Donor-Advised Funds
Donor-Advised Fund Gift to a 501(c)(3) Donor
Legal Compliance Guidance
Can a 501(c)(3) organization with a donor-advised fund at a community foundation make a distribution to itself?
Unfortunately, when the law changed under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, this was left unclear. Intermediate sanctions rules prohibit grants and similar payments to donors from a…
Gifts from Private Foundations to Donor-Advised Funds
Legal Compliance Guidance
Gifts from private foundations to field of interest funds, designated funds, and other funds that are not donor-advised, are entirely permissible and do not raise special concerns. Gifts to a donor-advised fund can raise red flags as a potential donor control issue. The law does not prohibit gifts…
International Grantmaking from Donor-Advised Funds
Legal Compliance Guidance
In existence since the 1930s, donor-advised funds have been one of the fastest growing charitable giving vehicles of the past decade.[1] Capitalizing on this growth and on the increasing interest in international philanthropy among donors in the United States, a number of public charities have…
Creating an Inactive Funds Policy
Legal Compliance Guidance
Imagine the following scenarios:
A donor advisor has not made a recommendation from a donor-advised fund for two years.
An agency has requested that your community foundation not make a distribution from an agency endowment until the agency requests a distribution at some point in the future.…
2009 Survey on Donor-Advised Funds: Donor-Advised Funds Provide the Majority of Grant Funds Awarded by Community Foundations
Research
Donor-advised funds are increasing in number and importance in the U.S. as more individuals, families, and organizations adopt this vehicle of philanthropic giving. A donor-advised fund enables a third party, usually a community foundation or other institution, to manage and distribute funds to…
Workplace Giving Had a Reboot in 2012 to Meet Changes, Challenges in the Economy
In 2012 there were further signs that the once staid tradition of employees taking part in annual workplace giving campaigns has been upended by digital technology, younger workers with new ideas, and the need for more engagement between employers and employees. Those are the preliminary…
Is Family Philanthropy Ready for “New Giving” Tools?
At next month’s Council on Foundations 2013 Family Philanthropy Conference, consultant Nathan James and I are hosting a session, “Is Family Philanthropy Ready for Adventures in New Giving?” We’ll be discussing potential intersections between family philanthropy and the new wave of giving tools…
Giving Circles: A 360-Degree Approach to Philanthropy
The Northern Virginia region includes Loudoun County, a traditionally rural area that has seen drastic suburbanization and growth in the past two decades. The shift in its focus and population caused those of us at the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia to ask an age-old question: How do we…
What Business Do Community Foundations Have In Business?
What business does a community foundation have hawking for-profit deals to its donors and other community members? How does it improve the quality of life in their community? How does it promote the spirit and practice of philanthropy and service? Well it turns out, some…
DAF Data Goes to Washington
I didn’t go to “Foundations on the Hill” (FOTH) but was there in spirit through the data and stories collected by FSG and CF Insights. On March 21-22 representatives of organized philanthropy gathered in Washington, D.C., for two days of face-to-face meetings with lawmakers and their staff.
For…
The Best of Both Worlds: Back to the Future of Philanthropy
Ask anyone to name the greatest philanthropists of all time – Jewish or otherwise – and they will invariably identify people known for giving away huge sums of money. From Rockefeller to Rothschild, from Buffet to Blaustein, from Morgan to Montefiore, most of us have come to equate philanthropy…
Community Foundations and Impact Investing of DAFs
On January 9th, Wall Street Journal blogger Veronica Dagher posted an article highlighting the opportunity for philanthropic donors with Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) to create a “double bottom line.” Dagher points out that donors at large national funds, such as Schwab, are increasingly looking not…
The New Mobile Giver and the Story Behind Millions in Donations by Text for Haiti
A new kind of charitable giver is emerging in the mobile age.
A report underwritten by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has found that this donor is younger and more likely to be African-American or Latino than traditional donors. Moreover, new donors often use their mobile phones…
Why Millennials are the Perfect Donor
In my humble opinion, Millennials bring together all of the aspects of a perfect donor. At Building Tomorrow and in general in my watching of the fundraising world, I have seen Millennials do some amazing things by giving their time, talents, and resources to others and to causes they believe…
How Mother Nature Changed Our Plans … But Not Our Message
I’ve long been wary about in-house videos. Because, let’s face it, videos can be tough to pull off. So it was with some trepidation that we decided not just to make our first set of short videos this year, but to feature them at our 25th anniversary annual meeting-indeed, to make them the…
Stuart Comstock-Gay
Stuart Comstock-Gay has served as President & CEO of the Delaware Community Foundation since 2016.
He has spent his career addressing issues of community, democracy and civil rights. Before joining the DCF in 2016, he served as president of the Vermont Community Foundation and spent seven…