5 Unique Ways to Use Your Donor Advised Fund

If you enjoy giving to charitable causes such as the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey, local Jewish day schools or synagogues, or other Jewish or secular organizations, a donor advised fund (DAF) with the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) of Southern New Jersey may be an exciting vehicle to maximize your giving.

There are multiple tax and financial benefits to using a DAF, but perhaps more importantly, you may find using a DAF to be a way to put a smile on your own face while helping others.

Here are 5 Unique Ways to Use Your Donor Advised Fund:

1. Involve Your Family: Parents or grandparents with a DAF can use their fund to engage the next generation of givers. When using a DAF with the JCF, your history of grants from your fund compiles over time. You can show your children or grandchildren what causes you have supported, and talk about what interests they have in providing tzedakah. While you're at it, you can even open a B'nai Tzedek Fund for children under 18 in your family so they can have their own "mini-DAF" to use with you for their introduction into charitable giving, or build up charitable dollars to distribute when they come of age. It's a sensational way to kickstart a lifelong practice of giving back.

   
   

2. Help Others Cope with Emergencies: Tragically but realistically, emergencies will continue to happen to the Jewish and general population throughout the world, and people will need financial support to cope. The attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 are proof that anything can happen at any time-- but, when donors step up to respond, prompt and effective relief can alleviate the challenges faced by those in need. A DAF allows you to "park" charitable dollars which may even grow through investments, and then, whenever an emergency relief effort occurs that you want to support, it is simple and quick to recommend a grant to transmit financial assistance.

   
   

3. Support a JCF Grant: Each year, the JCF provides approximately $100,000 in JCF Grants to South Jersey nonprofits to help them launch new and innovative programs and services to benefit the community. While our Grants Committee would love to fund as many of them as possible in full, it is not always possible to do so due to limited dollars. If you would like to review JCF Grant requests for the current spring cycle or any future grants cycle, please contact us, and we are happy to work with you on the process. You will gain great satisfaction in seeing the program you fund get off the ground and making an immediate impact on so many in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties.

   
   

4. Assist College Students in Affording Higher Education: Similar to supporting a JCF Grant as described in number 3, above, JCF Scholarship Awards are provided each year to deserving local scholars to help them attain their educational and experiential travel dreams. This year, we anticipate awarding upwards of $40,000 in total, but, as you can imagine, the cost of college can be prohibitive for many families. By using your DAF and providing dollars for the JCF Scholarship Committee to distribute, you will be making a big difference in the lives of some of South Jersey's best and brightest.

   
   

5. Establish a Future Legacy: An endowment fund can help perpetuate your annual giving every year for many generations to come. If you generously provide, for example, $1,000 every year to your synagogue, think about what will happen to the synagogue after your lifetime when your gift ends. The synagogue you love will have to make up that support from somewhere else in order to continue their work for the next generations-- no easy task. Instead, if you have a DAF with the JCF, you can establish your preferences for creating a legacy gift from any remaining dollars in the DAF that will build an endowment fund to continue your annual giving to any cause(s) you desire. The JCF is happy to walk you through this arrangement.

If any of these ideas spur an interest for you to open or grow your own donor advised fund, please contact JCF Executive Director David Snyder today at 856-673-2571.

We're confident that you will enjoy some or all of these five unique ways of using your DAF, to boost your charitable giving while making a positive difference in the lives of others.