What is a Donor Advised Fund?
A donor-advised fund is like a charitable investment account, for the purpose of supporting charitable organizations you care about.
A DAF is established with an initial gift to CMF of cash, securities, insurance or other assets at which time the donor identifies the charities of their choosing. However, the donor is also able to recommend charities be added to or removed from this list in the future. Once a DAF is created, the donor’s gift is then invested in order to provide perpetual annual funds to the donor’s charities of choice from the income of this investment.
At the time of their initial gift, the donor receives a tax receipt for the full value of their gift. Subsequent gifts to the DAF may be made by the donor, their family, friends, or others. All such additional gifts will be added to the donor’s with tax receipts being provided at the time of each gift.
DAFs provide donors with the opportunity to make a meaningful gift immediately, and also support various charities into the future, resulting in a greater philanthropic impact.
Who Establishes a Donor Advised Fund?
DAFs are set-up by individuals and/or families wishing to make a significant, on-going charitable contribution to the causes that matter most to them, and others to honour a loved one or colleague. The reasons and advantages are extremely personal.
What Are The Advantages of a Donor Advised Fund?
Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) are highly flexible impact giving and estate planning tools that can be used to provide a continuous stream of income to some of your favourite charities.
A contribution to a DAF is an irrevocable commitment to charity; the funds cannot be returned to the donor or any other individual or used for any purpose other than grantmaking to charities.
DAFs offer great flexibility and attractive tax advantages, while creating the potential to grow your charitable dollars—resulting in more support for your charities of choice. With a DAF you can give during your lifetime, or later, using your estate.
In addition, DAFs offer you the option to create a named fund – for example: The Dr. John Smith Charitable Fund – or to remain anonymous in your charitable giving. Many DAFs are created to memorialize a friend or a loved one and are often named in recognition of that special someone.
What Tax Benefits Does a Donor Advised Fund Provide?
A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) can be established using anything that ultimately can be converted to cash, and as a result the tax advantages are personal to an individual.
DAFs provide you with immediate tax benefits. To establish a DAF an initial gift is made to the Canadian Medical Foundation (CMF). This gift will then be used to provide your charities of choice with ongoing annual income. However, you will receive a tax receipt for the full amount of your gift at the time your DAF is created.
We encourage you to speak with your wealth management professional regarding the most tax-efficient gift for you.
Is a Donor Advised Fund Your Opportunity to Achieve Your Philanthropic Goals?
The Canadian Medical Foundation’s (CMF’s) Donor Advised Fund (DAF) donors are goal-oriented, dedicated and driven – they want to achieve their philanthropic goals in an impactful way that makes a difference to the causes most important to them not only today, but also well into the future.
The Canadian Medical Foundations understands this and would like to help. Please contact us today at 416-548-6198 or info@cmf.ca to discuss how we can best help you realize your charitable giving goals and achieve your philanthropic priorities.
Every effort is made to designate your funds as requested; however, if the specified project has become fully funded or unforeseen circumstances delay its start, we may allocate your donation to another important project.
