About Donor Advised Funds

Donor Advised Funds are an excellent tool to assist donors who wish to assure their charitable interests are carried out in perpetuity. ACT provides a cost-effective vehicle to meet those objectives.

How It Works

Donor Advised Funds are component funds of ACT for Alexandria. They are generally permanent funds with a percentage of the fund used each year for charitable purposes. If the donor wishes, the fund can be set up to spend some or all of the principal as well.

Once the fund is established, the donor provides advice to ACT about where gifts from the fund should be made. While this advice is not legally binding on the community foundation, the grantmaking team gives great weight to the advice of the donor.

Donors can advise ACT about the distribution of grants from the fund during their lifetime. In addition, donors may designate their children to succeed them as donor advisors. At the end of the donor-advisement period, the remaining principal may be used to create an Undesignated Fund or a Field of Interest Fund within ACT. The guidelines for these funds are agreed upon when the initial gift is made.

Recognition

Many donors recognize that their leadership will inspire others to give. For these donors, having their gift publicly recognized increases the value of the contribution. Other donors prefer to remain anonymous. Still others want to honor or memorialize a loved one. Donor Advised Funds can be created to satisfy any preference.

Funds are established with a name chosen by the donor. Grants made from a Donor Advised Fund are identified to the recipients as such. For existing private foundations, the change may be as simple as switching the name from "The Jones Family Foundation" to "The Jones Family Fund."

Types of Funds | Advantages | Setting up a Fund | Ways to Give | Fee Structure