Berks County Community Foundation - About Donor Advised Funds

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. Berks County Community Foundation provides a cost-effective vehicle to meet those objectives.

How It Works
Donor Advised Funds are component funds of Berks County Community Foundation. 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 the Community Foundation 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 the Community Foundation 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 the Community Foundation. 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."

Creating a Donor Advised Fund
Creating a new Donor Advised Fund is a simple process. The Community Foundation's attorneys have developed a standard form that can be modified to meet a donor's particular interests.

Donors are encouraged to review their plans with their own attorneys and estate planning advisors. The Community Foundation can provide information on establishing a fund using tax-wise planning techniques. In many cases, the actual cost of the gift to a donor can be substantially lowered through careful planning.

For more information, contact:

Berks County Community Foundation
501 Washington Street, Suite 801
P.O. Box 212
Reading, PA 19603
(610) 685-2223
info@bccf.org

To determine the method, or mix of methods, that make the most sense for structuring a gift through Berks County Community Foundation, this information should be reviewed with a competent financial, tax or estate planner.