Q.What drew you to engage with the Community Foundation of Broward?
I have followed the Foundation for years and thought the structure was a great way to assist the community. During my tenure as Meals on Wheels President, I felt it was important for us to establish a fund in perpetuity at the Foundation for us to be able to fund some Meals on Wheels projects, and so Meals on Wheels set up a fund at the Foundation.
Q.How has partnering with the Community Foundation benefited your clients?
The Community Foundation’s methods and structure assure that the funds that are deposited with the organization are used in a manner that benefits the donee charity as well as carries out the mandate of the donor.
Q.What trends do you see emerging in charitable giving or estate planning?
People are becoming more involved in their giving and the causes that they support. They are serving on boards, offering advice and looking for new ways to carry out the not-for-profit mission.
Q.What advice would you offer advisors looking to include charitable planning in their practice?
Get involved, find your passion and you will find others that share the same passion to learn from.
Personal & Fun
Q.What area of Broward/South Florida do you call home?
Emerald Hills, Hollywood, Florida. Think T.Y. Park. Been there for 36 years.
Q.What’s something people might be surprised to learn about you?
I am an avid emerging art collector working with and supporting those in the emerging arts, and I sit on two museum collector committees where I pick art for those museums.
Q.How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
Drinking coffee, going to galleries, playing with my dog, T.Y. Park, traveling to look at art and to art fairs, discovering new areas of the surrounding area, eating at great restaurants.
Q.What is a favorite Broward restaurant, coffee spot, or local gem?
Wells Coffee, Heritage, Thanks to Harrison, Earl's on Las Olas, Timbr, and Emily's Garden
Q.What is a book, podcast, or resource that’s inspired you recently?
Peggy Guggenheim's Confessions of an Art Addict
Q.What is one word colleagues would use to describe you?
Intense
Q.A favorite quote or guiding motto?
Life is a one-time offer, use it well.
More about the PAC
Our PAC is an elite group of tax and estate attorneys, CPAs and financial advisors who collaborate with the Community Foundation to achieve their clients’ charitable goals. Council members have referred clients who establish charitable funds at the Foundation or who include the Foundation in their estate plans. Working together, we help their clients to make a lasting impact through grantmaking support from their charitable funds at the Community Foundation. PAC members are invited to networking opportunities, continuing education sessions and special Community Foundation events.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PAC MEMBER Q&As.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OF OUR PAC MEMBERS.
To learn more about how the Community Foundation can collaborate with you to help accomplish your clients' charitable goals, contact Christine Perez, Senior Director of Philanthropic Services, at cperez@cfbroward.org or 954-761-9503.
