Donor Testimonials

Charlene H.

Board member with several non-profit organizations

“When my late husband and I set up our private foundation, we thought it would be a good way to manage our giving. However, running the foundation was much more expensive than we expected, and required a lot of our time and attention.

I closed our private foundation a number of years ago. I used the assets to open a Charitable Gift Account, and it has delivered on all of its promises. Everything is handled by the Fund, I can continue my giving just as before, and I don’t have to think about running the foundation anymore. It’s a simple, cost-effective way to support my philanthropy.”

Bob B.

Principal of a national investment advisory firm

“For us this is a useful vehicle. The clients I’ve introduced it to are delighted.

I think the online capability is superb – it’s very user friendly, very easy and quick. I’ve made a few grant requests from my account in early January, and I could do them very fast. You could literally sit down and do five or six grants in just a few minutes.

So it’s just convenient and helps people take advantage of low-basis securities and allows for the front-end loading of the deductions. You make one contribution of securities and receive your deduction then. You don’t have to give the money away to the specific charities for several years, if you don’t want to.

So I say to clients, ‘look the advantage of a Fund like this – you can make one transfer, in the same afternoon from your existing Schwab One account, and then you can make all your gifts from that Fund account.’ That’s an easy conversation. And it’s a credibility-giving conversation. The clients are in the ah-ha mode. They will take this from a meeting and will have learned something.

I do it quite often, talking about charitable giving – not every time, but it should be every time.”

Jim & Linda K.

Donors

“We don't have the kind of money it takes to set up a private foundation—our fund is not huge—but we certainly enjoy having many of the advantages of one. Thirty years ago we bought stock in a bank being formed. Eventually the bank was acquired and the stock had appreciated substantially. If we'd sold, the taxes would have been significant, so we decided to donate the stock to the Fund upon the advice of our advisor. The real benefit was being able to take the tax deduction immediately upon contributing the shares - which resulted in tax deductions that we could carry forward for up to five years. We were then able to grant to organizations over time instead of having to choose charities all at once. The Fund administers the account and they take care of it all—and the Fund staff is a true pleasure to work with.”