Donor Advised Funds:

Donor Advised Funds are a service for people making tax-deductible contributions. They are commonly offered by well-known financial management companies such as Fidelity Investments (see Fidelity Charitable Trust). They are also widely available through community foundations all over the United States. Through a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), a donor makes a gift to a foundation or other non-profit that acts as an intermediary; the funds are held in an account controlled according to the DAF agreement until the donor makes recommendations for their distribution.

For example, you might plan to give a total of $10,000 to various causes – such as Shambhala core services, your local center, and a practice center – as well as to other non-profits that relate to the broader Shambhala vision (as many sangha members did during the visit of the Karmapa in 2008). Using a Donor Advised Fund, you would make one gift to The Sakyong Foundation, and then recommend the organizations and amounts to whom that money would be granted. A key point is that the grants can be distributed over a multi-year period to multiple organizations. For recognition purposes, grants from the Foundation can be made in your name or remain anonymous.

Our DAF service benefits donors in the following ways:

Tax Planning: You get the benefit of a tax deduction for the full amount at the time of your gift, while being able to delay the allocation of grants to future periods.

Simplicity: You make out one check, receive one tax receipt, and relate directly with one non-profit, while your gifts can be made to several. As an organization set up to receive marketable securities, the Foundation’s DAF program allows you to make one stock transfer, and then have the proceeds divided up among several grantees.

Tax free growth (which means more dollars for charitable purposes): Investments in your Donor Advised Fund grow tax free to support more giving in the future.

Donor Advocacy:  The Sakyong Foundation staff is closely involved with many of the initiatives and planning activities of Shambhala. To support participants in the DAF program, we are available to advise you about needs in the community that best match your charitable interests.

DAFs also benefit Shambhala:

Magnetize Others: The Sakyong Foundation brings people and projects together by publicizing the things that we support; the stories of the causes you give to will encourage greater giving by others.

Supporting The Sakyong Foundation: A one percent annual fee is charged for DAF’s, helping to fund the Foundation’s activities.

Empower & Magnetize: You and other major donors give millions of dollars each year to over 100 projects within Shambhala. By concentrating your giving through The Sakyong Foundation we can better display the financial strength of our community’s generosity. Our aspiration is to create the conditions to attract greater support from outside our core community for furthering Shambhala vision.

We hope you will consider facilitating your giving through the The Sakyong Foundation. Please contact us to discuss how a Donor Advised Fund could work for you.