Giving to Charity With a Donor-Advised Fund

Many Americans regularly donate to a few favorite charitable causes. But if you're ready and able to make a significant commitment to charitable giving, you might want to investigate other methods of giving—like a donor-advised fund (DAF). A DAF is a special account, managed by investment experts, which you use to make donations to charity. It might give you some tax advantages and foster family involvement in giving.

Lots of people are deciding that DAFs are a good idea. As of 2022, there are nearly 2,000,000 DAFs in the United States. More than $52 billion was donated in 2022, and these funds now hold more than $228 billion in assets nationwide, according to the National Philanthropic Trust. (See The 2023 DAF Report.)

What Is a Donor-Advised Fund?

A DAF is an account you set up at a qualified public charity, called the "sponsoring organization" of the DAF. You no longer own or control the money, but you direct its investment and keep advisory privileges regarding distributions.

What Are the Pros and Cons of a Donor-Advised Fund?

Some of the benefits of using a DAF include:

• immediate tax benefits (discussed below)
• tax-free growth on the assets in your account, and
• the simplicity of making grants from your account, particularly if you use a large sponsoring organization.

On the other hand, some people might find these characteristics of a DAF to be drawbacks:

• less control over the account, since it's managed by the sponsoring organization
• the irrevocability of contributions to a DAF (meaning you can't take the money back out for your own use), and
• potentially limited investment options.

While the sponsoring organization will probably follow your recommendations for grants, it isn't required to. The organization wants to be sure it's giving to a tax-exempt charity—if it doesn't, it faces a big penalty on any amount given for a non-charitable purpose.

How Does a Donor-Advised Fund Work?

When you set up a DAF with a sponsoring organization, you contribute cash, stock, real estate, or other assets. Your sponsoring organization will likely offer some investment options, allowing your contribution to grow. You can then use the fund to support any IRS-approved public charities by making grant recommendations.

There are many large, national sponsoring organizations to choose from, including the charitable arms of big financial services companies such as Fidelity and Vanguard. Universities and hospitals sponsor DAFs for donors who want to give to their programs. Community foundations, which give grants to local charities, also sponsor DAFs, as do independent nonprofit organizations such as the National Philanthropic Trust.

The sponsoring organization manages the money (for a fee). If you go with a financial services company, your investment options often will be limited to the company's own investment funds, unless the amount is very large.

Is There a Minimum Amount Needed to Set Up a DAF?

Each sponsoring organization can set its own minimum donation amount. The National Philanthropic Trust's minimum is $10,000, but some organizations (for example, the Fidelity Charitable Giving Account program) don't require minimums.

What Are the Tax Benefits of a Donor-Advised Fund?

When you donate cash or other assets to your DAF, you make an irrevocable gift, and you get an immediate charitable tax deduction. There are limits on the amount you can deduct, but they'll affect you only if you want to give a very large amount: you can deduct up to 60% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) that year if you donate cash, and up to 30% of your AGI for other assets—like securities and real estate—that have appreciated (gone up) in value since you acquired them. These percentages change frequently, so it's best to check the latest IRS guidance on charitable contribution deductions.

If you donate appreciated assets—stocks or real estate, for example—to the DAF, you can also avoid capital gains taxes and take a tax deduction for the fair market value of the assets.

When Does a Donor-Advised Fund End?

How long will the DAF last? It's up to you. You can name a charitable beneficiary to receive the funds in the account at your death. Or, if you want to establish a family tradition of philanthropy, you can name someone to take over your role of advising on investments and grants after your death. If you decide that you aren't happy with the sponsoring charity's management of the fund, you should be able to transfer the account to another sponsoring organization. (Make sure, before you sign up, that this is possible.)

Donor-Advised Funds Versus Private Foundations

Donor-advised funds are often compared to setting up private foundations, another way for individuals or families to set up a tax-advantaged way to make large charitable donations over a period of years. Here's how DAFs and private foundations compare on some key issues:

Set-up costs and hassle. You don't need to hire a lawyer to create a DAF; the sponsoring organization will be happy to help you with the paperwork, which is generally pretty straightforward. Setting up a private foundation, on the other hand, usually costs several thousand dollars in legal fees.

Management. You'll pay a fee for a professional to manage the money, whether you create a DAF or a private foundation; the cost will probably be comparable. A private foundation, however, must file an annual tax return, which adds an administrative expense. If you have a DAF, the sponsoring organization will take care of the taxes.

Simplicity. Especially if you go with a big sponsoring charity, you'll probably be able to monitor your DAF account and recommend grants online.

Tax deduction limits. If you donate cash to your DAF, you can deduct up to 60% of your adjusted gross income; with a private foundation, the deduction is limited to 30% of your AGI.

Taxes on growth of the funds. If funds in a private foundation generate income, you'll pay an excise tax (1.39%) on the amount. Growth of funds in a DAF is tax-free.

Privacy. A foundation's tax returns show how much you donated to it; your contributions to a DAF aren't a matter of public record. You can also have the sponsoring organization make grants to charities anonymously if you wish.

Minimum payouts. Private foundations must give away at least 5% of their assets annually; DAFs have no such obligation. Many do, however, give away much more than 5%.

Control. A foundation lets you keep total control over your money. You create your own board of directors to govern the foundation. With a DAF, you delegate some control over grants to the sponsoring charity, and your investment options are limited.