"Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community." - Andrew Carnegie

Establishing a Donor Advised Fund

Establishing a Donor Advised Fund is easy. Just complete the Donor Account Application from the Fund you have chosen and return it to us with the appropriate asset transfer form or a check made payable to the fund.

Donor advised Fund applications are easy to complete. Below is an explanation of the information you will need to provide. We are available to assist you with the paperwork by calling us toll free at 800-944-7730.

Name your account

You'll be asked to choose a name for your Donor Advised Fund account. You may want to name the account after your family or have the name reflect the charitable goals of the account, for example, "The Jones Family Charitable Foundation" or "The Wilson Fund for the Arts".

Name account advisors

You may name one or more account advisors to your Donor Advised Fund who will also be able to recommend grants from the fund during your lifetime.

Name account successors or charitable beneficiaries

You may name one or more account successors or charitable beneficiaries to your account. A successor gains full responsibility for decisions relating to the account upon the death of all the original donors, and has the authority to make contributions, recommend grants, and name advisors and there future account successors. If you do not wish to name successors you may name a charity or charities to be the beneficiary and inherit the remaining assets in your account, or 5% annually, upon the death of all the original donors.

Select a charitable area of interest

To continue honoring your charitable intent, you can include a charitable organization or area of interest you'd like your grants to support. You could include a specific charitable organization, a university, a particular type of research (for example, cancer or arthritis research) or an area of interest (for example, protecting the environment or supporting the arts in your community).

In the event the account ceases to make grants and the donor advisors can not be contacted, the fund can direct grants from the account that support your stated charitable area of interest.