Why donor-advised funds
How to communicate the benefits of DAFs to your clients.
DAFs are quickly becoming the preferred way to give. Over 25% of all charitable dollars now flow through DAFs each year. Given their advantages, it’s no surprise.
Donor-advised funds are a powerful giving vehicle that can help your clients:
Optimize their tax deductions
Receive tax benefits from donation of appreciated assets
Grow their charitable balance tax-free
As a trusted stakeholder in your clients' financial journey, you have the power to invite your clients into a richer philanthropic life through your custom giving program.
Client-facing collateral
We recommend leveraging this 2-Pager with clients as collateral to help you introduce them to your firm's custom giving program:
How to explain donor-advised funds to your clients
Though Charityvest for Advisors has been designed with simplicity in mind, this may be the first time that some of your clients are encountering the concept of donor-advised funds.
Generally speaking, though donor-advised funds are a powerful strategic giving tool, they can be challenging to describe.
A donor-advised fund is a tax-deductible financial account for giving. Some phrases we like to use to help people understand them is:
"It's like a 401k, but for giving"
"It's like a personal foundation, but without all the legal hassle"
Wondering how to talk about DAFs without saying "DAFs"?
We recommend you initially explain the concept of donor-advised funds to your clients so that they understand the legal structure of their donor-advised fund account. However, for some clients, it may be beneficial to refer to their DAF as a "giving account". Throughout this guide, we will use "donor-advised fund" and "giving account" interchangeably.
Educational resources
When approaching your clients with your firm's custom giving program, we recommend these resources to help explain what donor-advised funds are and how they can help clients achieve their ambitions of generosity:
Giving quiz to connect your client's giving situation to the implementation of a donor-advised fund.
Informational videos that break down complex aspects of donor-advised funds by topic.
Learning center with collections of articles that detail best practices around purposeful giving.
Definitive DAF Guide that offers a comprehensive explanation of donor-advised funds.
Curious to learn more about your firm's custom DAF program? Contact your firm's program manager for program-related matters or Charityvest (support@charityvest.org) for platform-related matters.
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