A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is a philanthropic tool that simplifies your charitable giving during and after your lifetime. Naming your DAF as the beneficiary of assets provides a flexible way to complete your estate planning now while taking time to think about your charitable legacy giving. The succession plan for your DAF becomes the road map for how you would like your charitable legacy to unfold. By working with the Jewish Foundation’s philanthropy team to create your succession plan, you can explore different ways to meet your philanthropic goals and give to the organizations and issues that you care about most. This flexibility allows you to review and change your philanthropic plan without having to work with your attorney to update your estate planning documents.

How does this work? You can make a bequest in your will that your DAF receive either a specific dollar amount, a percentage, or the remainder of your estate after distributions have been made to provide for your family. Simply reference your fund name and the Shalom Austin Jewish Foundation Tax ID 74-1469465. You can also name your DAF as a remainder beneficiary of a charitable remainder trust, or as the lead beneficiary of a charitable lead trust; and your DAF can be named beneficiary of a life insurance policy or a great tax-smart beneficiary of retirement funds. If your estate plan includes other complex assets, the Foundation can accept most types of gifts, including business interests, estate assets, oil and gas, mineral and timber rights, private securities, real property and cryptocurrency.

Using your DAF as an estate planning vehicle extends to helping ensure that your donor intent is realized. Succession planning for DAF assets can be designed to allocate a portion for next-generation family philanthropy, and a portion to support your legacy at the organizations you care about with one-time grants or perpetual gifts through other types of charitable funds, like a designated fund, unrestricted or restricted fund. We will see that your legacy comes to life for the next generation according to plan.

If you haven’t lately, take a moment to think about your DAF succession plan this month, National Make-A-Will month. Our team is available to meet with you individually, as part of your planning team or to convene a family meeting to review your current fund agreement and discuss updates you might like to make. There are many wonderful ways to think about how your DAF can help you ensure your values sustain your loved ones and the community for generations to come.

You can set a time to meet directly via this link or email anytime, jennifer.koppel@shalomaustin.org.