About Donor-Advised Funds
Donor Advised Funds at Endaoment: DeFi’s first Community Foundation
A Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) is a charitable account owned and managed by a public charity (that’s us).
Standard DAFs have a Primary Advisor (that’s you), who donates assets into their fund. Proceeds from the sale of these assets fuel the DAF and allows the Primary Advisor to recommend grants.
With a Donor-Advised Fund, you can deposit long-term capital gains assets, and in many cases deduct the full value of the gift and offset taxable income.*
The DAF financial vehicle is a popular tool for families throughout the country to incorporate into tax-planning strategies and community philanthropy.
Since 2019, more than $120 billion has been funneled into nearly 750,000 DAFs in the US accounting for over 12% of total individual giving. This translates to about $23 billion dollars making their way to nonprofit organizations from DAFs.
When you donate tokens to an Endaoment DAF, we immediately exchange your gifted tokens for USDC via Uniswap’s auto-router and deposit the proceeds at your DAF’s smart contract address onchain.
Once funded, you can recommend grants from your DAF to a selection of more than 1.8 million nonprofit organizations throughout the US, and over 3500 international organizations thanks to Endaoment’s relationship with US 501(c)(3) GlobalGiving. If you need assistance in identifying organizations that meet your personal mission, the Endaoment team is here to help.
When your grant is reviewed and approved by Endaoment, we’ll contact the receiving organization, onboard them, and transfer them the granted funds.
Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) Types
Private Funds
Private Funds are the default type of Donor-Advised Funds opened by Endaoment. The are traditional DAFs that cannot be accessed by anyone aside from the advisor of the fund (the donor). The name of is not visible on any activity feeds, and even if someone navigates to the URL of the fund, they cannot access it without being authenticated first. No one besides the fund-advisor (the donor) can donate into a private fund.
Transparent Funds
Transparent funds are a type of Donor-Advised Funds opened by Endaoment where the fund advisor (the donor), opts to make their fund visible to others. By editing your fund settings, you can enable others that have your fund’s URL to access it and view the fund in full (fund name, advisor, and all activity). No one besides the fund-advisor (the donor) can donate into a transparent fund.
*Endaoment does not provide tax advice. You should consult with a licensed tax professional to further understand the impact of opening and contributing to a Donor-Advised Fund.