Category Archives: giving

Who Doesn’t Love a DAF!

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we love DAFsFor starters, what is a DAF? It’s an acronym for Donor Advised Fund, a charitable giving vehicle administered by a qualified public charity, like the Stewardship Foundation, for the purpose of managing charitable donations on behalf of an organization, family or individual.

Donors who contribute to the fund get an immediate tax benefit, yet they also retain control over how the money will be invested and how the fund distributes the money over time. It’s like a charitable savings account: a donor contributes to the fund whenever they like and then recommends grants to their favorite charities when they are ready.

If a charity is not talking to their donors about contributing to a DAF, they may be losing out on a huge revenue stream.

Do donors like DAFs?

They sure do! It’s easy for donors and better for the charity. No donor likes to keep a pile of receipts, or scramble to make donations at the end of year along with Christmas expenses. With a DAF, they make “deposits” to their charity fund monthly or so, very much like they make deposits to savings. Their generosity grows over time and allows a DAF-supported charity to look long-term and begin to plan for the future.

Most donors covet their privacy. For example, business owners who contribute to morally ethical causes like pro-life and organizations supportive of traditional marriage between one man and one woman prefer to avoid publicity. Contributing to a DAF does not require disclosure; it opens up new opportunities for donors and charities to come together more easily.

Donors can be sensitive. Many advisors are reluctant to initiate the charitable conversation with their clients out of fear that they may be perceived as imposing their own values on the client or trying to steer them to a specific charity. But discussions centered on a DAF can lead to gifts or bequests that are clearly donor choices.

We want our partner charities to realize that DAFs can accept gifts of privately held stock, real estate, collectibles, and other complex assets.

Not all donors are good candidates for DAFs. We assist our partners to identify those who are. And this time of year, we assist our partners to reach out to donors who are making their end of year charitable decisions.

Do you know someone who would like to make an end of year donation?

Are you a charity that needs our assistance? Our help is a phone call away. Call Jim at 614-800-7985.

10 Days in Israel – Despite Hamas Bombs

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Despite the whine of bomb sirens and feelings of uneasiness huddling in bomb shelters, the young people signed up for Birthright Israel are still flooding into the country. For most of us Americans, it might seem that plunging into a study of Israel during such a time of conflict would be insane, but the young people, and their consenting parents, consider it a learning experience about daily life in Israel.

Birthright Israel groupTaglit-Birthright Israel, known here as simply Birthright Israel, is the brainchild of Charles R. Bronfman, a Canadian / American businessman and philanthropist who inherited Seagram spirits empire (sold to Vivendi for $34 billion) and today is the father of a family of charitable foundations including Taglit-Birthright Israel that sends Jewish youth from all over the world on free educational tours of Israel.

Philanthropy is part of the Bronfman DNA. As children, Charles and his siblings knitted squares for blankets to be sent to the troops overseas during WWII. At 17, he began to solicit money for the United Jewish Appeal. From a poor Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, he collected 50 cents from 20 friends, even though he could have donated the $10 himself and simply written their names on the donation. He did it because he wanted the donors to experience how good it feels to participate in helping others.

The Bronfman DNA is evident in Birthright Israel today, even with Hamas rockets raining down on Israel. In late July, the website reports that “fewer than 10 of the 6,000+ participants that came to Israel in the past 15 days have left trips earlier than planned.”

Birthright Israel is the first Jewish educational program with a waiting list bigger than the number of applicants who actually are able to participate in the 10-day, all expense paid live and learn experience. Over 400,000 young adults from around the world, ages 18 – 26, have taken this journey.

The Bronfman family wants young Jewish people to come to Israel to see it, experience it, talk about it, and think about what Israel means for them and the Jewish people. The New York Times published an article August 1 that recounts the personal experiences of participants who have just recently returned from their trip to the Middle East with the Taglit-Birthright Israel organization.

We live in a passionate world and our hearts go out to all those who are suffering on both sides of this conflict. We pray for quick and permanent solution and ask you to join us in this petition for peace and religious freedom.

April is the Cruelest Month

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“April is the cruelest month,
breeding lilacs out of the dead land,
mixing memory and desire,
stirring dull roots with spring rain.”

― T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

I am often reminded of this quotation by renowned poet T.S. Eliot around tax filing time. These lines talk about the expectations and disillusionments that can befall the investment decisions that are revealed in your tax returns.

snow irisSome of your investments unexpectedly become “lilacs out of the dead land…” Whether by your efforts or those of your financial partner they yield the positive results your desire. Your tax return can also revive memories of poor decisions and lost opportunities… “mixing memory and desire”

Whether you were pleased with your investment returns this year or not, you know that tax laws continually change. However, there remains one constant — charitable giving. Giving always yields positive results! Your giving affects the bottom line of the charities you support, and it changes lives of real people in ways most of us will never know. The way you give can also affect your financial health. For example:

  • If you bought or sold property this past year but did not go through the Stewardship Foundation, you might have missed some important tax benefits.
  • If you are holding onto property or a business because the market does not favor selling, you might benefit from alternative options the Stewardship Foundation can suggest.
  • If you tried to support a charity or non-profit using non-cash assets, but your preferred charity or non-profit was not in a position to receive it, you should contact the Stewardship Foundation for our assistance.

The Stewardship Foundation can work with donors and investors of most charities and non-profits. We are experienced at stirring dull roots with spring rain. Now is the time to plan and to explore your investment options for the 2104 tax year. Now is the time that your charities and non-profits need your financial support.