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Donor Advised Funds

 

Donor advised funds, a service offered by many brokerage houses, allows you to make a tax deductible donation now and later decide when and to whom to distribute these funds.  The fund is something you establish by making a contribution of cash or appreciated securities. Your contribution is immediately tax deductible for the full market value of the contribution (securities must have been held over one year).  Now you have a fund from which you can make donations to any charity recognized by the IRS.  

 

If you already have established a Donor Advised Fund, you can direct donations to St. Perpetua Church either by name or by our Tax ID:  94-2627188

 

Here are some of the advantages of Donor Advised Funds as discussed by Charles Schwab Charitable:

 

 

Key Advantages

Schwab Charitable Fund, a leading national donor-advised fund, provides a tax-smart way to support charities today and build a lasting charitable legacy. Our donors consistently give us exceptionally high donor satisfaction scores.

Key advantages include:

 

Simple & Efficient

 

  • Separate end of year tax decisions from charitable giving decisions

  • Submit and view grant recommendations online at any time-no reason to write checks, make copies or save individual receipts from multiple organizations for tax preparation

  • Unlike most other planned giving vehicles, no additional filing requirements are required from the individual account.

 

Tax-Smart

 

  • Receive immediate tax deduction for contributions to offset taxable income

  • Avoid capital gains taxes on the contribution of appreciated assets held for more than one year1

  • Remove contributed assets from your taxable estate

  • As compared with private foundations, higher deductibility limits, more favorable treatment for real estate contributions and no excise taxes on investment income.

 

Customized & Private

 

  • Create a special name for the account (e.g., "The Roberts Family Fund", "The Jean Smith Fund for the Arts"), and have grants issued on customized letterhead at no additional cost

  • Decide whether to recommend each grant anonymously or with acknowledgment.

  • Unlike private foundations, personal information, charitable recipients, costs and investments are kept private and are not attributed to individual accounts in publicly available IRS returns

 

Flexible

 

  • Ease of online grant recommendations, when and where you wantSmall grant minimums

  • Unlike private foundations, no required minimum distribution requirement2

 

Establishes Legacy

 

  • Encourage and establish a tradition of charitable giving in your family

  • Involve members of your family in recommending grants

  • Name successors to the account to ensure a legacy of charitable giving for future generations 

 

1. Contributions of securities held for one year or longer are fully deductible at fair market value (FMV); securities held for less than one year have the same AGI limits as cash contributions (50%), but the valuation is based on the lesser of the cost basis or FMV. Contributions that exceed AGI limitations may be carried forward and deducted for five years. A donor's ability to claim itemized deductions may be subject to further limitations depending upon the donor's specific tax situation and donors should consult their tax advisors.

2. The minimum for opening a donor-advised account is $5,000 and the minimum for a grant is $50.

 

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