# The Philanthropy Module

The FIRM Guide (thefirmguide.com) — companion to The Recoverable Family.
Fill this in privately (any text editor or by hand), then store it in your Vault.


## Secure Guide Starter Template — Philanthropy

> This template belongs in The Secure Guide, stored within The Vault. Update when giving vehicles, bequests, or designations change.

Charitable giving touches the FIRM System at three points, and each needs a different kind of documentation. Ongoing donations are tax records — they live with the Tax Planning and Documentation Module. Structured vehicles — a donor-advised fund, a charitable trust — are financial instruments, and they are documented here with the same care as the accounts they resemble. And the values behind the giving belong in The Family Guide, where they can inform the people who carry the estate forward. Keeping the three distinct makes each one manageable.

The most common failure point in charitable bequests is identification. A bequest to “the local food bank” is not executable — every named organization should be verifiable against a legal name and EIN (the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search confirms both). And a donor-advised fund passes outside the probate estate entirely: it needs its own succession designation, separate from the will, and that designation is recorded here.

### Structured Giving Vehicles
| Vehicle | Institution / Sponsor | Account Number | Advisor / Administrator | Access | Beneficiary / Mission | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Donor-Advised Fund |   |   |   |   |   |   |
| Charitable Remainder Trust |   |   |   |   |   |   |
| Charitable Lead Trust |   |   |   |   |   |   |
| Private Foundation |   |   |   |   |   |   |
| Other |   |   |   |   |   |   |

### Charitable Bequests — Estate Plan Integration
| Organization | Legal Name | EIN | Contact | Bequest Type | Document Where Specified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |

> For full estate document inventory, see the Estate Plan Module. For gift tax records and contribution documentation, see the Tax Planning and Documentation Module.

### Beneficiary Designations — Charitable
| Asset | Named Charity | EIN | Percentage / Amount | Document Location |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |   |   |

### Donation Records Location



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## Family Guide Starter Template — Philanthropy

> This template belongs in The Family Guide. It tells the family where giving has been directed and why.

> In the matching Secure Guide section: giving vehicles, charitable bequests with EINs, designations, records location.
>
> That detail is what makes recovery possible — and it is protected in the Vault, which opens with The Vault Key. The key is never written here, by design. The people listed on this page know how it is kept, and the steward's job is to keep that path current, so this page never leads to a locked door.

### Our Giving — A Summary
| Organization | Cause / Mission | Why It Matters to Us |
| --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |
|   |   |   |
|   |   |   |

### Structured Giving Accounts



### Charitable Bequests



### A Note on Our Giving



### Additional Guidance