Donor Advised Funds questions

[Lucky Girl]

I'm a consultant in the non-profit industry, and have a lot of experience with donors using Donor Advised funds, but one of my clients has been asking some questions about them so I am interested in experience and thoughts from the wise folks here, since I know many of you are charitably inclined.

Do you have a Donor Advised Fund? How did you choose which fund manager/broker? Have you been happy with performance?  How do you make decisions about which charities to support?

For more explanation, the non-profit I work with is interested in figuring out if they can influence donors to donor advised funds to give to them.  I don't tend to think they have much chance, and believe most people already have their charities selected when they set these up, but want to get a more representative sample of thoughts.  Thanks!

[Penny Lane]

I have one with Fidelity--love it!  I have an index fund which I use just to skim off to add to the donor advised fund, which is invested in a balanced fund.  When the index fund goes up about a thousand, I just  transfer that.  So last year, even with a flat-ish market, the donations were over 5K.  I think you should put something about these into your info about donating as I do meet a surprising number of folks who aren't familiar with them.  No capital gain + a tax deduction.  I can go as low as a $50. donation, structured as a grant proposal.  I think there is a small annual charge, but worth it if you've ever tried to donate appreciated stock directly.  Most of our grants would be in the 250-1000 range.  Good luck-- I hope you can educate more potential donors!

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

I have had 3. Started with T. Rowe Price, because my money was there.  Switched to Vanguard after I moved my money to Vanguard. Started one with Fidelity after I realized Vanguard's minimum grant was $500.

Now I'm down to  2 Donor Advised Funds.

I don't choose where the money goes any differently than I did before I started my first DAF, I just give more tax efficiently.

The advantage to your consulter is that they are targeting people with resources and (presumably) plenty of money to give. Good advertising to a target market may get some results.