Donor Advised Funds
Donor advised funds have been a part of the federal tax law of charity for nearly a century as a unique philanthropic tool. Because of the relatively small amount needed to start a DAF compared to assets needed to create a private foundation, DAFs serve as an opportunity for middle class Americans to pursue their philanthropy and to gain the benefit of the foundations’ expertise and experience in helping to guide their giving. Use these resources to learn more and gain valuable insight into managing and administering Donor Advised Funds.
Intermediate Sanctions for Donor Advised Funds and Sponsoring Organizations
Fundamentals, Legal Compliance Guidance
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 created new categories of disqualified persons for donor advised funds and sponsoring organizations under the intermediate sanctions rules.
Categories of Disqualified Persons Created under the PPA
Donors and donor advisors with regard to transactions with the…
Excess Business Holdings Rules for Donor Advised Funds
Legal Compliance Guidance
Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), the private foundation excess business holdings rule applies to donor-advised funds as if they were private foundations.1 That is, the holdings of a donor-advised fund in a business enterprise, together with the holdings of persons who are…
Council Summary: Congressional Research Service Report on Donor-Advised Funds
Legal Compliance Guidance
The Congressional Research Service issued a 2012 report on charitable giving and donor-advised funds. Using data from Form 990, the report updates to 2008 some of the statistical information about donor-advised funds that was included in the 2011 Treasury report on donor-advised funds. However, the…
Substantiating Contributions to Donor-Advised Funds
Legal Compliance Guidance, Fundamentals
What requirements must our foundation follow for substantiating contributions to donor-advised funds?
To claim a charitable, gift or estate tax deduction for any contribution to a donor-advised fund, donors must obtain a contemporaneous written acknowledgement from the sponsoring organization that…
Taxable Distributions for Donor Advised Funds
Fundamentals, Legal Compliance Guidance
Public charities that hold donor advised funds must comply with special rules regarding payments from such funds. Provisions under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 require certain payments from donor advised funds to be made using expenditure responsibility, while certain other payments are…
Grants to Organizations from Donor-Advised Funds: Is Expenditure Responsibility Required?
Legal Compliance Guidance
Use this flowchart to determine if grants from donor-advised funds require expenditure responsibility.
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.…
Component Funds: The Absence of Material Restrictions
Legal Compliance Guidance
This document outlines the basics of component funds, field of interest funds, donor-advised funds, and restrictions around these funds.
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…
Do More than Grow: Realizing the Potential of Community Foundation Donor-Advised Funds
Publication
Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) have been a growth engine for community foundations since the 1990s but the aspiration today is for DAFs to do more. In Do More than Grow: Realizing the Potential of Community Foundation Donor-Advised Funds, new data and analysis of donor behavior reveals the significant…