A donor advised fund is simply a type of brokerage account, where contributions to it are specifically earmarked for charitable giving. And in exchange, the IRS allows you to realize the entirety of the donation in the year it is made; regardless of how many years it might take you to actually distribute those dollars to the various charitable causes you support.
While one of the major positive effects of supporting charitable causes is simply to feel good about giving, what and how you give can be just as important as how much you give and to whom. Deciding which assets to donate and how best to structure giving is where the real tax strategies of charitable giving come into play. And since you are going to be giving one way or another – either to the IRS or to a cause that you actually care about – you might as well be the one to make that decision.
In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge talks with Adam Nash, the CEO and Founder of Daffy, a not-for-profit organization built around the simple idea that everyone should put something aside for those less fortunate than themselves, to discuss the ways in which Daffy uses technology to improve the giving process. Malcolm and Adam discuss the benefits of the donor advised fund, and how technology and automation can lead to more dollars being donated over time.
Adam discusses:
- The current state of charitable giving and the friction involved in the process
- His theory, as well as the numbers that suggest Americans would be more charitable if it were easier to give
- The lesser known tax benefits of using a donor-advised-fund compared to simply writing a check and donating cash
- The outlook for the nonprofit community and gifting
- And more
Resources:
- Ep. 9. The Ins and Outs of Donor Advised Funds with Mary Jovanovich
- Blog Post: Ways to Make Your Charitable Giving Count Come Tax Time
- Daffy.org
- Download Daffy From The App Store
Connect With Adam Nash:
Connect With Malcolm Ethridge:
- The Tech Money Podcast
- LinkedIn: Malcolm Ethridge
- Connect with Malcolm
- @MalcolmOnMoney
- Download the Tech Money Guide to RSUs
About Our Guest:
Adam Nash is the CEO and co-founder of Daffy, a not-for-profit organization built around the simple idea that everyone should put something aside for those less fortunate than themselves. In addition to his work at Daffy, he is an active angel investor, investing in over a hundred companies and he serves on the boards of Shift and Acorns. Before Daffy, Adam held leadership roles at Dropbox, Wealthfront, LinkedIn, and eBay. Adam also holds an MBA from Harvard business school, as well as a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in computer science with a focus on human-computer interaction from Stanford University.
