Plant the Seeds of a Gift that Keeps Growing

Increase the power of your donation when you contribute to a donor-advised fund and name Help Heal Veterans as the recipient of its gifts. Because your original gift is invested, you have the potential to give much more over time.

How Donor-Advised Funds Work

Most direct donations to charities are short, sweet and to the point: You make a gift, you keep the receipt and you receive a tax deduction that year. If you want to make another donation, you pledge more dollars out of your own pocket.

Donor-advised funds offer the potential for growth with more, and more flexible tax benefits for you. When you contribute to a fund, that money is invested, but you receive the immediate tax deduction just as if you’d given that money directly to us. You may be able to recommend how you’d like the money to be invested, and when you’re ready to make a gift to us, you can tell your fund manager how much you’d like them to give us out of your total. Over time, your fund grows, meaning you can make more gifts with the money you put into the fund than you could with a direct donation.

Why It Makes Sense

There are many reasons to use donor-advised funds for your charitable giving, especially if you’re thinking about making a large donation. Consult your financial advisor to understand if this is a good choice for your contribution, but here are a few benefits:

• You have some flexibility in what year you apply your tax deduction, no matter when you decide to make a grant to us or another organization;
• When your fund earns interest, because you can only donate it to a 501(c)3 charity, you aren’t taxed on that money;
• You can contribute assets like stock or cryptocurrency to a fund that many charities aren’t able to accept directly, and then make a cash gift from the fund instead;
• You can receive capital gains tax benefits on some of those types of assets when they’re invested in a donor-advised fund;
• You can combine your donor-advised fund with your estate planning to ensure that you continue to make gifts for years without creating additional estate taxes for your heirs.

Donating Through DAF Direct

A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a type of giving program that allows you to combine the most favorable tax benefits with the flexibility to support your favorite charities. DAF Direct enables you to recommend grants to Help Heal Veterans.

Contributions through your DAF can be initiated using the DAF Direct widget to the right.

• Select your DAF sponsoring organization from the dropdown menu labeled “Donate now from:”.
• Specify Help Heal Veterans in the “Designation:” field.
• Enter your donation amount you would like to recommend in the “Amount:” field.
• Click on the “NEXT” button to proceed to the sponsoring organization’s website to complete your donor-advised fund transaction. Please note, you will be directed to an external website to complete your transaction.

If your DAF sponsor organization is not available through DAF Direct, simply contact the organization to initiate your donation.

Questions regarding making a gift through a donor-advised fund may be directed to Tracey Kazemi, Director of Finance & Administration at 951.926.4500 or Tracey@healvets.org.